asked the Minister of Transport what steps have been taken by the railway companies to substitute steel passenger coaches for wooden coaches?

I am informed that during 1933 the four main line companies constructed 936 passenger carrying vehicles, and that steel was used in the construction of these vehicles up to 75 per cent. of the total weight.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will rectify the position that has arisen by the withdrawal from the M. T. Coach Company of travel facilities offered the public throughout 14 years by the South Eastern traffic commissioners, upon evidence given by a competitive rail-associated company, the East Kent Road Car Company, Limited, as to existent facilities being adequate, now that this latter company have by their own applications to be allowed to supply the same facilities admitted that their original evidence was incorrect?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer—of which I am sending him a copy—which I gave on 2nd February to a question by the hon. and gallant Member for North Croydon (Colonel Mason) with regard to the M. T. Company.

asked the Minister of Transport if the Ministry will grant local councils facilities whereby they may on their own initiative carry out experiments with materials hitherto untried by the Ministry?

There is nothing to prevent highway authorities from carrying out experimental work on their own initiative. There is, however, in existence a Departmental Committee dealing with experimental work, and it is, in my opinion, advisable that before expenditure is incurred in any experimental work, advantage should be taken of the knowledge and experience of this Committee.

asked the Minister of Transport (1) if the Ministry has yet decided which sections of the Kingston by-pass road they are prepared to recommend, and which, if any, have proved unsatisfactory; and when the report on the stability of the various surfacing materials will be published;(2) if any figures are available showing the particular sections of the Kingston by-pass road on which skidding has been most frequent; and what complaints have been received from road users regarding any particular stretch of the road?

I assume that both questions refer to test lengths which were laid on this road in September, 1930. No complaint has been received concerning these sections, and none of them has proved unsatisfactory. Interim reports included in the official publication entitled "Experimental Work on Roads" deal with the anti-skidding properties and the stability of the materials under test.

asked the Minister of Transport the number of towns which have applied for a speed limit; and what has been his decision in each case?

Eleven applications have been made to me under the Road Traffic Act, 1930, in four of which an Order was made. In five an Order was refused, and two cases are still under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to give recognition of the State of Manchukuo?

I have nothing to add to the information contained in the latter part of the reply which I gave on 31st January to my hon. Friend the Member for Willesden, East (Mr. D. G. Somerville).

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on what grounds it has been directed that married and unmarried British subjects in Egypt whose incomes exceed £325 and £250, respectively, shall, as from 1st January, 1934, pay an annual fee of £1 on registration as British subjects, in place of the fee of 5s. formerly paid on registration; and, as the increased fees, being based on income, constitute a tax, under what sanction of Parliament such tax has been imposed?

British subjects living in countries where His Majesty the King has extra-territorial rights enjoy, in addition to the assistance and protection extended in all foreign countries, a very special measure of consular protection and other privileges, entailing a correspondingly higher expenditure from public funds. As a condition of enjoying these advantages, such British subjects are required to register annually at the local British consular office and to pay a fee for doing so. The fee for registration was fixed at 5s. until recently when it was decided that, having regard to the present extent and cost of the privileges enjoyed, it was equitable that a higher fee should be paid in some cases. Article 166 of the Egypt Order-in-Council of 1930 was accordingly modified by the Egypt (Registration Fees Amendment) Order-in-Council of 1933 and now reads as follows:

"166. Every person shall, on every registration of himself, and on every renewal of registration, pay a fee of five shillings, or such other fee as the Secretary of State from time to time appoints. The amount of the fee may be uniform for all persons or may vary according to the position and circumstances of different classes, if the Secretary of State from time to time so directs, but may not in any case exceed one pound."

Directions have been issued, under the authority of this Article, that the registration fee should be increased to £1. These directions have been so framed that a lower fee would be levied on persons with small incomes. The Egypt Order-in-Council was made under and rests upon the statutory sanction of the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies for what reason the High Commissioner in Palestine suspended for three weeks from 5th January the Arab newspaper "Al Jamic'a Al-Islamiya"?

Inquiry is being made of the High Commissioner for Palestine, and I will communicate with the hon. and gallant Member when a reply is received.

asked the Lord President of the Council what is the amount paid into the Cinematograph Fund to the latest available date; whether the grant of £5,000 to the British Film Institute is a special or an annual grant; and whether, although the Privy Council will not for the present be in a position to entertain other applications for assistance, they will in the future be able to do so?

