asked the Secretary of State for India whether the Government of India will consider the advisability of establishing a first-class meteorological research station at Madras, with a view to expanding the study of marine and aviation meteorology in South India?

I will communicate the hon. Member's suggestion to the Government of India.

asked the Secretary of State for India what is the number of persons arrested in Calcutta and neighbourhood under the provisions of the Bengal Public Security Act, since 1st March, 1933; and on what grounds the various arrests have been made?

Approximately 500 persons were arrested, there being reasonable grounds for supposing that they were about to act in furtherance of the objects of an unlawful association.

asked the Secretary of State for India whether he will give the figures showing the export of carpets from India to this country over the last three years; and what proportion of these exports comprise carpets manufactured outside India?

The value of carpets and rugs exported from India to the United Kingdom was in 1930 Rs.37.78 lakhs, in 1931 Rs.37.94 lakhs, and in 1932 Rs.48.20 lakhs. The proportion of these exports manufactured outside India is not ascertainable.

asked the Minister of Transport if he can now state the policy of the Government in relation to the final report of the Severn Barrage Committee?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave him in answer to a similar question on 14th March last.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the rates of duty now imposed upon the articles enumerated in the First Schedule of the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of Denmark?

Full details of the alterations in rates of duty in the Danish Customs Tariff necessitated under the Anglo-Danish Trade Agreement are shown in the Board of Trade Journal for 4th May. The present rates of duty on other articles specified in the First Schedule to the Agreement remain unchanged at the levels shown in the text of the Agreement with an undertaking that they shall not be raised during the currency of the Agreement, subject to certain conditions as regards articles of Part II of the Schedule.

asked the Minister of Health the total cost of supplying medical history cards?

The cost of printing record cards for use by insurance practitioners during the latest year for which information is available was £1,426. The cost of distribution is negligible, as the cards are usually enclosed with other communications sent out regularly by insurance committees to practitioners.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can give statistics to show the total benefits paid under the National Health Insurance scheme in Great Britain during 1932; and the expenditure from revenue in relief of the poor, and matters connected therewith, in England and Wales during 1932?

The total benefits paid in Great Britain under the National Health Insurance Acts during the calendar year 1932 amounted approximately to £31,850,000. The amount expended in England and Wales on all forms of poor relief for the same period has not been ascertained, but the expenditure during the year ended 31st March, 1932, was about £37,000,000.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can give statistics to show the death rate per thousand of the population in 1932, the infantile mortality rate per thousand births in 1932, the expectation of life of males and females at birth in 1931 or 1932, and the expectation of life of males and females at the age of 20 in 1931 or 1932?

I regret that the census material requisite for the construction of life tables for 1931 is not yet available. The remaining figures asked for in the question are as follow:

asked the Secretary for Mines (1) the number of coal-face conveyors and gate-end loaders in use in the mines of Scotland, Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire, North Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, Warwickshire, North Wales, Lancashire, and South Wales; and the percentage of the total output of each of these coalfields carried by such conveyors and loaders;(2) the number of mechanical conveyors now in use at the coal face in mines as well as the number of gate-end loaders, and the percentage of the total output carried by these conveyors and loaders, respectively?

The particulars in respect of the year ended 31st December, follow: