asked the Secretary of State for War whether he can give any particulars of the Thompson machine gun; what is its weight, calibre, rate of fire, and the capacity of the magazine; and whether he has any information as to the number of these weapons which have been imported into Ireland?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. With the hon. and gallant Member's permission, I will circulate the technical details in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, in view of the heavy expenditure incurred in the building construction of the Ordnance Depot, Hilsea Lines, Portsmouth, he will state the reason for the removal of various stores, i.e., camp equipment, etc., to Didcot; and the comparative cost of the upkeep of the two establishments?

I am not aware what particular transfer of stores the hon. Member has in mind, but the character of the two depots is quite different, the Central Ordnance Depot at Didcot being much larger and holding much greater reserves than Hilsea, which is maintained principally for local transactions and for holding mobilisation equipment. No doubt, therefore, any stores transferred to Didcot were surplus to the requirements for which Hilsea is maintained. I am not yet in a position to give the figures asked for in the last part of the question, but I will communicate further with the hon. Member in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any information with reference to the fate of Sergeant Herbert McKenzie, Royal Irish Constabulary, of Swatragh, County Derry, who was captured on the 19th of March last outside Maghera, County Derry, when the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks were raided in that town by the Irish Republican Army; and what steps have been taken to secure the release and safety of this servant of the Crown?

I regret that I am not as yet in possession of any information as to the fate of Sergeant McKenzie, but I am in communication with the Provisional Government, who are making inquiries in the matter.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the criticisms of the methods of commerce and taxation in British West Africa, whereby it is alleged that the enterprise of the native is being killed; whether official information corroborates this view; and, if so, what effort is being made to restore prosperity on the West Coast, which has normally been of a very encouraging nature?

It is not possible to deal satisfactorily with so wide a subject by means of question and answer, but it will no doubt be one of the matters for discussion in Debate this afternoon.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, seeing that the Dominions are either abstaining from or acting independently of the British Post Office scheme for an Empire wireless chain, he will invite the Dominion Governments to co-operate in setting up an Imperial Wireless Board on which the various parts of the Empire would be represented, and which, while controlling the policy, would leave wireless experts and business men to develop the wireless chain on progressive lines?

The Imperial wireless chain is under consideration by the Government, and I am not in a position to make any statement to-day.

asked the Prime Minister whether he can report any progress in the steps being taken to bring about peace with Turkey and between Greece and Turkey; and what is now being done towards this end?

I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Ormsby-Gore) yesterday.

ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the £64,000,000 sterling of unpaid Income Tax is owing mainly by small or by large Income Tax payers; whether the same measure of consideration for temporary financial stringency is shown to the former as to the latter; and whether instructions to that effect will be given in connection with the demand notes just issued for the second payments this year?

No information is available on the first part of the question without detailed inquiry, which I could not authorise on account of the expenditure of time and labour which would be involved. My hon. Friend may rest assured that consideration is shown impartially to all classes of taxpayers who are for the moment financially embarrassed, and that it will be shown, as regards payments due on the 1st July, in the same manner as it has been shown as regards the payments due on the 1st January last.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider a revision of the system under which the full amount of Income Tax is deducted monthly from the pay of junior officers, though the majority are not liable to pay 2s. 6d. in the £; and, having regard to the delay and expense occasioned in the recovery of over payment of tax, whether he will relieve young officers, especially those serving abroad, from this incubus?

My hon. and gallant Friend is under a misapprehension. Income Tax is deducted from the pay of Army officers on the basis of the actual pay for the year of assessment, the amount of tax due from each officer being estimated at the beginning of the year by reference to the allowances and deductions to which he was entitled for the previous year. The tax is then deducted in equal monthly instalments, any necessary adjustments being at once made on receipt of the officer's Income Tax return for the year. I do not think there is any reason to revise this system, which has worked satisfactorily for many years, and which, with minor variations, is adopted in other Departments of State.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount received between 1st April and 24th June, 1922, of the Excess Profits Duty after deducting the rebates made between the above dates?

The amount of Excess Profits Duty (including munitions levy) repaid from the 1st April to the 24th June, 1922, exceeded the amount received.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of duties

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the Key Industry Duty collected on goods which have been subsequently removed from the Board of Trade lists. The amount of duty as from the 1st. October last is £11,447.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what were the imports from Germany for the first five months of 1920, 1921 and 1922 of fabric gloves, glove fabric, domestic glassware, and domestic hollow-ware of aluminium and of steel or wrought iron enamelled?

The following statement shows, for the commodities specified, the quantity of imports into the United Kingdom registered during the first five months of 1920, 1921, and 1922 as consigned from Germany, so far as particulars are available. Separate particulars of imports of domestic glassware cannot be given for these periods:

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what would have been the product of a tax on passengers landing in Great Britain during the financial year 1921–22 applied on the same basis as is the case in the United States?

