asked the Minister of Agriculture whether, in view of the further diminution of the numbers of workers on the land, he can state what steps the Government proposes to take to increase the production of food generally; and what action the Government propose to take in connection with the recommendations of the Poultry Commission?

With regard to the first part of the question, I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply given on 28th February to my hon. Friend the Member for Evesham (Mr. De la Bère). With regard to the second part I would refer him to the reply given on 14th March to the hon. Baronet the Member for Henley (Sir G. Fox).

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether any reports have been made by the commission charged with inquiries regarding redundancy of markets; and whether any recommendations have been made regarding the limiting or closing of any markets in East Anglia?

No such reports or recommendations have been made by the Livestock Commission. I would take this opportunity to draw attention to the fact that the Livestock Industry Act provides a number of safeguards for interests likely to be affected by a Livestock Markets Order, the first of which is that as soon as the Commission decide that an Order is desirable in any area they shall serve written notice on such bodies as appear to be representative of the interests concerned and shall take into consideration any representations made by those bodies.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can provide a list of towns with over 20,000 inhabitants which still have made no provision for closed-in swimming baths; and what steps are being taken to proceed with such provision?

I regret that no such list is available. Grants in aid of the provision of such baths are available under the Physical Training and Recreation Act, 1937. A number of applications for grant for this purpose are being received and, wherever suitable, are being sympathetically considered.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will state the number of days' holiday with pay each year given to employés of the Middlesex County Council?

Local authorities are not required to give me information on this matter, but I have communicated with the Middlesex County Council and am sending the hon. Member a copy of a statement furnished by them.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will state the number of days holiday with pay each year of the men and women employed in the home dockyards and Admiralty establishments?

The authorised general allowance of paid holidays for workpeople in His Majesty's Dockyards and other Admiralty establishments at home is six days per annum, usually taken during a closed week in August, in addition to five public holidays.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is now in a position to make a statement on the intentions of the Government arising from the granting of the appeal of the Eldorado Ice Cream Company, Limited, against decisions of the justices at Marlborough and Scunthorpe under the Shops (Sunday Trading Restriction) Act?

I regret that I am not yet in a position to add anything to my replies to previous questions on this subject.

asked the Home Secretary (1) what number of gas masks are stored in West Suffolk; at what centres; and what arrangements are being made for their distribution;(2) whether he can state the numbers of gas masks stored in the county of Essex; at what centres they can be obtained; and what arrangements are being made for distribution in the villages within the ambit of the Billericay Urban District Council?

No respirators are at present stored in West Suffolk or Essex. The respirators for the population of these counties are already in the Home Office Regional Store at Cambridge and a circular will be issued shortly to local authorities which will contain recommendations regarding the establishment of storage centres for the accommodation of respirators required for persons who reside in the area for which the local authority is responsible, and for a scheme of distribution. As soon as the storage centres are provided by the authorities the respirators will be transferred to them from the Regional Store.

asked the Home Secretary what steps are being taken to make the introduction of adequate air-raid precautions in factories, and particularly armaments factories, obligatory upon employers within a specified time-limit?

In this matter, as in other parts of the air-raid precautions service, the Government prefer to rely upon the sense of responsibility of employers and other persons rather than upon compulsion, and there is no reason to think that this policy will not be justified.

asked the Home Secretary whether, in appointing inspectors under the Air-Raid Precautions Act in Wales, regard will be had to their possessing an adequate knowledge of Welsh?

This point will be borne in mind if candidates otherwise suitable present themselves.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the French gas-mask scheme under which gas-masks will be supplied in hermetically-sealed containers to every individual; and whether he will give consideration to the advantages of this scheme in so far as it eliminates any expense in storage and prevents any complication as regards distribution in the event of an emergency?

The method of packing each respirator in its own hermetically-sealed container was considered when the question of storage and distribution was first investigated. It was not adopted because of the possible deteriorating effect of such storage on the dissimilar materials comprising the respirator.

asked the Home Secretary the cause of the Metropolitan police precept being increased by 2d.?

The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The Metropolitan Police precept, which has been 11d. in the £ for the last three years, has been increased by one halfpenny to11½d. for 1938–39, owing mainly to increased expenditure on pensions and buildings.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that there is an increasing import of Russian canned salmon into this country, amounting last year to over £1,000,000, accompanied by a severe diminution in the amount of herring taken by Russia; and whether, as these imports adversely affect Home consumption of herring, he will utilise the relative trade position of these two commodities to induce the Russian Government to make larger purchases of British herring?

