asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that Japanese imports into the mandated territories of Tanganyika and Palestine increased substantially in 1934 as against 1933, whereas the exports of these mandated territories to Japan were negligible; and whether steps will be taken to enable these territories to deal with such inequitable trade balances?

:The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The whole position, which involves many questions, both legal and general, is under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will consider the desirability of negotiating trade agreements between Palestine and the several countries which export large quantities of goods to Palestine without purchasing from Palestine more than a negligible quantity of Palestinian produce?

Yes, Sir. The requirements of Palestine have received and continue to receive careful consideration. But I think it may be found in practice that the most satisfactory results are likely to be obtained in the course of negotiations for commercial treaties undertaken by the United Kingdom.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can state the quantity of cloves that has come in as deposit from producers to the Clove Growers Association in Zanzibar since its reconstitution on its present basis; the quantity that has been purchased by the association since its reconstitution; and the quantity deposited with the association which has been sold to the association itself or to others, giving the average price in each case?

I have not got this detailed information, and I am sure my hon. Friend will appreciate that it would be unfair to require a trading agency to disclose particulars of current trading. But the Resident intends to publish an annual report upon the work of the association.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the special position of Argentina with regard to the Empire, he will say what steps he is taking to safeguard the interests of British trade and investment in that country?

I can assure the hon. Member that the question of safeguarding United Kingdom interests in this matter receives my right hon. Friend's constant attention.

Has the hon. Gentleman seen the report of a. speech by the late Minister to Argentina in which he complains that sufficient attention has not been given to this matter?

No, Sir, I have not seen it.

Will the hon. Gentleman also draw the attention of his right hon. Friend to the fact that British firms registered in this country are receiving none, or a very small propor- tion, of the quota of goods allowed to be exported from Argentina to this country? They are not receiving a fair proportion.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he hopes to be able to introduce either this Session or early next Session a Bill to amend the law relating to trade marks, based on the recommendations unanimously made by the departmental committee on the law and practice relating to trade marks as of importance and urgency to commercial and industrial interests?

The preparatory work for the necessary legislation is in hand, but I cannot say when, it will be possible to introduce it.

Would it be possible to have the Bill introduced in another place?

That certainly is a matter which will be considered.

asked the Secretary of State for India whether he can make a statement on the proposed Indo-Burma trade agreement?

I propose to deal with this question in connection with the consideration in Committee of Part XIV of the Government of India Bill.

Can my right hon. Friend say whether, in dealing with it, he will deal with it as a preliminary to the first Clause in Part XIV of the Government of India Bill, or at what stage in Part XIV of the Bill he will deal with it?

I think that that must rest with the Chairman. So far as I am concerned, I will deal with it on the first available opportunity.

May I ask my right hon. Friend, in view of the fact that Burma now constitutes part of India, who is going to make an agreement between India and Burma on behalf of Burma?

That is just the type of question with which I am going to deal in the Debate.

asked the Secretary for the Colonies in what Colonies or protectorates or mandated territories duties have been imposed with a view to limiting the import of Japanese goods; whether such duties have been imposed on Japanese goods as such or on certain classes of articles which are imported from Japan, and, if so, whether he will give a list of such articles?

As regards the operation of the quota provisions with regard to textiles, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Royton (Mr. Sutcliffe) on the 4th of March. Special duties leviable on Japanese goods have been imposed on certain kinds of apparel, galvanised iron sheets, paint, varnish and similar articles and cement in the Gold Coast and Nigeria, and on the same articles with one or two additional items in the Gambia.

In view of the answer to a previous question, are we to understand that these prohibitions or tariffs have had no effect?

No, on the contrary, if the hon. Gentleman will look at the effect of the tariffs and at the published records of the quotas which I have put in the OFFICIAL REPORT, he will see that it has meant an increase in British exports in some cases of 300 and 400 per cent.

asked the Minister of Transport the percentage per thousand of the total population of the country killed in road accidents during each of the past two years up to December, 1934?

