asked the Minister of Agriculture the amount by which the levy per gallon fixed by the milk boards will be reduced as a result of the provisions of Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of the Milk Bill, and the amount by which the levy will be increased by the provisions of Clause 11 of the Bill?

In reply to the first part of the question, the pool price for milk must depend partly on the national milk output, partly on the volume of liquid milk consumption and partly on what is the cheese milk price during the next two years. I regret that I cannot therefore give the figure desired. In reply to the second part of the question, I am unable to say whether the pool price will be increased or decreased by the provisions of Clause 11 of the Bill.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what response has been received from the United States Government with reference to the proposal for joint action mentioned on the situation in Liberia?

No reply has yet been received from the United States Government.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what were the numbers and percentage of the writing-assistant class falling within each of the following age groups as at 1st April, 1933, and as at 1st April, 1934, respectively: 16 to 20 years, 21 to 25 years, 26 to 30 years, 31 to 40 years, 41 to 50 years, and over 50 years?

The following table shows the age grouping of writing assistants serving on 1st April, 1933. Similar information relating to the position on 1st April, 1934, is not at present available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been drawn to the terms of a Bill which has recently been introduced into the Parliament of the Union of South Africa, entitled the Colonial Stock Act (1900) Declaration Bill; and whether he is in a position to make any statement on the subject?

Yes, Sir. The Bill in question is the result of an agreement between His Majesty's Governments in the United Kingdom and in the Union of South Africa and will be followed by legislation in this country. Last autumn the Union Government informed us that they proposed to repeal Section 65 of the South Africa Act, 1909, which provides for the exercise of the power of disallowance in respect of Union legislation. The action they proposed to take was in accordance with the constitutional developments of the last few years. But, as the House is aware, one of the conditions prescribed by the Treasury under the Colonial Stock Act, 1900, with which every Dominion or Colonial Government must comply in order to obtain trustee status in the United Kingdom for their securities, is concerned with this power of disallowance. The Third Treasury condition stipulates that the right of disallowance shall be expressly recognised by the borrowing Government in respect of any legislation which appears to the United Kingdom Government to alter any of the provisions affecting the stock to the injury of the stockholder or to involve a departure from the original contract in regard to the stock. The Union Government, therefore, realising that when the power of disallowance ceased these conditions would in the absence of express stipulation become nugatory, and desiring to maintain in the fullest possible degree the rights of holders of their stocks, approached His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with a view to devising an alternative form of safeguard.As a result of discussion between the two Governments, it was agreed, I am glad to say, that the Union Government should enter into an undertaking with the United Kingdom Government, which should be accepted by the Treasury, subject to the approval of Parliament, as an

alternative to the third of the existing conditions to which I have just referred. The Union Government have already passed an Act to confirm this undertaking; that is the Bill to which my hon. Friend refers. The following is the new form of undertaking which, as I say, has been confirmed by an Act of the Parliament of the Union:

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the figures of the quantities, in categories, of cotton imports into Ceylon from the United Kingdom and Japan, respectively, for the latest convenient equivalent period of three months in the years 1933 and 1934?

The following are the figures for the three months ended 31st March, 1933, and 31st March, 1934:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider the desirability of issuing a Return showing, for houses let at a low annual rental, say, £10 in rural districts and £20 for houses and tenements in urban districts, the number of rooms in each house; the number of inmates; their sex and age; the nature of the water supply; the nature and condition of the sanitation; and the state of repairs?

I have been asked to reply. I cannot think that the very con- siderable expense and labour involved in the preparation of such a return would be justifiable.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is yet in a position to make any statement with regard to the arrangements for constructing a railway junction in the vicinity of Tel-Aviv, Palestine?

No, Sir.