asked the Minister of Transport to what extent economies have been effected by local authorities and the Government in road expenditure in 1932 compared with 1931; and whether, in order to avoid a recurrence of the Wartime neglect and deterioration of the roads and the consequent heavy cost of reconditioning them, he will impress upon local authorities the necessity, consistent with economy, of maintaining the roads in an efficient state of repair?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the recently published report of the Committee on Local Expenditure which discusses the points to which he draws attention.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will consider taking steps to ensure that recording speedometers shall be fitted to all motor vehicles subject to a speed limit for the purpose of aiding the police in taking proceedings against drivers who are guilty of exceeding the speed-limit regulations?

As at present advised, I am not prepared to propose such a requirement, but I appreciate my hon. Friend's anxiety that the speed limits recently fixed by Parliament should be observed, and have taken due note of his suggestion.

asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the improvement in the financial position of the country, His Majesty's Government are prepared to restore the cuts made in unemployment insurance benefits in October, 1931?

The rates of unemployment benefit are among the subjects upon which recommendations have been made by the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance. The recommendations are under consideration.

asked the Minister of Labour the approximate number of unemployed in the chief industrial countries of the world?

Statistics of unemployment in the chief industrial countries of the world are published regularly in the "Ministry of Labour Gazette" under the heading "Employment Overseas." The December issue of the "Gazette," containing the latest figures available, will be published on Monday, 19th December. A statistical table giving figures for a large number of countries for July-September, 1932, and for the corresponding period of 1931, is given in the issue of "Industrial and Labour Information, "for 3rd October, 1932, published by the International Labour Office, a copy of which will be found in the Library.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of cases during the last convenient period of 12 months in which it was found necessary to discharge members of his staff for collusion with members of the public in connection with fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefit or for negligence or irregularities contributing to fraud; and how many of such persons were temporary or unestablished employés?

During the 12 months ended 31st October, 1932, it was found necessary to discharge 13 members of the staff (11 of whom were temporary or unestablished) for collusion with members of the public in connection with fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefit or for negligence or irregularities contributing to such fraud.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that, since the recent Unemployment Insurance Act, the Newcastle public assistance committee are in some cases taking into account, in the assessment of need for transitional payments, a larger part of disability pensions than was done before the Act; and whether he will issue a circular to public assistance authorities advising them that the provisions of the recent Act do not require any reduction of transitional payments to be made in any cases?

The provisions of the recent Act relating to the treatment of disability pensions have been fully explained to authorities in a Circular issued from my Department (L.A. 16), copies of which are in the Library of the House. I have no reason to suppose that authorities are not fully aware of their powers and duties in the matter.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what, if any, grants the Government are making for the provision of cheap seeds and implements for the use of the unemployed on allotments, etc., and to what organisations they are being made?

His Majesty's Government have undertaken to make a grant not exceeding £12,500 from the Development Fund to the Society of Friends Allotments Committee in aid of their scheme for providing cheap seeds and implements for the use of the unemployed on allotments. Of this sum £10,000 is offered on the basis of pound for pound against contributions from other sources and £2,500 on the basis of for every £2 from other sources.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of unemployed in the Faversham division in October, 1930 and 1931, and the respective occupations of such persons, and also give particulars of State-assisted schemes for the relief of unemployment and the number of persons employed which were in operation in each year?

The following statement gives the information desired:Insured persons recorded as unemployed at Employment Exchanges

asked the Minister of Labour whether consideration has been given to the question of transferring from the headquarters of his Department to the divisional offices the examination of all suspected benefit fraud cases under the Unemployment Insurance Acts; and, if so, with what results?

Some preliminary examination of such cases has always been made by the local officers of the Department; about a year ago, in order to relieve headquarters of the necessity for dealing with cases in which, after examination, there appeared to be no sufficient prima facie ground for taking proceedings, divisional controllers were authorised to dispose finally of such cases.

asked the Minister of Health how many deaths have occurred in the outbreak of typhoid due to sewage-contaminated water at Mal ton, Yorkshire; how many of the victims were inoculated against typhoid; and was the doctor who died one of those who had been inoculated?

