asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the present unrest about conditions of service amongst the employés in the Ministry of Health; and what steps are being taken to deal with those grievances?

No, Sir. I am not aware of any such unrest. One Staff Association has, however, made representations, from which the remaining Associations representing the great majority of the officers of the Department have expressly dissociated themselves, regarding the supervision of men by women. Suggestions that a new policy has been adopted on this matter are incorrect.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what action he has taken on a complaint that an official in the Department of Civil Aviation had made statements in public detrimental to the interests of a British company operating an internal air-line in this country?

The inquiries which have been made into the complaint referred to have elicited the fact that the statements complained of were not made by an official of the Civil Aviation Department.

asked the Minister of Health (1) how many cases of diphtheria in inoculated or Schick-negative subjects have occurred in Manchester since immunisation was started; how many of these were children and how many adults; and whether there have been any fatal cases;(2) how many cases of diphtheria have occurred in Liverpool in 1935, 1936, and 1937, in children who had previously been inoculated against the disease, distinguishing between those inoculated six months or longer before the attack and those inoculated less than six months before the attack; and whether any of these cases have proved fatal;(3) how many cases of diphtheria have occurred in Leeds in immunised children and adults, respectively, since immunisation started; and whether any of the cases proved fatal;(4) whether his attention has been called to the evidence of the deputy public vaccinator at the recent inquest on a Hoath baby, who died from the effects of vaccination, that he did not make a routine examination of the child; and whether, in view of the fact that public vaccinators are specially instructed in the Third Schedule of the Vaccination Order to look behind the ears for eczema or other skin eruptions and that the child in question had sores behind the ears at the time it was vaccinated, he will draw the attention of all public vaccinators to the Minister's instructions, which they undertake to obey when they contract with the local authority to carry out vaccination under the Vaccination Acts?

I am making inquiries from the local authorities concerned and will communicate with the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will give particulars of the number of persons who have been summoned during the three months ended to the last convenient date for failing to stamp the health insurance cards of their employés?

The number of persons who were summoned during the period of three months ended 31st December, 1937 for failing to stamp National Health Insurance contribution cards was 383.

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether Laurence Morton and William Charlesworth, who, at the Hertfordshire assizes last month, were charged with indecent assault and bound over, have been dismissed from the Royal Air Force?

The discharge of the two men referred to has been approved and will be effected very shortly.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that a German-Jewish firm, registered as Great Northern Knitwear, Limited, has had a factory built for them at Percy Mains, near North Shields, by the Commissioners for the Special Areas, and that a permit has been issued for an Austrian expert to train the local workers; and why, in view of the difficulty experienced by Scottish hosiery manufacturers in keeping their factories working at full time, a foreign firm has been given these facilities under the Special Areas Acts?

The Commissioner for the Special Areas (England and Wales) has agreed, subject to satisfactory financial assurances from them, to build a factory for a firm registered as Great Northern Knitwear, Limited, but the factory has not yet been built. I understand that the firm propose to manufacture knitted goods of continental design mainly for the export trade and that their products will not compete with those of existing British hosiery manufacturers. Permits have been issued to allow the firm to employ three foreign experts, two of whom were already in the country. These experts will train British workpeople in this new type of work.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what was the reason given for Mr. Armand Sauvage vacating his seat as an unofficial member of the council in the Isle of Seychelles?

Mr Sauvage resigned his seat as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Seychelles with effect from the 15th September, 1937, on account of his acceptance of the appointment of Chief Inland Revenue Officer.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will state the date when Mr. Bessin was appointed an unofficial member of the council in the Isle of Seychelles?

Mr. Bessin was appointed an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, Seychelles, with effect from the 22nd September, 1937.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the recent visit of the First Sea Lord to the Home Fleet flagship at Gibraltar was an official or private one; whether the cruiser "Cornwall" was specially sent to Marseilles to fetch him; if so, what was the cost of the voyage; and why he did not go direct by sea?

The recent visit of the First Sea Lord to the Home and Mediterranean Fleets was, of course, an official one. No mail steamer was sailing for Gibraltar when it was possible for the First Sea Lord to leave London, and it was necessary, therefore, for him to proceed overland to Marseilles where he embarked in His Majesty's Ship "Cornwall" which was at the time concluding a cruise to French Riviera ports and was about to re-join the Fleet at Gibraltar. No expenditure of fuel additional to the annual allowance for the "Cornwall" was involved.