asked the Minister of Labour the numbers of men and women, respectively, employed in the established clerical class of the Ministry of Labour in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £180 basic, men, and £150 basic, women, and in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £250 basic, men, and £220 basic, women, on 1st April, 1933?

The numbers of men and women employed on 1st April, 1933, in the departmental clerical class of the Ministry of Labour paid on a scale rising to a maximum of £180 basic for men and £150 basic for women are 2,610 and 1,398 respectively. Of these, 268 men and four women held acting allowances as employment officers. The numbers of employment officers on the scale rising to £250 basic for men and £220 basic for women (not including the numbers last mentioned) were 1,438 and 454 respectively.

asked the Home Secretary the numbers of men and women, respectively, employed in the established clerical class of the Home Office, in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £180 basic, men, and £150 basic, women, and in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £250 basic, men, and £220 basic, women, on 1st April, 1933?

The numbers of officers employed on 1st April, 1933, in the grades referred to were:Men (maximum £180 per annum basic), 42 clerks to district inspectors of factories.Women (maximum £150 per annum basic), 11 clerks to district inspectors of factories.Men (maximum £250 per annum basic), 11 clerks to superintending inspectors of factories.Women (maximum £220 per annum basic), 1 clerk to superintending inspectors of factories.

asked the Attorney-General the numbers of men and women, respectively, employed in the established departmental clerical class of the Lord High Chancellor's Department in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £180 basic, men, and £150 basic, women; and in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £250 basic, men, and £220 basic, women, on 1st April, 1933?

The numbers are as follow:

• Men proceeding to £180–563.
• Women proceeding to £150–69.
• Men proceeding to £250–252.
• Women proceeding to £220–1.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the numbers of men and women, respectively, employed in the established departmental clerical class of the Board of Trade in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £180 basic, men, and £150 basic, women, and in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £250 basic, men, and £220 basic, women, on 1st April, 1933?

The numbers of men and women employed on 1st April, 1933, in the established departmental clerical class in the Board of Trade in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £180 basic (men) and £150 basic (women) were 124 and 12, respectively, and in the grade proceeding to a maximum of £250 basic (men) and £220 basic (women) 48 and 1, respectively.

asked the Minister of Health how many of the permanent staff of the housing division engaged upon slum clearance work under the Housing Act, 1930, and also the number of such officers who, prior to the 1st April, 1933, had had any experience in the work of that division?

Sixty-five officers of various grades in the housing division of my Department are engaged wholly or partially on slum clearance work under the Housing Act, 1930. Twenty-eight of these have experience of the work of that division prior to 1st April, 1933.

asked the Minister of Health (1) whether he is aware that a hammer pond at Horsted Keynes, in Sussex, the property of the Ashdown Land Company, has recently been held by an inspector to be a large reservoir, under the provisions of the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act, 1930, and the owners have been called upon to do works costing about £1,980; that the pond has been in its present condition for about 400 years and no escape of water has ever occurred and, if any such escape did occur, there would be no danger to life; that such expenditure is prohibitive, and the owners are compelled to let the pond remain nearly empty, and a mill which is driven by water therefrom, and employs five men, cease work; and whether he will take steps to exclude such a pond from the provisions of the Act;

(2) whether be is aware that under the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act, 1930, a number of old Sussex hammer ponds, large in size but of moderate depth and of great age, and made for the purposes of the old Sussex ironworks, have been held to be subject to this Act, with the result that the owners are being called upon to expend large sums of money or let their ponds remain empty; and whether he will introduce an amending Act exempting such ponds and providing that depth and the resulting pressure, rather than area and a figure of 5,000,000 gallons of water alone, shall be the test of what is a large reservoir within the Act?

Section 2 of the Act requires undertakers or owners with large reservoirs to have them periodically inspected by a qualified civil engineer, and provides that if the engineer recommends that any measures should be taken in the interests of safety, the undertakers must, subject to appeal to a referee within a prescribed time, carry such measures into effect as soon as practicable; and I have no doubt that in considering whether any such measures are necessary, engineers would consider whether the depth and pressure of the water are sufficient to cause danger, as well as other circumstances of the particular case. I have received from the Ashdown Land Company some particulars as to one case referred to by my hon. and learned Friend, but I have no knowledge of any others or any evidence that the Act does not make adequate provision to protect reservoir owners from having to carry out works which are not necessary in the interests of safety; and, in the absence of such evidence, I could not contemplate legislation to relieve them of their present obligations.

asked the Minister of Health whether his latest statistics show the extent to which local authorities are letting subsidised houses at economic rents; and if he will give detailed information on the subject?

I regret that I have no detailed information on the subject. Local authorities are not required to report to me any action they may take in this matter.

asked the Minister of Health the number of deaths registered as due to small-pox during the year 1933 and the age of each patient?

Small-pox was registered as the sole cause of death of one male, aged 52 years, and as a contributory cause to the deaths of two others, aged two and 35 years, respectively. In the case of the child, small-pox was associated with acute miliary tuberculosis, and in that of the man of 35, with chronic myocarditis. The deaths at 52 and two years have been classed as due to small-pox, that at 35 years as due to chronic myocarditis.

asked the Minister of Health how many certificates were received during the year 1933 on which vaccination or vaccinia were entered as the cause or one of the causes of death, and the age in each case?

