asked the Postmaster-General the number of air mail pillar boxes now provided in Brentford and Chiswick; and whether any proposals are under consideration for adding to their number in the near future?

There is one air mail pillar box in the Chiswick and Brentford area. The number of air letters posted in that area is not at present sufficient to justify the erection of additional boxes. As my hon. Friend is doubtless aware, air mail correspondence can be posted in any posting box or at any Post Office.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is yet in a position to make any statement with regard to the new loan for Kenya Colony; and whether he can state for what purposes, and at what rate of interest, it will be issued?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Captain P. Macdonald) on 4th July, to which I am not yet in a position to add anything.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can now give an assurance that steps will be taken during the current year to carry out the reforms in connection with Palestine railways recommended by Sir Felix Pole in his recent report on this subject?

Sir Felix Pole's report is not concerned with the question of reforms in connection with the Palestine railways. As I have explained in answer to oral questions in the House of Commons, arising out of a report of a local committee on road and rail transport, three experts were invited to examine and report on three different aspects of railway communication in Palestine. Sir Felix Pole was asked to advise on certain specific proposals for improving the lay-out of the railway line (including station accommodation) in order to facilitate comm- munication between Jaffa, Tel-Aviv and Haifa, comprising a scheme for the deviation of the main line. Mr. Jenkin-Jones, of the London and North Eastern Railway, was asked to advise upon development of traffic facilities, traffic organisation and rates, and Sir Laurence Halsey, of Messrs. Price, Waterhouse and Company, on the accounting system and the establishment of an adequate renewals fund. The recommendations of each of these experts contemplate expenditure of large sums. It will only be possible to reach final conclusions after a close study of all three reports which, particularly in their financial effect, are closely interrelated. They are now under consideration by the High Commissioner, who informs me that he hopes shortly to submit his considered views and recommendations. When these have been received and duly considered in the Colonial Office, the question of publication of all or any of these reports will be decided.

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office how many ex-Army men have since 1900 been recommended for the Meritorious Service Medal; how many medals have been awarded in that period; and how many such recommended men have died before the medal could be awarded to them?

The extraction of this information from the records of the past 35 years would involve the expenditure of considerable time and labour, and I regret that I do not feel justified in authorising the research.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the hardship caused by the exclusion of university graduates in chemistry, unless they are or become members or associates of the Institute of Chemistry, from the list of persons authorised to undertake or supervise the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations containing any poison used in the internal treatment of human ailments, he will instruct his Department to add to the categories of persons so authorised (Report of the Poisons Board, Cmd. 4192, Appendix II, Rule 27) persons qualified by the possession of degrees testifying competency in chemistry, issued by accredited universities, without being required to seek membership of the Institute of Chemistry?

Notice of my intention to make rules under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933, including the rule to which the hon. Member refers, has been published in accordance with the Rules Publication Act, 1893, and I shall not be in a position to take any final decisions until after the expiration of the period during which the draft rules are open for representations to be made to me. The hon. Member may rest assured that all such representations will be most carefully considered.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any steps, and, if so, whether he can state their nature, are being taken to protect the northern frontier of Kenya in the event of war between Italy and Abyssinia, and in that case whether the British Government or the Kenya Government will be expected to defray the cost of the extra military precautions entailed?

The measures to be taken in the circumstances to which my hon. Friend refers are under active review by His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Acting-Governor of Kenya. The military forces at the Colonial Government's disposal have been partially redistributed, in view of possible contingencies on the frontier, but it has been considered unnecessary to reinforce them. The cost of such measures as have hitherto been taken is inconsiderable, and will be met from Colonial revenue.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps are being taken by the Sudanese Government to protect its frontiers in the case of war between Italy and Abyssinia, especially in view of the importance of avoiding any unrest among the natives in the Sudan?

It has not been thought necessary up to the present to reinforce the normal garrison maintained in time of peace in the Sudan, but the situation on the frontier is being closely watched. No reports of unrest among the natives have been received by His Majesty's Government, who are satisfied that the necessary steps have been taken by the Sudan Government for the maintenance of order.