Written Answers
Potato Industry (Reorgansation Commission)
asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is now in a position to give the House the names of the reorganising committee for the potato industry?
I have been asked to reply. My right hon. Friend would refer the hon. Member to the reply he gave yesterday to a question on this subject by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Howdenshire (Major Carver).
Trade And Commerce
Works Of Art (Imports And Re-Exports)
asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the estimated total value in the last two available years of pictures, china, tapestries, hangings and rugs, objects of art, and objects of vertu and sculpture imported into this country, and re-exports of the same?
Precise information relating to the import and re-export trade in these goods is not available, but
| Description. | Total Imports. | Re-exports. | ||
| 1930. | 1931. | 1930. | 1931. | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Works of art (other than pictures) | 239,968 | 206,044 | 78,765 | 24,773 |
| Pictures and drawings executed by hand | 574,273 | 477,061 | 391,990 | 216,500 |
| Prints, engravings and photographs (other than picture post cards). | 347,721 | 318,032 | 12,732 | 16,933 |
| Curios (including rare china, and tapestries, hangings etc., over 100 years old). | 322,397 | 260,673 | 314,967 | 218,140 |
| NOTES.—The figures for 1931 are provisional. | ||||
| The above statement excludes articles included with personal luggage or imported by parcel post, separate particulars in respect of which are not available. | ||||
Imports
asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) what proportion in value of the imports shown in the Trade 'and Navigation Returns for 1931 in Class I, Groups A, B, C, D and E, are consigned from and grown, produced and manufactured in the Empire overseas as defined in the Import Duties Bill, after excluding from the calculation all imports of Class 1 mentioned in the First Schedule of the Import Duties Bill;(2) what proportion in value of the imports shown in the Trade and Navigation Returns for 1931 in Class II are consigned from and grown, produced, or manufactured in the Empire overseas as defined in the Import Duties Bill, after excluding from the calculation all imports of Class II mentioned in the First Schedule of the Import Duties Bill?
now supplies the following additional information in, completion of his answer of 18th, February:After deducting the value of articles excluded by the First Schedule to the Import Duties Bill, the proportion of the imports into the United Kingdom during 1931 of the remaining articles in Class I, Groups A to E, that were consigned from British countries was about 31 per cent.
House Of Commons (Allocation Of Rooms)
asked the First Commissioner of Works if he will give a list of
such information as is available from the trade returns of the United Kingdom is shown in the following table:
rooms in this House occupied by persons who are not Members of this or the other House for which no payment is made?
With the possible exception of a small waiting room allocated to civil servants who are on the Official Gallery list for the day, and that occupied by Parliamentary Counsel, no rooms at my disposal are allocated to any persons other than Members or servants of this House. The rooms allocated by Mr. Speaker to the Press, the Post Office, the Refreshment Department, to Members' Secretaries, the Police and the Empire Parliamentary Association do not come under my jurisdiction, but under that of the Serjeant-at-Arms. In the case of accommodation allocated to Whips or private secretaries, use is made of rooms by persons on the Lobby list or holding a pass issued by the Serjeant-at-Arms. The Leader of the political party or the Minister to whom the accommodation is allocated is, however, responsible for the use made of the rooms allocated to him for party or secretarial purposes. No payment is received for any accommodation in the Houses of Parliament. I am sending my hon. Friend a list of all the rooms at my disposal, showing their position and allocation.
Education
Secondary Schools
asked the President of the Board of Education, in percentage form for England and Wales, respectively, the number of children entering secondary schools from elementary schools and entering colleges and universities after instruction in secondary educational institutions?
I would refer the hon. Member to Tables 44 and 51 in the annual statistics included in the Board's report for 1930; and to the figures given in paragraphs 59 and 192 of the body of the report. Similar information for a later period will be included in the report for 1931, which will be issued shortly.
Welsh Language
asked the President of the Board of Education, approximately, the percentage of elementary school children in Wales receiving instruc- tion in the Welsh language at any convenient date in 1910, 1920, and 1930, respectively, and similar figures covering students attending the secondary schools in the Principality?
Without instituting elaborate special inquiries, I am not in a position to give any statistical information as to the number of children receiving instruction in the Welsh language; but as regards secondary schools, I may refer the hon. Member to the report of the Departmental Committee on the Welsh Language issued in 1927, which shows that at that date 46 per cent. of the total number of pupils in the 135 secondary schools in Wales and Monmouthshire were receiving instruction in Welsh, and that such instruction was being given in all the 135 schools with the exception of only 17 schools in purely English-speaking districts. The committee considered the position not unsatisfactory as compared with that of 40 years previously. As regards elementary schools, from the general information available to the Board, I am able to state that a progressive amount of attention has been paid to this instruction during the past 20 years in almost all parts of the Principality, and that this is noticeably the case at the present time.