The number of persons killed in road accidents in Great Britain per hundred thousand of the total population was 15.9 in 1933 and 16.2 in 1934.

asked the Minister of Transport what is the percentage increase or reduction in the numbers of those killed and injured on the roads in the first three months of this year as compared with the first three months of last year; and what is the percentage increase or decrease in the number of mechanically-propelled vehicles in the same period?

The number of persons killed and injured on the roads in Great Britain during the first three months of this year is estimated to have been 6 per cent. less than the number in the corresponding period of 1934, while there were approximately 12 per cent. more mechanically-propelled road vehicles licensed. To express this percentage reduction in actual numbers, there has been a reduction of over 30 per day in the number of those killed and injured, or a total of 2,845 in the period, while the number of motor vehicles licensed has increased by 224,237, that is at the rate of 600 per day on every day for the last 12 months.

Will the hon. Gentleman keep a similar record of the number of people killed by commercial vehicles and by private motor cars?

I think that those particulars will be disclosed in the analysis I am having made for the current year.

May I ask my hon. Friend whether, having regard to the information he has given to the House, the new 30-mile limit is not working very satisfactorily?

asked the Minister of Transport how many inquiries into cases of accidents have been initiated under section 23, Sub-section (1), of the Road Traffic Act, 1930?

The circumstances of a large number of accidents are investigated as a matter of course by my Divisional Road Engineers or by the certifying officers of the Ministry. Public inquiries are, however, rarely held, and it has only been found necessary to adopt the procedure provided for in the Road Traffic Act in six instances.

asked the Minister of Transport whether in future he will arrange for statistics provided by his Department to distinguish between accidents in built-up areas and accidents outside such areas?

I have arranged that separate particulars will be given in the analysis of fatal road accidents in 1935 which I propose to issue in due course. In the meantime it may be of interest to the House to know that for the fortnight ended 30th March, 1935, representing the first two weeks of the speed limit, there was a reduction of 16 per cent. in the numbers of persons killed and injured in county police districts and a reduction of 21.5 per cent. in city and town police districts, compared with the corresponding period in 1934.

Will my hon. Friend pay particular attention to the discrimination in the statistics between private cars and cars that were previously subject to speed regulations under the last Act?

I am trying to make the statistics as full as possible. I hope they will contain that information.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the uncertainty of pedestrians when crossing at the beacon places, he will consider sending some of the officials of his Department to watch at some of the principal crossings and to make a report to him of what they think is necessary to give more confidence both to drivers of vehicles and pedestrians?

I have already adopted the hon. Member's suggestion.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the habit of motorists of waving on pedestrians without slackening speed, and will he draw the attention of motorists to the fact that they should slow down on approaching a pedestrian crossing on which there are pedestrians?

Will the hon. Gentleman send his officials to the bottom of Kingsway, where he will find three crossings and will get evidence of what I am trying to convey? Pedestrians do not know what to do, and the drivers keep them out by following close together.

I hope that mutual courtesy and consideration will in the end solve this problem.

Is the Minister aware that much of the confusion arises from the lack of visibility of the beacons to drivers?

asked the Minister of Transport to what extent the local authorities have responded to his invitation to prepare and submit schemes for pedestrian crossings to him for his approval?

Outside the London traffic area, schemes have been submitted to me by 299 local authorities in England and Wales, and 23 in Scotland.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware of the state of repair of Shiloh Road, in the parish of Mellor, Derbyshire; and whether he will take steps to see that this road is taken over by the county council and a grant given towards its reconstruction?

If the county council decides to adopt the road, I shall certainly be prepared to consider an application for a grant from the Road Fund towards its improvement.

Can my hon. Friend do anything to induce the county council to make up the road quicker than they are doing?

asked the Minister of Transport when the West Riding County Council propose to commence the erection of the 30-miles-per-hour de-restriction signs; and on what date it is anticipated that this work will have been completed?

I have asked the county council to treat the provision of these signs as a matter of immediate urgency.

May I have a reply to the second part of my Question, which was as to the date by which it is anticipated that this work will have been completed?

In the last communication I had from the West Riding County Council they indicated that they were getting on with the work as quickly as possible.

Is the Minister aware that in the West Riding of Yorkshire a number of local authorities have put up 30miles-per-hour signs at the limits of their boundaries, that that, was not the intention of Parliament, and that it was the intention of Parliament that built-up areas should be restricted, and will he use his over-riding authority to get some of those restricted roads de-restricted?

I have demonstrated to the House my desire to assist motorists in that way as much as possible.

Will the Minister see also that local authorities do not erect de-restriction signs behind hedges, but make them as visible as the restriction signs?

asked the Minister of Transport whether he has received from the local authority concerned an application that the main road from Cheadle to Handforth and from Hand-forth to Wilmslow shall be exempted from the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit?

No, Sir.

Does the Minister not agree that the surest way to make the regulations a success and to prevent their being brought into ridicule is by excluding a type of road that was never intended to be subject to the 30-mile-perhour limit but which still remains restricted?

My hon. Friend asked me whether I had received an application from the local authority. I say that I have not received it.

In any case in which his inspectors inform him that a certain road merits decontrol, does the Minister communicate with the local authority concerned to see whether that can be done?

I have a vast volume of correspondence with local authorities.

Will he be willing to make such a communication in this particular case?

Yes, Sir, if the facts justify it.

asked the Minister of Transport to what extent he has received from the local authorities concerned applications for exemption from the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit in respect of stretches of wide open roads in Lancashire and Cheshire?

The only length's of road in Lancashire and Cheshire in respect of which I have received applications from local authorities for de-restriction are lengths of road in Bacup and Darwen, and I have given my consent to the necessary Orders.

Is it a fact that local authorities in the South of England have been more enterprising and forward in putting in their applications than those in the North?

No.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the great development in the use of speed restriction and de-restriction signs on the roads since the findings of the Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs were published or the motor organisations were consulted in connection therewith, he will take steps to ascertain the views of these organisations on the usefulness of having distinctive painted lines placed on the roads to indicate the approach to or departure from restricted speed areas?

I will readily consider any representations on this subject which the organisations referred to by my hon. and gallant Friend may wish to make to me.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that the main road east of Staines, level with the Staines reservoir as far as the arterial road, is subject to the 30-mile-per-hour speed limit; and whether he will take steps to have this road derestricted?

I am in consultation with the police and the local authorities concerned.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will consider taking steps to relax the 30-mileper-hour speed limit between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.?

I have no power to relax the 30 miles per hour speed limit during particular hours.

May I ask my hon. Friend whether he is aware that the former Minister was in favour of this, and is there now disagreement in the Government in regard to it?

No, Sir. The power was not contained in the Act.

asked the Minister of Transport what steps have been taken during the last month, or will be taken in the near future, to meet the long-felt want of a toll-free bridge at Selby?

The County Councils of the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire are awaiting the report of the consulting engineers on proposals to construct a new road and toll-free bridge at Selby.

asked the Minister of Transport whether it is his intention to refuse grants to local authorities to free existing toll bridges; and whether grants are only to be made to assist schemes for the construction of bridges on new arterial roads?

No, Sir. My policy is to free perpetual tolls, and I am prepared to make grants of 75 per cent. for this purpose. In appropriate cases, however, it naturally falls to be decided whether the public interest would best be served by freeing from tolls a bridge which is inadequate for traffic needs of the neighbourhood, or whether to construct a new and adequate bridge.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the widespread desire that motorists who fail under the test should be given in writing or orally the reason for such failure, he will issue instructions to this effect forthwith?

Apart from the specific test, an examiner is required to judge generally whether or not a candidate is competent to drive without danger and with due consideration for other users of the road. As in certain circumstances a candidate may appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction, it is most desirable to avoid giving any instructions to examiners which might involve them in controversy. In accordance, however, with the spirit in which I desire these tests to be conducted, I am informing examiners that they should indicate to unsuccessful candidates on request the points to which they would be well advised to devote special attention before taking the test again and I am also directing examiners to inform a candidate forthwith if he has failed in the eyesight test.

asked the Minister of Transport the number of pedal bicycles now in use upon the roads of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the number of cases in which such cyclists have been prosecuted for violation of the law relating to the use of the highway?