The amount paid into the Cinematograph Fund is £3,775. The Privy Council have authorised the payment of a grant of £5,000 to the British Film Institute during 1934, but no decision has been reached with regard to the allocation of the fund in subsequent years, and I am not in a position to anticipate that decision.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether any consent has yet been received for the payment of the former weekly allowance to Mrs. Fieldhouse, of 25, Ash Street, Leicester; whether he will now exercise his discretion in her favour; and whether he will disclose the address of the deserting husband in order that steps may be taken to enforce the order made by the justices against the husband which he now disobeys?

The answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the negative. As regards the last part of the question, if proceedings are taken to enforce the order referred to, I shall of course be prepared to give the Court every assistance.

asked the Secretary for Mines the number of mechanical conveyors and loaders in use at or near the coal face in mines at the end of December, 1933; the percentage of the total output of coal that was carried by these conveyors; and the percentage of the outputs of the 25 districts given in his annual report that is transported by conveyors at the coal face and the percentage that is transported by other mechanical means within the same area?

I regret that information for the year 1933 is not yet available.

asked the Secretary for Mines the number of ponies per million tons of coal raised in 1933 in the mines of Nottinghamshire. North Derbyshire, South Derbyshire, Leicestershire, North and South Staffordshire; and the number of ponies employed per million tons raised in the districts of Lancashire, Yorkshire South and Yorkshire West, Durham, Northumberland, Scotland, and in the Swansea and Cardiff divisions, in the same year?

The information, so far it is available at present, is as follows:

asked the Secretary for Mines the number of collieries at which an approved scheme of training, both theoretical and practical, is in force for boys under 16 years of age who are intended for pony driving and other work below ground; the number of weeks given for such training both above and below ground; and whether he is satisfied with the present methods of training and is prepared to ensure the general adoption of any improved scheme?

The lines which are being followed in the organisation of courses of instruction for the collective training of pit boys in matters of safety are explained in the Annual Report of the Secretary for Mines for 1932. The movement was started in Yorkshire and has spread to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Durham and Northumberland, and to parts of Lancashire, Staffordshire and South Wales. The courses now in progress cover between 5,000 and 6,000 boys, and further developments are being planned in several districts. The length of the courses varies from 10 to 25 weeks. Good progress is being made, and I shall continue to give all possible help to promote the further development of this most useful work and its extension to all the coalfields.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can now take steps to have compiled the number of surviving pre-War Navy pensioners and the total amount payable at present in respect of their pensions, in view of the fact that such figures are available in the case of teachers and police?

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by the First Lord of the Admiralty on 20th December last, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what were the total quantities of horse flesh exported from this country during the years 1913, 1923, 1932, and 1933?

Horse flesh is not separately distinguished in the official published returns. From information supplied by the Governments of the importing countries mainly concerned it would appear, however, that the number of horse carcases exported to them from this country in 1923 and 1932 was 51, 137 and 22, 111, respectively. Figures in respect of 1933 have not yet been received. I regret I have no figures for 1913.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps are being taken to remove the cargo of scrap iron which is being washed along the shore from the steamer "Charles Jose," wrecked at Torcross, Slapton Sands, on 26th December, 1933, and which is causing damage to the nets of local fishermen?

The foreshore in question is leased by the Commissioners of Crown Lands to the Kingsbridge Rural District Council. The Commissioners have advised the council to take any necessary steps to remove or mitigate the nuisance, without prejudice to the question of legal responsibility, which is being investigated.

asked the hon. Member for Central Leeds, as representing the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, how many cellar dwellings situated in the borough of Paddington are on sites whose ground rents form part of the income of the Commission; how many of them are used for sleeping purposes, and by how many people; how many of them are in the Church Ward; and whether the infantile mortality in that ward of 138 per 1,000 has been brought to his notice?

No cellar dwellings are allowed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in houses which they own and control in any part of the borough of Paddington. As regards houses owned and controlled by other people, built on land held against the Commissioners on a 2,000 years' lease, he Commissioners have no means of information not equally open to the hon. Member.