asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will state the number of parishes and district councils, respectively, in each of the counties of Scotland, and the number of committees of such councils which have been appointed under Section 33 of the Local Government Act of 1894, and the Local Government Act of 1929, Section 1 (2) (b)?

Following is the information required:

County.	No. of Parishes.	No. of District Councils.
Aberdeen	83	8
Angus	53	6
Argyll	39	10
Ayr	44	10
Banff	22	6
Berwick	32	3
Bute	6	3
Caithness	10	5
Clackmannan	5	2
Dumfries	43	8
Dunbarton	12	6
East Lothian	24	5
Fife	60	7
Inverness	33	9
Kincardine	19	5
Kinross	5	—
Kirkcudbright	28	6
Lanark	40	9
Midlothian	22	8
Moray	19	6
Nairn	4	—
Orkney	21	10
Peebles	14	4
Perth	71	5
Renfrew	15	5
Ross and Cromarty	33	12
Roxburgh	30	4
Selkirk	7	2
Stirling	22	8
Sutherland	13	6
Westlothian	11	6
Wigtown	17	2
Zetland	12	13
Totals	869	199

There are 10 cases where a parish is situated in two counties. Such parishes have been assigned in the above table to the county in which the larger part of the parish is situated. Information is not available as to the number of committees appointed by district councils.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether be has figures to show the number of children

Year.		County of Ross and Cromarty.			Island of Lewis.
		Number of children attending—			Number of children attending—
		Primary Schools.	Secondary Schools.	Primary and Secondary Schools.	Primary Schools.	Secondary Schools.	Primary and Secondary Schools.
1920	…	9,490	2,725	12,215	4,588	936	5,524
1925	…	8,022	2,618	10,640	3,516	825	4,341
1930	…	7,853	2,642	10,495	3,541	874	4,415
1935	…	7,740	2,804	10,544	3,514	1,036	4,550

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of teachers, including head teachers, employed in elementary and secondary schools in Ross and Cromarty, and in the

Year.		County of Ross and Cromarty.			Island of Lewis.
		Number of teachers (including head teachers).			Number of teachers (including head teachers).
		Primary Schools.	Secondary Schools.	Total Primary and Secondary Schools.	Primary Schools.	Secondary Schools.	Total Primary and Secondary Schools.
1920	…	254	138	392	109*	29*	138*
1925	…	322	119	441	131	35	166
1930	…	327	126	453	133	38	171
1935	…	314	119	433	131	39	170
*These figures are for 1919. Figures for 1920 are not available for the Island of Lewis.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will state the number of smallholders settled in Ross and Cromarty, Inverness-shire, and Sutherland and Caithness, respectively, in each of the years 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, and 1935 by the Department of Agriculture in Scotland;

The following table gives the required information:island of Lewis alone in the years 1920, 1925, 1930, and 1935?

The following table gives the required information:and the total population settled on these holdings in each of those counties during each of these years?

The information desired by the hon. Member regarding the number of holders settled by the Department of Agriculture for Scotland is contained in the following table:

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he will give the numbers of the physically and mentally-deficient children, separately, on the rolls of the special schools in England and Wales as at the last convenient date, with comparable figures for the last three years?

The information for which the hon. Member asks is given in the following table:

Number of Physically defective and Mentally defective children on the rolls of Special Schools in England and Wales on 31st March in each of the years 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935.
—	Physically defective children.	Mentally defective children.
1932	28,095	15,628
1933	28,838	15,637
1934	28,884	15,318
1935	29,417	14,974

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that metal-work instructors in the employ of the London County Council lent for service as supervisors in munition factories during the Great War, and also domestic economy instructresses lent as supervisors under the Canteens Board were allowed to count these periods as pensionable teaching service; and if he will consider granting the same privilege to the five London County Council teachers interned in Ruhleben during the Great War?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, I am advised that it is impossible to regard the period for which a civilian teacher was interned during the War as pensionable service under the Teachers (Superannuation) Acts.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what action has been taken by his Department upon the petition to this House of the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society, which was referred to him by the chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Petitions?

The petition was examined in the Colonial Office and compared with the earlier petition of the society to His Majesty in Council. In a. despatch dated the 12th of August, which has been published in the Gold Coast, my predecessor informed the acting Governor that he saw no reason to modify in any way the reply returned to the earlier petition.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state the amount of taxation per head of the population, expressed in sterling, for Great Britain, Italy, and the United States, for each year from 1930–31 to date?

The following is the amount of taxation per head exclusive of local taxation and, in the case of the United States, of State taxation:

—	Great Britain.			Italy.			United States.
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
1930–1	15	6	6	4	11	5	4	6	11
1931–2	15	8	5	5	5	9	3	17	6
1932–3	15	12	11	5	15	5	4	4	3
1933–4	15	4	9	6	2	2	4	15	3
1934–5	15	3	10	6	9	9	5	15	10
1935–6 (estimated).	15	6	1	6	2	4	6	14	4
The conversions from Italian and American currency to sterling are made in each case at the average rate of exchange for the financial year.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether in framing his Budget proposals, he will have regard to the promise of his predecessor in 1931 that the increased taxation on petrol would be removed as soon as conditions became normal or, alternatively, whether he will provide that a rather larger proportion than heretofore of the moneys collected from motorists shall be actually expended on road improvements?

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on the 20th February, 1936, to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Wycombe (Sir A. Knox).

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the aggregate expenditure on the Army, Navy, Air Force and Ministry of Pensions since 1919?

The following figures give the aggregate net expenditure from the Votes of the Defence Departments and the Ministry of Pensions for the years 1920 to 1934, both inclusive. The figures are based on those given in the annual Appropriation Accounts, with the exception of those for the Defence Departments for the year 1934, which are taken from Estimate.

Effective Expenditure.
	£	£
Navy	759,792,000	—
Army	673,715,000	—
Air	230,875,000	—
Total		1,664,382,000
Non-Effective Expenditure.
	£	£
Navy	127,944,500	—
Army	121,992,000	—
Air	2,876,500	—
Total		252,813,000
Ministry of Pensions		960,163,000
Grand Total for 15 years 1920 to 1934, both inclusive.		2,877,358,000

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any recent agreements have been reached with the German Government and the Reichsbank as regards interest payments on short- and long-term loans held by British creditors in Germany other than the Dawes and Young loans; and what are the terms of the agreements?

I would refer the hon. Member to Article 7 of the Anglo-German Payments Agreement of 1st November, 1934 (Command Paper No. 4726).

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will state the salaries and condition; of service of clerical workers attached to the Electricity Commissioners?

The clerical staff of the Electricity Commissioners fall into various grades which correspond with the comparable grades in the Civil Service and the salaries and conditions of service of these grades are generally the same in each case. Particulars of the scales of salary of the various grades of clerical staff in the Civil Service will be found in the Estimates.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will inform the Argentine Government that competitive Government building of railways and unreproductive railway construction work, re- dundant staffing, and unremunerative freight rates imposed upon Anglo-Argentine concerns cancel much of the reduction in the exchange tax; and will he also notify the Argentine Government that restrictions of the rights of the Anglo-Argentine railways to earn dividends is causing dissatisfaction among British investors?

All these questions have already been, and will if necessary continue to be, the subject of representations to the Argentine Government.