asked the Minister of Transport whether accidents to passengers

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what were the quantities of each of the categories of hydrocarbon oils retained for home consumption during the year ended 31st March, 1937; and what were the net receipts of duty in respect thereof?

The quantities of each category of hydro-carbon oils retained for home consumption, and the respective net receipts of duty derived therefrom, during the year ended 31st March, 1937 (rounded off to the nearest thousand gallons or thousand pounds), were, approximately, as follow:occurring in or upon public service vehicles, as distinct from accidents due to collisions on the road, are notified to the police; and, if so, whether his Department possesses any data respecting the number of such accidents during the year 1936?

The police include such of these accidents as are notified to them, but the numbers included in 1936 have not been ascertained.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he can state the number of British railways electrified during 1936?

During 1936 44 additional route miles of railway were inspected and passed by my officers for electrical working, though they were not opened for traffic until January of this year.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what sums have been expended on the preparation and publication, respectively, of a meteorological chronology from B.C. 2668 to A.D. 1450, recently published by direction of the Air Ministry, under the authority of the Meteorological Committee; and whether he is satisfied that this work serves a useful scientific purpose?

The sum expended on the publication of this work, which is on sale as a publication of His Majesty's Stationery Office, was approximately £212. No other expense was incurred, as preparation of the material was undertaken by the author in his own time. The memoir was submitted in manuscript to the Meteorological Committee who recommended its publication on the ground that the information collected by the author is valuable for the study of changes of climate.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether, seeing that the beet-sugar subsidy was given to promote employment in Great Britain, he will urge the Sugar Commission to stipulate that the acceptance of contracts for the supply of material required by the British Sugar Corporation must be conditional upon all workers concerned receiving wages adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; and will he state the comparative rates of wages paid to jute workers engaged in making sugar bags in Great Britain and in India?

The Sugar Commission have no power to make a stipulation such as is suggested in the first part of the question and I regret that the comparative figures asked for in the second part are not available.

asked the Minister of Health what test is applied for the certification of blindness and is it uniformly applied in England and Wales; and will he give the number of applications for each year, separately, from 1930 to 1936, and the number rejected for the same period, and giving Wales separately?

The test is that the person is "so blind as to be unable to perform any work for which eyesight is essential." According to my information there is substantial uniformity in applying this test, in accordance with criteria set out in a circular of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy. I regret that the figures asked for are not available.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he has any record of the number of blind boys and girls who, on leaving school, are being trained for some trade or any other occupation, and the number of these wholly unemployed for the years 1935 and 1936 in England and Wales, separately?

It is estimated that at present the number of blind boys and girls, as distinct from the partially sighted, who leave the schools for the blind each year at the age of 16 is about 200. The Board do not have a statistical record, but it is known that practically all of these who are likely to be employable enter vocational courses of training. On the 31st March, 1936, the total number of boys and girls from schools for the blind who were being trained was 698. The Board have no statistics concerning the employment of the blind, which is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health.

asked the President of the Board of Education what is the number recorded of border-line cases of pupils in schools for the blind; and is the test for certification of blindness causing a hardship on certain types of children who are educationally blind, but on reaching a certain age are marked sighted for industrial purposes?

The Board have no statistical record of the number of such cases, but I agree with the conclusion of the Committee on Partially-Sighted Children that such children should be taught in schools or classes for partially sighted children, and that hardship is involved if they are educated and brought up as blind and have later to enter the sighted world, for which their education has not fitted them.

asked the Minister of Health whether it is proposed in this Session of Parliament to introduce legislation to bring into the health insurance scheme young persons under 16 years of age?

I am not yet in a position to add anything to the replies given to the hon. Member on 15th and 24th March last.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can estimate the amount spent by the State on health services for children during 1936; and whether he can give the figures for the same service 50 years ago?

During the financial year 1935–36, the latest year for which figures are available, the grants paid by the Board of Education to local education authorities and voluntary institutions in respect of health services for school children amounted to £2,706,342. In addition, the Exchequer grant towards the cost of the scheme for supplying milk at half-price to school children amounted to £397,184 for the year ended the 3oth September, 1936. Corresponding figures are not available in respect of health services for young children who are not yet in attendance at school. The percentage grants in aid of health services, which were instituted in the early part of the present century, were discontinued by the Local Government Act, 1929, and merged in the Block Grant payable under that Act. This grant which amounted to £45,339,193 in 1935–36 is applicable to local government expenses generally but cannot be apportioned to individual services. There was no separate grant for health services for children 50 years ago, whether in respect of school children or pre-school children.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will state the total quantity of oils used by his Department in 1936 in the following categories: fuel oil, diesel oil, motor spirit, and lubricating oil; and what proportion of each was produced from indigenous materials?

The consumption of motor spirit for Naval purposes in 1936 was 3,250 tons, and of lubricating oil (mineral) 3,550 tons. It would be contrary to the public interest to give the figures for fuel oil and diesel oil. None of the diesel or lubricating oil was home-produced and the proportion of the motor spirit and fuel oil derived from sources in this country was very small in relation to the total consumption.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the numbers of engine-room artificers carried on ships of the Royal Navy on commission are to be reduced; whether the reductions will entail an increased period of service abroad for these ratings; and, if so, can he say the number of men that will affected by this new arrangement?

A small temporary reduction in the numbers of engine-room artificers borne in certain cruisers, battle cruisers and battleships has become necessary in consequence of the increased and accelerated programme of warship construction. It is not anticipated that these reductions will entail an increased period of service abroad for the ratings affected.