The answer to the first part of the question is six, and to the second part, two months, three months, four months, four months, six months and 17 years, respectively.

Description.	November, 1933.		December, 1933.		January, 1934.
	Quantity.	Declared Value.	Quantity.	Declared Value.	Quantity.	Declared Value.
Linen and hemp piece goods—	Sq. yds.	£	Sq. yds	£	Sq. yds.	£
Plain, unbleached	—	—	—	—	153,482	2,551
Plain, bleached	44,059	843	—	—	—	—
Printed or dyed	18,532	458	18,001	769	66,122	1,382

asked the President of the Board of Trade, on the basis of export licences actually issued within the last five years, the number of firms who manufacture war material for Governments other than the British Government?

asked the Minister of Health whether any forms, other than Form A under the Vaccination Acts, are handed to parents registering births at Paddington?

I am advised that the answer is in the negative.

asked the Secretary of State for India whether any decision has been taken recently in regard to Indian princes entering Sandhurst or Woolwich in this country?

No, Sir.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the quantity and value of the imports of plain unbleached, plain bleached, and printed linen imports from the Soviet Union during each of the months November and December, 1933, and January, 1934?

The following table shows the total quantity and declared value of the undermentioned descriptions of linen and hemp piece goods imported into the United Kingdom and registered during the specified months as consigned from the Soviet Union.

In the last five years, 14 firms manufacturing weapons of war and ammunition, including component parts and accessories therefor, were granted licences for the export of such material to foreign Governments.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can form any estimate of the annual income derived from services rendered by Great Britain to foreign countries and to Empire countries, respectively, exclusive of visible exports?

The income from services rendered by the United Kingdom cannot be estimated for Empire and foreign countries separately.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, with regard to the increase in the imports of brooms and brushes in 1933 by 30 per cent. in quantity over those of 1932 and to the fall in the average price from 2s. to 1s. 4d. a dozen, he can now say if any application has been made by the industry for an increased duty; and, if so, on what date was it received?

Any such application would naturally be addressed to the Import Duties Advisory Committee. The Committee have not, up to the present, advertised such an application.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the fact that a large percentage of industrial civil servants in Admiralty establishments do not belong to any regular trades union and, as a result, are not represented in the consultations on the Whitley Council; and whether he will reconsider the possibility of devising some new machinery which will remove the grievance of these employés in this respect?

As my hon. Friend is aware, there tare already in the Admiralty service facilities, outside the system of Whitley Councils, whereby employés, or groups of employés, may discuss matters affecting their employment with the superintendent of the establishment, or, if need be, may be accorded interviews thereon at the Admiralty. Under the circumstances, it is not considered advisable to introduce new machinery of the kind suggested.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether an account is kept relating to loss sustained by the public upon the destruction of bank and currency notes through fire and accident or other causes; and if he will state the gain to the Issue Department of the Bank of England which arose in this way during the years 1932 and 1933?

The records available relate of necessity only to cases in which the alleged total destruction of a note is notified to the Bank of England. As regards the latter part of the question, under Section 7 of the Currency and Bank Notes Act, 1928, £1 and 10s. notes not presented for payment within 20 years are written off; notes for higher values are written off after 40 years. Such writing-off does not, however, deprive a holder of his right to present the note for payment at a subsequent date. The net profits which accrued to the Treasury on this account during the years 1932 and 1933 under Section 6 of the same Act were just under £2,000 for the two years together.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether Russian Oil Products, Limited, is included among those Soviet trading agents in this country who are liable to pay Income Tax on their profits?

The answer to my hon. Friend's question is in the affirmative.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether Entertainments Duty is paid on the use of seats in Royal parks which are within audible distance of the bandstands; and, if this is not the case, whether he can state the reason, seeing that at seaside resorts Entertainments Duty has to be paid on the use of deck-chairs, even if the band performances are free?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative in so far as the charges made exceed 2d., but I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend that under the law Entertainments Duty is not chargeable on admission payments not exceeding 2d. The second part of the question does not arise.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the amount of the subsidies paid out each year by the Treasury for the growing of sugar beet; and for each year how much was paid to the growers of beet and how much went to the factories?

I have been asked to reply. The subsidy is paid to manufacturers in respect of sugar and molasses produced by them from home-grown beets. The amounts paid in respect of each manufacturing season are as follow:

			£
1924–25	…	…	509,200
1925–26	…	…	1,121,581
1926–27	…	…	3,324,197
1927–28	…	…	4,214,060
1928–29	…	…	2,824,820
1929–30	…	…	4,233,776
1930–31	…	…	6,143,612
1931–32	…	…	1,973,360*
1932–33	…	…	2,378,779
1933–34	…	…	3,388,000
			(provisional)
* Including £183,297 advanced under the British Sugar Industry (Assistance) Act, 1931.

With regard to the latter part of the question, I would refer my Noble Friend to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams) on 14th December last, of which I am sending her a copy.