The number of deaths is 22. The precise number of patients inoculated is not yet known, but I am informed that neither the doctor nor any other patient was inoculated before contracting the disease.

asked the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been drawn to a recent case before the General Medical Council, in which an intercepted telephone conversation was used in evidence; and whether he will take steps to ensure that telephone conversations are not intercepted and divulged by Post Office servants?

I am glad to have the opportunity of correcting the erroneous impression to which this case appears to have given rise. The conversation referred to by my hon. Friend was neither intercepted nor divulged by any Post Office servant. I have, of course, no power to prevent subscribers publishing what is said over their own telephone lines.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that exchange operators no longer advise telephone users making trunk calls that the three-minute time limit has expired; and, in view of the fact that telephone users, ignorant of the fact that the time limit is up, are put to involuntary expense, he will issue instructions that the practice of intimating the expiry of the three minutes shall be resumed?

The hon. Member has, apparently, been misinformed. Telephone operators are in fact instructed, on all calls charged for by time, to enter the circuit towards the end of each three-minute period and announce "three minutes," "six minutes," etc., as the case may be. The second part of the question does not, therefore, arise.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the number of watch-coats allowed to ships and establishments can be increased to permit of watch-coats being issued to the crews of steam and motor-boats, in addition to watch-keepers, observing that crews of these boats are, at present, only provided with oilskins?

The number of watch-coats allowed to ships and establishments is based on reports from the Fleet of the number required, and any representations received from the Fleet through the regular channels for the revision of the allowance would receive consideration.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the names of the counties in which musk rats have been found?

Since the passing of the Destructive Imported Animals Act, 1932, on 17th March last, musk rats have been found at large in Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. With the exception of the infestation in Shropshire, which has spread into the adjacent parts of Montgomeryshire, no colonies of the animals, as opposed to isolated individuals, have been discovered. The presence of musk rats at large has been suspected, but not definitely confirmed in Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Stafford-shire, Suffolk and Yorkshire.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the progress made in the extermination of musk rats in Surrey?

There is at present nothing to add to the reply given to the question put to my predecessor by my hon. Friend on 30th June last. A musk rat was recently reported to have been killed at. Compton, near Guildford, but the animal in question has since been identified as a water rat.

asked the Home Secretary if he is aware that an officer at Lowdham Grange Borstal Institution has been promoted to the rank of principal officer after about 12 years service; how many senior and more experienced officers were passed over by this promotion; and in what way were they considered unsuitable for the post?

The officer in question was selected for promotion because he was the most suitable officer available to fill a post which required special qualifications. This involved his passing over 47 Borstal officers who were senior to him in service.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the increase in the number of the duties carried out by the Metropolitan Police (such as traffic control, census work, and inspection under the Food and Drugs Acts) which impair the efficiency of the service in its primary duty, which is the prevention and detection of crime; and what steps he proposes to take to rectify this?

I am well aware that the police are called upon to perform many duties of public value in addition to their primary duty of maintaining order and preventing and detecting crime. The Commissioner of Police is fully alive to the necessity of reducing the time such duties occupy to a minimum and every effort is made to that end. In the case of traffic control, I am looking to automatic traffic light signals to effect a substantial reduction in the number of men employed. The Metropolitan Police have no duties under the Food and Drugs Acts, and the work they do on the national census is negligible.

asked the Home Secretary whether he will have inquiry made into the results of the operation in New Zealand of the Order in Council issued by the New Zealand Government to the effect that no member of the Communist Third International is allowed to land in New Zealand, with a view to adopting a similar policy in this country?

As regards aliens, the Order to which my hon. Friend refers would not appear to confer substantially greater powers than those contained in the Aliens Order, 1920, for excluding from the United Kingdom aliens who are known to be undesirable. As regards British subjects, there is no power to prevent them from landing in the United Kingdom, and His Majesty's Government could not, consistently with the policy which it has always maintained, promote legislation to that end.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of increases or decreases of taxation which have taken place since 1931 in the United States, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia and Italy?

I regret that I am not in a position to supply complete particulars.