According to the United Kingdom trade returns, imports of canned salmon consigned from the Soviet Union amounted to £1,520,486 in 1934, £1,049,304 in 1935, £1,013,901 in 1936, and £1,074,635 in 1937. Exports of herring from the United Kingdom to Soviet Russia were valued at £93,941 in 1934, £110,733 in 1935, £64,675 in 1936, and £6,615 in 1937.With regard to the last part of the question, the bulk of the imports of canned salmon shown in the United Kingdom trade returns as consigned from the Soviet Union are of Japanese origin, and allowance is made for this fact in arriving at the balance of payments for which provision is made in the Temporary Commercial Agreement of 1934. The balance of payments defined in the Agreement takes account only of the total volume of trade between this country and the Soviet Union, and it is not possible to make a special balancing arrangement for individual commodities entering into that trade.I understand that the demand for herring in the Soviet Union is now being met to a considerable extent by the Soviet herring fleet; but no suitable opportunity is overlooked of improving the position as regards United Kingdom exports to that country. I would add that I have no evidence that imports of canned salmon adversely affect the consumption of herring in this country.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement with regard to the date on which His Majesty's Government recognised the Italian Government as the Government de facto of virtually the whole of Abyssinia?

His Majesty's Government have, since December, 1936, recognised the Italian Government as the Government de facto of the parts of Abyssinia which they control. From time to time the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has, in the course of the past year, been asked for statements for production in His Majesty's Courts of Justice in connection with certain lawsuits in which the status of Abyssinia has been involved. The first of such statements was made on the 28th April, 1937, to the effect that, while detailed information was hard to obtain, such information as His Majesty's Government possessed tended to show that the Italian Government controlled the whole of Abyssinia with the exception of certain areas in the south and south-west of the country; that His Majesty's Government regarded the Italian Government as the Government de facto of the parts of Abyssinia which they controlled; and that while it was difficult to fix a specific date on which His Majesty's Government first accorded this measure of recognition to the Italian position in Abyssinia, it might be said that that position had been reached in the second half of December, 1936.The last of these statements was made on the 29th December, 1937, when the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs repeated that His Majesty's Government recognised the Italian Government as the Government

asked the Prime Minister which countries are members of the League of Nations Council and of the Assembly of the League, respectively?

The information required by my hon. and gallant Friend is contained in a League of Nations document, of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will give the number of vacancies that were filled by the Borough Employment Exchange (Walworth Road) for the 12 months ended to the last convenient date?

The total number of vacancies filled by the Borough Employment Exchange during the 12 months ended 21st February, 1938, was 23,377.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that in Campbeltown, owing to the shipbuilding yard having been closed, the local coal mine discontinued, and only two distilleries still working, the population, other than the fishermen, are suffering severe unemployment and resultant poverty; that the cost of living is higher than in Glasgow, although rents are lower, so that the means test based on rentals operates with special hardship on persons in Campbeltown; and whether he will make representations to the Unemployment Assistance Board to the effect that the means test should be less rigidly applied and more liberally interpreted in favour of the local population?

I have no reason to believe that the powers which the Board's officers possess under the national Regulations are not being exercised so as to meet adequately the needs of individual cases in Campbeltown where special circumstances arise. Adjustments on account of rents are made in accordance with the recommendations of the local advisory committee who no doubt took into account all the relevant factors.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the number of women employed in industrial undertakings in Leslie, Fifeshire, and the number of these who are, respectively, married and single?

At July, 1937, the estimated number of women, aged 18–64, insured under the General Scheme of Unemployment Insurance, in the area served by the Leslie Employment Exchange, as indicated by the number of unemployment books exchanged, was 900. Separate figures for married and single women are not available. The number recorded as unemployed at 14th February, 1938, was 41.

asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the fact that the unemployment assistance allowances in September, 1937, averaged 24s. 6d. per applicant and in January, 1938, 25s., he will say in how many cases an addition of 2s. was made to current assessment; in what proportion of cases an increase was granted; and what were the factors determining whether or not an increase should be granted in any case, seeing that the increase in prices affects all cases alike?

On 17th January 263,388 applicants were in receipt of allowances which had been increased on account of the special circumstances referred to in the Board's instruction of 22nd October last. In some 224,000 of these cases or 85 per cent. the additions were 2s. or more. In reply to the last part of the question I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the Board's instruction, copies of which were placed at the time in the Library of the House.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether it is hoped to furnish mounted yeomanry units with their wireless equipment prior to going into camp this year?

The training requirements of mounted yeomanry units in camp this year will be met from pools of wireless equipment which exist for the purpose.

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs what is the present position regarding the transfer of the South African protectorates?

I am not at present in a position to add to the reply given to the hon. Member for Basingstoke on the 4th February.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether facilities in British naval bases throughout the world are available to the warships of other nations generally, on payment; and to what extent advantage has been taken of these facilities in the past?

As regards the first part of the question I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 9th March. With regard to the second part, during the last five years the following foreign warships have been docked or repaired in British Naval Dockyards:

asked the Minister of Transport whether negotiations for the purchase of land for the new main trunk road in the neighbourhood of Halt-whistle, Northumberland, are yet completed, and when work may be expected to commence?

Negotiations for the acquisition of the land are proceeding, but I cannot yet say when construction will begin.