asked the Minister of Pensions whether his attention has been called to a pension appeal case on behalf of a widow of a naval officer which was sent recently to the appeal tribunal; that the lady concerned had to travel to London from North Wales; that her father, the medical attendant, and other witnesses were also necessary; that an application for expenses has been refused except for the lady herself; and whether, seeing that the appeal was necessary, the expenses of the witnesses, whose attendances were necessary for the proper consideration of the case, can be granted?

I am in communication with the tribunal authorities with a view to further inquiry being made into the circumstances of the case, and will communicate at a later date with my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Pensions what is the youngest age at which the children of deceased and disabled officers of the Great War are eligible for education grants from the Special Grants Committee?

Children are eligible for consideration for these grants from the age of five.

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) what was

Description.	Monthly Average for Year 1921.	Monthly Average for five months ended 31st May, 1922.
	Dozen pairs.	Dozen pairs.
Gloves:
Of woven fabric:
Silk	1,637	844
Other	10,185	44,713
Knitted, netted or crocheted, including gloves of knitted fabric:
Of cotton	44,247	108,210
Of wool	295	293
Of other textile materials, not woven	769	6,437
Total	57,133	160,497

As regards the second question, the following statements show the quantities of cotton yarns of counts not over 120's, exported from the United Kingdom, consigned to Germany during the year 1921,

Referring to the first part of the first question, I find that according to particulars furnished in evidence before the Committee of Inquiry under the Safeguarding of Industries Act, the production of fabric gloves by members of the National Association of Fabric Glove Manufacturers of Great Britain reached, in April, 1920, a maximum somewhat in excess of 200,000 dozen pairs. I am unable to say what addition to this figure should be made in respect of the production of firms who were not members of the association. As regards the second part of the first question, the following statement shows the average quantity per month of fabric gloves imported into the United Kingdom, registered as consigned from Germany during the under-mentioned periods, so far as particulars are available:and the quarter ended 81st March, 1922: and the quantities of gloves, not of leather, imported into the United Kingdom consigned from Germany during the same periods:

—	Jauuary-December, 1921.	January-March, 1922.
	lbs.	lbs.
Cotton yarns exported:
Gray, unbleached:
Up to No. 40	1,055,200	416,500
Over No. 40 up to No. 80	9,235,900	3,009,800
Over No. 80 up to No. 120	4,055,600	1,031,000
Bleached and dyed:
Up to No. 40	1,300	—
Over No. 40 up to No. 80	16,000	100
Over No. 80 up to No. 120	—	—
Gloves imported:	Dozen pairs.	Dozen pairs.
Of woven fabric:
Silk	19,641	3,059
Other	122,215	123,859
Knitted, netted or crocheted, including gloves of knitted fabric:
Of cotton	530,968	251,497
Of wool	3,540	1,464
Of other textile materials, not woven.	9,231	13,644
Total	685,595	393,523

I am informed that the quantity of yarn needed for the manufacture of a dozen pairs of fabric gloves varies between about half a pound and a pound. I have no information as to the quantities represented by the gloves covered by the above statement.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office the reason why gratuities under the Superannuation Acts of 1887 are being withheld from writers recently discharged from the Army Ordnance Dep6t, Hilsea Lines, Portsmouth, contrary to the terms of their engagement as laid down in the Regulations for Civilian Subordinates, page 42, paragraph 160?

I am not aware that gratuities have been withheld from any persons who are entitled to them, but the hon. Member is presumably referring to writers engaged temporarily in connection with the late War. If so, I would refer him to the answer which I gave on this subject to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for East Woolwich (Captain Gee) on 4th May.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether he can make any further statement with regard to the experiments on the helicoptie system of flight; and whether orders for new machines for the Royal Air Force are being held over pending the results of the experiments?

I am not in a position to add to the statement made in answer to the hon. and gallant Member on the 30th June. No orders for new machines for the Royal Air Force are being held up pending the results of these experiments.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount realised by the sale of vote-of-credit assets in each of the years 1919–20, 1920–21, and 1921–22, and the estimated value of the assets not yet disposed of?

A return on this subject is in preparation, and will be issued as soon as possible.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he will cause inquiry to be made into the circumstances of the dismissal of Mrs. E. Elliot from her employment under the Customs and Excise Department at Brook's Wharf, E.C., on the sole ground of employing an ex-service man, and, having regard to the special circumstances of Mrs. Elliot being a widow and having lost her only son in the War, can he get her retained: and can he get the terms of the Lytton Committee applied in future with some discretion in such cases?

Notice has been given to Mrs. Elliot, in common with certain other non-service temporary employes, in consequence of reductions in the staff of the Customs and Excise Department. She has made an appeal for retention which will be considered by the Departmental Appeals Committee set up under the recommendations of the Lytton Committee. The last part of the question does not therefore arise.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that Germany and German traders derive considerable advantages in matters of administration and trade from the facilities which exist in that country for the phonetic analysis of the native languages of Africa and Asia; and whether, in view of the diversity of languages spoken within the British Empire, ho will consider the advisability of giving greater encouragement to the work done at the phonetics department of University College, London?

Such information as I have been able to obtain does not confirm the statement in the first part of the question. In the present state of the national finances, I fear that the question of increasing the special grant-in-aid of the phonetics department of University College must be postponed.

asked the Minister of Health how many of the 3,221 cases of disallowances and surcharges made by the auditors during the two years ended 31st March, 1922, were in respect of the accounts of local education authorities; and what proportion of the 2,834 refundments relate to local education authorities?

The numbers are 171 and 156 respectively.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he proposes to include in the teachers' superannuation scheme those persons who are employed as visiting masters in secondary schools; and, if not, whether he will give favourable consideration to the inclusion of visting masters who are employed more than 50 per cent. of their time in the schools?

I do not see my way to introduce legislation for the purpose of extending the scope of the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will supply the names and qualifications of the dental and medical practitioners attending Zaghloul Pasha and his colleagues in the Seychelles?

The Chief Medical Officer in the Seychelles is Mr. Joseph Bartlett Addison, M.B.E., M. R.C.S. (England), L.U.C.P (London). The Assistant Medical Officer is Mr. John Thomas Bradley, M.D. (Brussels), L.R.C.P. and L.R.C.S (Edinburgh), L.S.P. and L.S.S. (Glasgow). The dental work on the islands is performed by Mr. Donald Frances Watson, manager of the Government Pharmacy and anaesthetist, who, though not a qualified dentist, has practised on the islands for the last 20 years and whose services in this capacity are reported by the Officer Administering the Seychelles as having been of the greatest value to the community.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the articles of food and the drugs necessary for Zaghloul Pasha and his colleagues are available in the Seychelles; whether he is aware that Zaghloul Pasha has had to send to London for the gluten bread necessary for his health; and that Nahas Bey has had to cable to Cairo for instructions for the making of eye-drops?

The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative and to the remainder in the negative.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that Mahmud Saleem, a Cairo merchant, gave an order to an Austrian firm to supply crockery to the value of £500, on which the portrait of Zaghloul Pasha appeared; that this merchant expected to reap a substantial profit from the sale of this crockery; and that on the arrival of the consignment in Alexandria the authorities refused delivery to its owner; whether compensation to the amount charged was paid or is about to be paid to this merchant: and if, so, the reason for this action?

I have no information on this subject, which solely concerns the Egyptian Government.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that Lieutenant Abdul Latif was, on 15th June, sentenced at Khartoum to one year's imprisonment and to deprivation of rank for expressing loyalty to King Fouad; and will he ask for a report on this subject?

The hon. Member has been misinformed. The officer in question, who is a Dinka, was tried under Section 96 of the Sudan Penal Code for exciting disaffection to the Government established by law in the Sudan and was found guilty. I see no necessity for calling for a report on this subject.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the acting Sirdar of the Sudan omitted, for the first; time, in his congratulatory message to King Fouad, on the occasion of the Bairam festival, to convey the congratulations of King Fouad's Sudanese subjects; and why it is stated in the "Sudanese Gazette," No. 39, of I5th May, 1922, p. 1558, that the Sudanese are British subjects?

I am not aware that the message in question was couched in an unusual form, and seeing that it emanated from the Acting Sirdar of the Egyptian Army speaking in his own name and in that of the officers and men of that army, its phrasing is perfectly cor- reet. As regards the latter part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the document which he mentions. The passage is, "For the purpose of this ordinance (the liquidation of Hungarian property in the Sudan), the term British national includes all subjects of the Sudan Government."

asked the Minister of Health if he will submit a Return showing the death rates in the case of each of the zymotic diseases and also of cancer, per million of population, for each decade since the registration of causes of death began, in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, respectively?

The information desired by the hon. Member for each decennial period from 1851 to 1910, so far as regards England and Wales, will be found in Table 10 of Part III of the Supplement to the 75th Annual Report of the Registrar-General which was published in 1919. The figures for the last decennium, 1911 to 1920, have not yet been published, but the uncorrected death rates (per million living) during that period are as follows: Smallpox, O; measles, 275; scarlet fever, 47; whooping-cough, 184; diphtheria, 141; enteric fever, 35; diarrhoeal diseases. 603; cancer, 1,117. These rates are subject to revision. As regards Scotland and Ireland respectively, the question should be addressed to my right hon. Friends the Secretary for Scotland and the Chief Secretary for Ireland.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is aware of the inconvenience caused to the public by the delay in delivery of postal packets containing printed matter posted at the ½d. rate after 3.30 p.m.; and whether he can arrange to have such packets collected and delivered with the ordinary letters without the delay of the present procedure?

A few such complaints have come to my notice. In order to relieve the sorting offices during the hours of pressure in the evening, the reduction of the postage on printed matter to ½d. was coupled with the proviso that cor- respondence paid for at this low rate should be posted before a specified time in the afternoon if required to be dealt with the same day. This restriction is on the lines recommended by the Geddes Committee in their Report on the Post Office. In view of the considerable economies and improvements in staffing effected thereby, I regret I am unable further to extend the scope of the reduced rate, which, I may point out, is Below cost. Printed matter posted after the specified time and bearing a penny stamp is not subject to delay.

asked the Prime Minister whether the British, French, and Italian Governments recognise that the Greek military operations in Asia Minor against the Nationalist forces were the result of representations made to the Ministry of M. Venizelos; whether since then subsequent Governments in Greece have continued that struggle; whether, when the policy of the three Allied Powers changed, the present Greek Government agreed to the proposals for an armistice formulated at Paris this year; and whether, in view of the desire of the whole Greek nation for peace on honourable terms, it is the intention of the British Government to take immediate steps to ensure peace?

I cannot undertake, in reply to a Parliamentary Question, to traverse so large a part of the earlier history of these operations. His Majesty's Government are continuing their efforts to bring about an early and honourable peace by cooperation between the Allies.