The information available is not sufficient to enable any reliable? estimate to be made, but the yield of the suggested tax would probably be well under £500,000 a year.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is now in a position to furnish the following desired particulars as to old age pensions: particulars as to year ended 31st March, 1922; total amount paid in pensions; the total cost of administration; the total number of pensions actually payable on the first Friday in March, 1922, stating those for men and those for women separately in both cases; the number of pensions paid at the varying rates of 10s., 9s., 8s., 7s., 6s., 5s., 4s., 3s., 2s., and 1s.; the number of applications for pensions; the number of applications rejected, giving various causes of rejection, age, poor relief, means, and other causes; the number of pensioners of whose deaths notifications have reached the office of the pensions officers during the year ended as above; the number of paupers over 70 years of age in England, Scotland and Wales, and in institutions, stating the average cost per head per annum; the number of paupers over 70 years of age in receipt of outdoor relief, stating the average cost per head per annum of men and women separately in both cases; the average weekly cost of a convict in penal servitude and prisoner in ordinary prisons for the year ended as above; and the number of persons over 70 years of age in prisons and penal servitude during the year ended as above?

The particulars desired by my hon. Friend with regard to old ago pensions during the year ended 31st March, 1922, so far as they are available, are as follow:(1) Total amount paid in pensions.— Approximately, £26,009,500, exclu- sive of the cost of pensions in Northern Ireland from the 1st December, 1921.(2) Total cost of administration.— Expenses of pensions committees, £59,350, approximately. Expenses of administration by Government Departments concerned, including cost of payment by the Post Office, printing of pensions books and forms, cost of appeals, searches in registers, estimated at £998,803. (

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on which Vote it will be possible for a discussion to take place on the proposal to impose a charge of 10s. upon friendly societies for each annual return made?

On the Vote for the Friendly Societies Registry, Class II, Vote 22.

asked the Home Secretary whether he has considered means by which severer penalties shall be imposed upon those responsible for the introduction and disposal of harmful and insidious drugs and narcotics?

I hope before long to introduce a short Bill increasing the penalties which may be imposed under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

asked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the disturbance caused in towns to residents by shrieking motor hooters; and will he issue orders to ensure that only hooters with a low note are to be used except in country districts?

I have been asked to reply to this question. Some complaints have been received as to the undue noise made by certain motor hooters. The Departmental Committee on the Regulation of Road Vehicles in their Second Interim Report, paragraph 235, stated that they had considered the question of making compulsory the use of a standardised horn or other instrument for giving warning of approach, but that they did not consider that at the present time this matter called for any special recommen- dation. The Government have no power to issue orders as suggested by my hon. and gallant Friend.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if, taking all the chief articles of popular consumption, he will give the average War prices and the average prices now in comparative form?

As prices generally were rising throughout the War, it would be necessary, in order to compute the

asked the Minister of Health whether he will grant a Return showing the weekly net rent for each type

supplied the following return in pursuance of his answer of 3rd July, 1922 Cot. 50]:

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether his attention has been called to paragraph 18 of the Re-port of the Committee on Crown and Government Lands, and, in particular, to the statement therein that the committee had heard evidence showing that there is dissatisfaction on the part of the Crown tenants with the present management of these, that is, London properties; whether particulars of such evidence were submitted to the Commissioners and an opportunity given to them to give evidence as to the alleged dissatisfaction; and whether, in view of the condemnation of public servants and professional men implied in the paragraph, the Government will arrange for the publication of all the evidence taken by the Committee, so that Members of this House and the general public may be able to form their own opinion?

My attention has been called to the paragraph referred to. The witness who gave evidence on behalf of the Commissioners was not invited to give evidence as to the alleged dissatisfaction on the part of the Crown tenants, which appears to have been suggested by a later witness. The particulars of the evidence given by that witness have not been communicated to the Commissioners, and no opportunity was given to the Commissioners of giving evidence to rebut or explain his statements. I will make inquiries as to whether the evidence on this subject can be published.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether, in order to stimulate trade and in view of the prevailing unemployment, he is taking all steps in his power to ensure at the earliest possible moment a great reduction in railway, dock, and transport charges; and if he will state the approximate average percentage of increase of the present railway rates for the carriage of goods and minerals over those prevailing immediately before the War, and also the amount of tonnage of goods and minerals carried on the railways of Great Britain according to the latest annual returns since the War and immediately before the War, respectively?

I am in sympathy with the hon. Member's desire for a reduction in the cost of charges of transport, although I am not clear what steps he expects me to take. The Ministry of Transport has no control over railway charges, but the provisions of Part III of the Railways Act give to traders and to the public generally the fullest rights of applying to the Railway Rates Tribunal for the reduction of any charge or charges which are felt to be too high. Such an application for a general reduction in rates has been made by the Federation of British Industries, and will shortly be heard by the Tribunal.In regard to dock and canal charges, I would refer the hon. Member to the Bills now before Parliament, under which the charges of all such undertakings in possession of temporary powers will come under review by the Rates Advisory Committee, and can be revised if necessary. The average increase in railway rates, when the revision of September, 1920, was fully operative, was stated by the railway companies to be about 112 per cent., but reductions in respect of certain traffics (mainly raw materials) have been effected since last autumn. For information as to the amount of tonnage carried in 1913 and in 1921, respectively, I would refer the hon. Member to the Railway Returns (Preliminary Statement) for 1921, issued by my Department in March last and published by the Stationery Office. The principal figures for standard gauge railways in Great Britain are as follow: