asked the Minister of Health what is the nature of the personnel and organisation with in his Department charged with the duty to watch and advise him upon the effects of the trend of the birth rate upon housing and other social services in being or under discussion for which he is or may be responsible to Parliament

As my hon. Friend is aware, the Registrar-General, whose Department is with in my ministerial responsibility, has under continual study the nature and direction of all the elements of population movement, the handling of which calls for general statistical experience, prior to their application to particular administrative problems. The Registrar-General is in frequent consultation with the principal officers of the Department with a view to the development of useful lines of inquiry and the satisfaction of particular needs; and data as to the general population prospects and the results of special studies are made available to them either in departmental papers or in the Registrar-General's standard publications. This material is applied to administrative questions in the case of

asked the Minister of Health whether the local health authority in the London area maintains any record of operations performed for the sterilisation of female patients in hospitals subject to his inspection?

I am informed that records of all such operations are kept at the hospitals concerned.

asked the Minister of Health what streptococcus was found in the throats of the two bottlers at Denham to whom the Denham scarlet fever outbreak was at first attributed?

I am advised that one of the persons referred to was a temporary carrier of type I streptococcus, and that in the other case the streptococcus was of a strain unconnected with the out break. I should add that the outbreak was not at any time attributed to these two persons.

asked the Minister of Health on what grounds, while exemption from risks attendant upon vaccination may be secured in the case of children of school age and adolescents, no such exemption is allowed in the case of infants?

I assume that the hon. Member has in mind the advice which has been given by my Department that, in the present state of knowledge and as long as the smallpox prevalent in this country retains its mild character, it is not generally expedient to press for the vaccination of children of school age or adolescents who have not previously been vaccinated, unless they have been in personal contact with a case of smallpox or directly exposed to smallpox infection. This advice is based on the findings of the Committee on Vaccination, whose re port was published in 1928 and expressed the view that early infancy remains the time of choice for primary vaccination

asked the Minister of Health the percentage of infants vaccinated in Hackney and in Bethnal Green for each of the years from 1925 to the latest date available?

Following are the percentages asked for:

asked the Minister of Health the cost of the Hackney immunisation clinic since its foundation in 1928?

According to information furnished by the local authority, the total cost up to the end of March, 1935, has been £1,896.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the proposal in the Housing Bill under which subsidies will be granted to wards the construction of houses, he proposes to suggest to local authorities receiving such subsidy that bedrooms of less than 70 square feet should not be constructed, in view of the fact that under the Bill in question such rooms are only assessed at being fit for occupation by a child under 10 years of age 7

No, Sir. The considerations affecting the standard of re-housing accommodation provided by local authorities and those relating to the penal standard proposed in the Housing Bill are quite different, and the two standards cannot appropriately be correlated in the manner proposed.

asked the Minister of Health, in view of the fact that up to 31st March, 1935, 96, 429 persons had been displaced under slum-clearance orders, whether the whole of these people were offered? alternative accommodation by the different local authorities concerned 7

In every clearance order confirmed by me I satisfy myself that the local authority are providing sufficient re-housing to accommodate the persons displaced. It is their normal practice to make this accommodation available to all those displaced persons who require it.

asked the Minister of Health the number of regional dental officers employed in his Department; and whether any, and, if so, how many of such officers do not possess registrable qualifications?

The regional dental staff consists of 14 officers, one of whom does not possess registrable qualifications.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that, owing to the northern herring fishing being in full operation in July, the attendance of any drifter at the Royal Naval Review would involve heavy financial loss to owner and crew; and, in these circumstances, will he consider recommending financial assistance so as to enable a representative boat from each of the chief herring ports to be present at the review?

It is a matter of the greatest satisfaction to me that the fishing fleets have been honoured by an invitation to send representative vessels to the Naval Review, and I am very anxious that they should be so represented. I recognise the difficulty of attendance owing to the co incidence of the review and the northern herring fishing season, but I have reason to think that in spite of it the herring fishing fleet, though not necessarily each of the chief herring ports, will be represented. I regret that there are no funds at the disposal of my Department from which compensation could be paid.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the policy of his Department in regard to the better centralisation of the slaughter of animals, especially in large towns?

The Government policy on this subject was indicated in the White Paper on the Livestock Situation (Cmd. 4651), issued in July last, which stated that the Government regard a reform of the marketing and slaughtering systems with a view to better economy and efficiency as indispensable to the permanent prosperity of the livestock industry. I cannot at present add to this statement. So far as concerns the technical aspect of the question, there is available the report of the Committee on Abattoir Design, which considered, under the chairmanship of Sir Francis Boys, the technical requirements of factory abattoirs in the light of modern practice at home and abroad

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has received any information as to the experiments con ducted by the Government of Northern Ireland in connection with Spahlinger's vaccine for tuberculosis in cattle; and, if so, whether he can give any information regarding those experiments?

I have no definite in formation concerning these experiments later than the interim report which was published in the "Veterinary Record" of 17th December, 1932. I understand that the final report will be published at an early date.

asked the Home Secretary how many English-born citizens who have been subsequently naturalised in America have with in the last five years asked for permission to return to this country to settle; and how many permits have been granted in such cases?

As my right hon. Friend explained in reply to a question by the hon. Member for Shettleston (Mr. McGovern) on 12th December, 1934, the information asked for is not available

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, how many schools in England and Wales have 45 or less pupils; and how many teachers are employed in these schools?

there were, on 31st March, 1934, in England and Wales

asked the Home Secretary what was the average prison population during 1934 of youths and girls under the age of 21, respectively; and whether he will consider the desirability of arranging for the extension of the probationary system for young offenders?

Excluding those on remand, or awaiting trial, or awaiting removal to Borstal institutions, the daily average number during 1934 of persons in prison who were under the age of 21 on committal was 337 youths and 25 girls. Under the existing law the Courts have wide powers to use the Probation of Offenders Act in any case where they think it expedient to do so, and extensive use is made of these powers. In a Home Office circular issued to all courts in 1928, attention was called to the desirability of dealing with young offenders by other methods than imprisonment whenever practicable; but the decision as to what is the appropriate treatment in individual cases must rest with the courts.