asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give particulars of the deposits from insurance companies, as required by his Department, at the latest convenient date?

Under the Assurance Companies Act, 1909, a separate deposit of £20,000 is required from insurance companies in respect of each of the following classes of business:—(1) Life, (2) Employers' Liabiltiy, and (3) Bond Investment. A company transacting fire or accident insurance is also required to deposit £20,000, unless it already has a sum of that amount deposited in respect of some other class of insurance business except industrial life assurance business.Companies which commenced to carry on fire, accident or bond investment business before the date of the passing of the 1909 Act and companies which commenced to carry on employers' liability business before the 28th August, 1907, are exempted from the deposit requirement in respect of those classes of business respectively. The Act makes special provision for mutual indemnity associations which in certain circumstances are exempted from the deposit requirement.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that General Franco offered to make arrangements for the reception of Basque women, children, and infirm persons from Bilbao in a neutral zone under the auspices of the Geneva Red Cross; and whether any steps were taken to verify this offer before arrangements were made to receive the Basque children in this country?

I would refer the hon. Member to the statement on this subject which I made in the House on 16th June in reply to a question put by the hon. and gallant Member for Bournemouth (Sir H. Croft), to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will consider the installation of traffic lights on the Chertsey arterial road at Richmond, Surrey, at the crossing situated at the junction of Kew Foot Road and Parkshot, Richmond, Surrey, which is daily becoming more dangerous to pedestrians, as the 30-mile limit at this crossing is being ignored?

Yes, Sir.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether, in giving effect to proposals to utilise the machinery of existing organisations to carry out the provisions of the new Act on national physical training, he has taken any action in this direction hitherto or what he proposes to take?

In the Government's White Paper issued in January last, it was contemplated that use should be made of the machinery of selected national organisations, e.g. the Central Council of Recreative Physical Training, the National Playing Fields Association, and the National Council of Social Service, for certain specified purposes. The Grants Committee were empowered to recommend financial assistance to such national organisations for the purposes mentioned. Discussions have already taken place with these organisations in order to ascertain what financial assistance they require to—

(a) meet any additional administrative and office expenses;

(b) appoint additional Organisers and Field Officers;

(c) provide expert advice and, in the case of the Central Council of Recreative Physical Training, promote and aid courses of training for Instructors and Leaders.

Grants have already been made for those purposes to the Central Council of Recreative Physical Training and the question of similar grants to the other bodies is being considered.As regards financial assistance to existing voluntary organisations to enable them to provide new facilities or extend existing ones, it is provided in the White Paper and the Bill that such grants are to be made, not to central voluntary organisations, but on a local basis. Until the Bill becomes law, no money can be distributed for this purpose but considerable progress has been made with setting up the local Area Committees, whose duty it will be to review the existing facilities in the area and receive applications for assistance from Local Authorities and local voluntary organisations.

asked the Secretary for Mines whether he can state the average f.o.b. price of exported Welsh coals, steam, bituminous and anthracite, for the first three months of 1937, and the corresponding prices for each year since 1932; and the prices of coal sold inland of the same grades for the same periods?

The information is as follows:

January to March.		Average declared value per ton f.o.b. of coal exported from Cardiff, Newport, Port Talbot and Swansea.
		Anthracite.		Steam Coal.		Other Coal.
		s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.
1932	…	23	10	17	1	18	3
1933	…	27	3	17	1	17	1
1934	…	25	6	16	10	17	10
1935	…	26	1	17	0	16	10
1936	…	26	1	17	2	19	5
1937	…	23	0	17	8	20	0

I regret that particulars of inland prices are not available for these grades.NOTE.—The figures relate to 97 per cent. of total shipments from the Bristol Channel group of ports.