asked the Minister of Labour whether he can state the number of persons registered as unemployed in the Rotherham area up to the latest period, respectively male and female; the number who have been unemployed two years and over; and the number who are 45 years of age and over?

At 21st June, 1937, there were on the registers of the Rotherham Employment Exchange 11,960 males and 384 females aged 14 and over, including 9,000 males who had registered as unemployed on that day as the result of pit stoppages due to the demonstration of the Yorkshire Mine Workers' Association. Of the persons who were applicants for benefit or unemployment allowances, 742, all of whom were men, had been on the register for two years or more. An age analysis of the figures is not available for 21st June, but at 3rd May, 1937, out of 1,658 men and 289 women, aged 18 and over, on the Registers, 1,571 men and 23 women were aged 45 years or over.

asked the Minister of Labour on what dates preparation of the sites of the Government-aided trading estates began, and on which estates production has been reached?

North Eastern Trading Estates, Limited, began preparation of the site of the Team Valley Trading Estate on the 14th October, 1936. South Wales and Monmouthshire Trading Estates, Limited, began preparation of the site of the Treforest Trading Estate on the 21st December, 1936. Production has begun on both estates.

asked the Minister of Labour if, taking the latest totals of those who have been continuously unemployed for over 12 months, he can state the number of these men in the special areas between the ages of 18 and 64?

At 21st June, 1937, the number of men aged 18–64 who were applicants for insurance benefit or unemployment allowances at Employment Exchanges wholly or partly serving the Special areas, and had been continuously on the registers of those Exchanges for 12 months or more was 101,093. A proportion of these applicants may have had one or more short spells of employment, lasting not more than three days each, during the period of continuous registration. The corresponding figure for Great Britain as a whole was 283,771.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the number of men registered as employed in the china-clay industry in June of the present year?

The china-clay industry is not separately distinguished in the statistics of employment and unemployment among insured persons compiled by my Department. For the purpose of these statistics it is included in the clay, sand, gravel and chalk pits classification. Statistics of the numbers of insured persons in that industry in July, 1937, will not be available until November next, when the information derived from this year's exchange of unemployment books has been tabulated. At July, 1936, the number of insured persons aged 14 to 64 years in Great Britain so classified was 17,870; the number recorded as unemployed at 21st June, 1937, was 970.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether arrangements have been finally completed for a photographic air-survey of the whole or part of British North Borneo to be entrusted to a foreign company; and whether, in view of the many uses to which the information contained in such a photograph can be put, he will give an undertaking that such surveys in future will be made by recognised British firms?

My right hon. Friend understands that arrangements for reconnaissance flights by a Netherlands East Indies air line have been completed by a British company which is prospecting for oil in North Borneo. If any further flights for a photographic air survey are necessary I am assured that efforts will be made, as they were in the case of the reconnaissance flights, to employ the services of a British company provided that it can carry out the work to the oil company's specifications.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will investigate the hours and conditions of the traffic examiners in the Metropolitan and South-Eastern Areas; and whether he is satisfied that there are enough such examiners to undertake the heavy work laid on them?

The question of the adequacy of the staff of traffic examiners is kept regularly under review and my hon. and learned Friend's reference to the Metropolitan and South-Eastern Areas will be borne in mind.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of his recent flight, he can make any statement as regards the prospect of resuming work on the Newcastle-Carlisle main road, especially as regards the Haltwhistle section?

I am about to serve notice upon the Northumberland County Council of my intention to make an Order under Sub-section (3) of Section 1 of the Trunk Roads Act declaring that the route of the Haltwhistle by-pass shall be a trunk road.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he can state the number of points estimated on Class I roads in Great Britain where there are level crossings of more than ordinary importance; what sum has been allocated during the current financial year towards the elimination or bridging of the same; and will he give particulars of the number of level crossings that will be so eliminated?

According to information in my Department the number of railway level crossings on Class I roads is 622. I can only judge of their relative importance by the initiative taken by highway authorities. No separate provision for eliminating or avoiding level crossings is necessary; highway authorities are aware that approved schemes are eligible for grants at the exceptional rate of 75 per cent. Five grants have been made this year and a number of others are now under consideration.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the difficulties in arriving at a choice of a suitable Medway towns by-pass route, he will make an aerial journey over the district to see whether he can make any specific suggestion himself?

I will bear my hon. and gallant Friend's suggestion in mind, but I fear that the special difficulties in this case are not to be resolved by aerial inspection.

asked the Minister of Transport (1) what proportion of the cost of the new road in the county of Argyll, in the neighbourhood of the Rest and Be Thankful Hill, is being borne by the Road Fund and whether the county council of Argyll satisfied him that this work was of such essential importance as to justify either the cost or the delay in proceeding with the improvement of other roads;(2) whether he will enquire into the reasons for the construction of a new road in the county of Argyll, which is being now carried out, along the eastern part of the Arrochar-Inverary road near the Rest and Be Thankful Hill; what is the cost of this work; how long will it take to complete; and whether the opinion of local residents was taken into account, in view of the urgent need to improve other roads in the district rather than duplicate a road on which considerable sums have been expended in recent years and which is satisfactory and capable of carrying all normal traffic?

This road, which carries relatively heavy traffic, forms the only approach to the southern part of the county of Argyll, and by reason of the steep gradients and sharp bends the section near the Rest and Be Thankful Hill is dangerous to traffic and in frosty weather is virtually impassable. In agreement with the county council a contract was let at the beginning of the year for the reconstruction of the road from Black Spout to Loin Bridge, involving a diversion near the Rest and Be Thankful Hill to afford a ruling gradient of 1 in 20. The contract price is £100,000, which will be borne wholly by the Road Fund, and the work should be completed within two years. The scheme is part of the Crofter Counties Programme which is designed to afford better communications.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware of the opinion of local interests that the Liverpool-Hull trunk route through Selby could be made quite adequate for present traffic requirements and requirements in the immediate future, by the expenditure of less than £200,000 on the widening of approaches to the present bridge over the River Ouse, and the construction of a new and wider bridge on the same site; and whether, in view of the fact that the adoption of this scheme in preference to that recommended by Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners would result in a saving of some £800,000, which could be used to improve roads elsewhere, he will take no action in the matter until the full survey of the Liverpool-Hull trunk road is completed?

A local enquiry has recently been held into my proposal for a by-pass at Selby, and I am now considering the question in the light of the Inspector's report and the representations which have been made.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will state the number of agreement men employed at Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Simonstown in April, 1936, and June, 1937, respectively?

The numbers of English workpeople serving under agreement at the Dockyards in question on the dates given were as follow:

asked the Secretary for Mines, when the rules to be made under the Coal (Registration of Ownership) Bill are likely to be published?

Assuming that the Bill receives the Royal Assent to-day, I hope that the rules will be made and published within the next week or so. The work of registration will be carried out by my Department, and I take this opportunity of informing the House that Sir Ernest Gowers, in conformity with the arrangement referred to by me in answer to a question by the hon. Member for Wallsend on 2nd July of last year, has been invited to exercise general supervision of this work and has agreed to do so.

asked the Secretary for Mines, what number of schemes has been submitted to his Department from South Wales to extract oil from coal; what number have given satisfactory results; and is the Government prepared to take over any of the schemes or give financial aid to any satisfactory scheme?

A number of proposals have been made to the Government for the establishment of oil from coal plants in the Special Areas, including South Wales, and financial assistance has recently been given to enable a low temperature carbonisation plant to be established in South Wales. As regards the last part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 20th July to three questions by the hon. Members for Pontypool (Mr. Jenkins), Stoke (Mr. E. Smith) and Lewisham West (Sir P. Dawson).

asked the Secretary for Mines whether he will state the number of tin mines in active working in June, 1937; also whether any proposals have been presented to the Mines Department for the development of mining in Cornwall?

The answer to the first part of the question is, seven. With regard to the second part, suggestions of a general nature have been made to me from time to time, and I am always ready to consider any practicable proposal.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht regarding the fortification of territory adjacent to Gibraltar are still regarded as valid, both by His Majesty's Government and by the government of Spain?

The provision of the Treaty of Utrecht to which the hon. Member presumably refers raises certain difficult legal considerations about which I am not at present prepared to make a statement.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information about the case of Mr. H. Faran Omar, a British subject and a native of British Somaliland, who, while travelling in Abyssinia during March with a pass obtained from the British Somaliland government, was subjected to over a week's imprisonment accompanied by physical ill-treatment?

I have received no report on this subject.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give any information as to the present political situation in Jugoslavia; and whether the relationships between the government and its minorities is improving?

My information on the present political situation in Yugoslavia and the position of the minorities in that country is not such as to call for any special statement on the part of His Majesty's Government.

asked the right hon. Member for Rye, as representing the Forestry Commissioners, whether he will state the number of acquisitions made by the Commissioners in the county of Glamorgan during the last three years; the acreage of land acquired and where these units are situated; what number of men are employed now; what number are likely to be employed; and what is the proposed acreage to be planted each year?

The number of acquisitions completed by the Forestry Commissioners in the county of Glamorgan during the last three years was three. The acreage of land in those three acquisitions is 727. One of these acquisitions is at Tair Onen, the other two are additions to the unit at Rheola. The number of persons now employed in the county is 138 while the number which will be employed and the acreage which will be planted each year will depend on the extent of the additional land to be acquired during this and future years.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the number of joint industrial councils in active operation in June, 1936, and June, 1937?

The following is a list of the councils in operation according to the latest information available. There has been no change in the number of councils during the past year, but in three cases councils have been reconstituted.I.—

asked the Home Secretary whether he will state the number of cases of men and women reported to the Home Office as suffering from silicosis or asbestosis during 1936 and the first six months of 1937?

Cases of silicosis and asbestosis are not reportable to the Home Office as and when they occur and I do not receive returns for periods of 6 months; but according to the Annual Return from the Medical Board for 1936 they certified 551 cases in that year and in addition certified 198 deaths to have been caused by one or other of these diseases.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to a prosecution at the Guildhall which indicated that there is a regular system of police traps for motorists in the City, even in the early hours of the morning when the streets are deserted; whether such prosecutions rest solely with the City Police; whether there is any similar system of traps in the deserted parts of the Metropolitan area; and whether he will require the police authorities to use discretion in the adoption of methods of this nature?

I have seen Press accounts of the case referred to. It must be remembered that the speed limit applies throughout the whole 24 hours, and it is the duty of the police to enforce the law. The times during which speed controls operate must be left to the discretion of individual Chief Officers of Police who are familiar with local conditions and it is not for me to give them any directions in this matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in how many cases during the lifetime of the League it has been called on to consider cases of international dispute; how many cases were decided before the Council by methods of argument and persuasion; how many cases were settled by the Hague Court; and how many aggressions were met by sanctions?

Forty-two international disputes of a political character have been referred to the League of Nations since its inception. Twenty-one of these were eventually settled by the council. In five cases an advisory opinion of the Permanent Court of International Justice was requested. The disput between Italy and Abyssinia is the only occasion on which Article 16 of the Covenant has become operative.