There are no statistics of the number of pedal cycles in use in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am informed that in 1933, the latest year for which particulars are available, 47,550 pedal cyclists were prosecuted for highway offences in Great Britain.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he has considered the representations of the National Cyclists' Union, and other bodies concerned with the welfare of bicycle riders upon the highways of the country, expressing opposition to the introduction of cycle tracks; and what action he proposes to take upon the case thus submitted to him?

I must inform the House that the increase in the number of fatal and other accidents to cyclists appears, from such information as is before me, to be out of all proportion to those of other road users, casualties among whom actually tend to decrease. The number of pedestrians killed and injured on the roads in 1934, as compared with 1933, increased by less than 1 per cent., but in the case of cyclists by 44.2 per cent. In these circumstances, I am still not without hope that cyclists will accept the principle of segregating traffic as far as possible according to the speed at which it can travel as being as much for their safety and convenience as has been the setting aside of footpaths for the sole use of pedestrians.

While thanking my hon. Friend for his very full answer, may I ask him whether, notwithstanding what he has said in that reply, representations made by organised bodies of cyclists will receive his sympathetic consideration?

Is it not a fact that local authorities in Denmark have provided separate cycling tracks, and that these are very popular among cyclists?

Has the Minister any idea how many of the accidents could have been avoided if the cyclists had been carrying rear lights?

Could not the Minister extend the principle of separate highways to motorists?

I am naturally most willing to receive any representations, and I hope that the cyclists will assist the campaign for their own and the public safety.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the great increase in the use of red-light advertisements since the report of the Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs, and the neglect of highway authorities to exercise their powers under section 48 (4) of the Act of 1930, he will exercise his own powers under Sub-section (5) to procure the removal of such signs or their raising to such a level of height as would prevent their being mistaken for danger or warning signals

The provisions to which my, hon. and gallant Friend refers enable highway authorities and myself to remove only such signs as are unauthorised traffic signs, or which so closely resemble traffic signs that they might reasonably be taken to be such signs. I repeat the assurance which I recently gave my hon. and gallant Friend, that if he knows of any cases where any advertising signs might reasonably be taken to be traffic signs within the meaning of the section, I will immediately take the matter up.

Does not the Minister think that it would be of great advantage if all red signs were removed from the roads except such as indicate danger or obstruction to traffic?

It is not a question of what I think; it is a question of the law, and I will exercise my power to the full.

Is my hon. Friend aware that many highway authorities may regard with indifference the question of the question of the removal of such signs while others may remove them, and that the principle is one of national traffic and not of merely parochial traffic going through a particular area?

If my hon. and gallant Friend has any reason to doubt whether a particular local authority is taking proper action, I shall be most willing to investigate the case.

Does not my hon. Friend think that it is his own duty to look after these things?

I cannot do so in regard to such lights on every road in the country

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that riders have been forbidden to use the grass margins along the Great West Road in the county of Middlesex and along considerable stretches of road in the vicinity of Manchester and Leeds; and that powers have recently been obtained by the corporations of Wigan, Doncaster, Sunderland, Birmingham, Weston-super-Mare, and others to enable them equally to ban riders from grass margins in their areas of a purely ornamental nature; and whether money from the Road Fund has been used to assist the ornamentation of the margins and their consequent withdrawal from use by riders in any of these places?

I am aware that certain authorities have obtained powers to enable them to exclude riders from such areas which are considered unsuited for that purpose; but it is not my practice to make grants towards the execution of works which will prevent the reasonable use of the highways by equestrians.

asked the Minister of Transport to what extent he has exercised the power vested in him to purchase land within 220 yards of the centre of a road to the cost of making which a contribution has been made from national funds; and in whom is vested land so purchased?

In addition to some small parcels of land acquired to avoid claims for severance in connection with a number of road schemes, my predecessors purchased approximately 112 acres surplus to the land required for the construction of the North Orbital Road. The land, so far as it still remains unsold, is vested in the Minister.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the inconvenience caused to passengers by breakdowns on the tube and underground railways of London, he will request the London Passenger Transport Board to take steps to inform the public when there is a breakdown, so that other means of transport can be used, and also to inform the public by their railway officials that fares will be returned where a passenger leaves the train to reach his destination by other means?

