asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give the respective trade balances between this Country and Russia for the year 1936?

During the year 1936 the total declared value of merchandise imported into the United Kingdom and consigned from the Soviet Union was £18,934,000, while exports to the Soviet Union amounted to £12,958,000, including re-exports valued at £9,466,000. Imports thus exceeded total exports by £5,976,000.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, whether he can state the amounts of wheat exported in 1936 from the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and Russia, respectively, and the total amount of world exports for the same period?

The following statement shows the total world exports of wheat during the year 1936, distinguishing the quantities exported from the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the Soviet Union.(Compiled from the "Monthly Crop Report and Agricultural Statistics" of the International Institute of Agriculture).

asked the Home Secretary, whether he can give the House any information in connection with the death of H. D. Judd, of James Street, Southampton, and two other men, who were injured whilst working in a trench 11 feet deep; and if he can say whether both sides of the trench were properly timbered?

Yes, Sir; the accident was outside the existing jurisdiction of the Factory Department, but I have seen a Press report of the inquest, from which it appears that the trench collapsed unexpectedly at a point where it was being prepared for timbering and that the jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the number of insured men and women belonging to all branches of the engineering industry for the months of January and February, 1937, respectively; and the numbers registered as unemployed, wholly and otherwise, for the same periods?

Statistics showing the total numbers of insured persons in particular industries are available only in respect of July of each year. The follow-

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will state for the years 1934, 1935 and 1936, respectively, the number of parcels carried on the cash-on-delivery service and the percentage returned as not deliverable in each of such periods?

The numbers of Cash-on-Delivery parcels carried were, in round figures, in the financial year 1933–34, 2,822,000; in 1934–35, 2,748,000; and in 1935–36, 2,829,000. The percentages of parcels returned as undeliverable, includ-

asked the Home Secretary how many boys were birched by order of the courts for each of the last five years for which statistics are available.

Whipping of Children—Orders, etc., by Juvenile Courts and ordinary Courts of Summary Jurisdiction in England and Wales during the five years 1931 to 1935.