I will bring the hon. Member's suggestions to the attention of the. London Passenger Transport Board

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is able to give any information of the present position of the proposal to set up a joint road transport body for the industrial area around Manchester; and whether he will do anything to help forward this object?

I have not received any official information regarding this proposal.

Is it possible for the Minister to do anything to help forward this object? Can he take any action in the matter at all?

I will consider it on its merits if it be put to me.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, seeing that he made an order in November, 1934, varying the provisions of section 19 of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, in relation to the hours of drivers of certain goods vehicles used under A and B licences, but subsequently decided not to make a similar order in relation to the hours of the drivers of goods vehicles used under C licences, he will now say what the grounds are for the distinction between the hours of drivers of vehicles used under A and B licences on the one hand and under C licences on the other hand?

I do not feel justified in extending further the scope of the Order referred to to include a very large number of persons engaged in a variety of trades and industries and in a diversity of occupation which is not necessarily confined to driving; to do so would in my view be departing very far from the principle of section 19 of the Act of 1930.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will now consider requiring all public service vehicles to have mechanical direction signals worked by the driver to indicate when they are turning right or left?

The Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs, which considered the question of direction indicators on motor vehicles, did not recommend that their use should be made compulsory on any type of vehicle.

Has the Minister considered, in the light of the experience of his Department, whether it would not be advisable to make these signals compulsory in the case of omnibuses and tramcars?

Yes, Sir, I have considered it, but nothing new has arisen since the investigation was recently concluded.

Has not this been pointed out to the Minister for the last 18 months on several occasions; and when does he propose to take any action?

When I think action can be effectively taken.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will endeavour to secure for the safety of the public, as a warning to other users of the roads, that all public service vehicles, including tramcars, have a stop light worked automatically by the brake, as are now generally fitted on private cars?

The use of stop lights is not compulsory on any type of motor vehicle, and as at present advised I am not satisfied that there is any special necessity for fitting them to public service vehicles, which every driver knows to be liable to stop at any time for the purpose of picking up or setting down passengers. I am advised that there are technical difficulties in fitting stop lights to some types of tramcar.

asked the Minister of Transport how far local authorities are required by his Department to make provision for footpaths for pedestrians on the side of new or improved roads for which he provides financial assistance; and whether he will in future make such provision, as a general rule, a condition of financial assistance?

The provision of footways, in all cases where they are practicable and desirable, is now a condition of grants from the Road Fund. Highway authorities have been warned that grants will not be made towards road widening operations by which pedestrians are deprived of footways or verges.

Will the Minister take steps to ensure that the surface of the footpath is equally as good as the surface of the road?

It is my desire that it should be properly kept.

Is the Minister aware that in a very large number of cases these footpaths are practically impassable, and that it is, in fact, the condition of the footways which is largely responsible for the misgivings of many cyclists as to the proposal to provide separate cycle-ways?

I have impressed on local authorities the necessity for preserving the maintenance of these footways.

asked the Minister of Transport (1) whether he is aware that complaints have previously been made to his Department about the dangers of the boulevard bridge at Dun-tocher, near Clydebank, and that a fatal accident occurred there on 30th March; and whether he will require a spiked iron railing to be fitted on to the parapet of the bridge, and also the Eastern approach of the bridge to be safeguarded by erecting a strong iron structure similar to that at the western end of the bridge;

(2) whether, in view of the recent accident where a man fell from the boulevard bridge at Dun-tocher, near Clydebank, and was killed, and in view of the representations already made, without result, regarding the dangers of this bridge, he will take steps to ensure that the present parapet of the bridge is heightened or fitted with a spiked iron railing, and also that the approach to the East end of the bridge is adequately protected, as the western approach to the bridge has already been?

The fatal occurrence referred to was, I understand, caused by a man climbing on to the parapet and falling off. In the report which I have seen it is stated that a note understood to have been written by the victim and left on the parapet may throw some light on the mystery of his fall. In any event the matter is one entirely for the local authority, and I have no power whatever to intervene.