asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether he will state the number of Royal Naval Reserve officers from the mercantile marine transferred to the permanent executive branch of the Navy in the years 1937 and 1938, and the total; whether any more executive officers are to be entered from this source this year; and the number of these officers who received their early training in the training ship "Mercury"?

For the number of officers transferred from the Royal Naval Reserve to the Executive Branch of the Royal Navy in 1937, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on the 21st July last.The number in 1938 was 120.The question of further transfers from this source is now receiving consideration in conjunction with other possible sources of recruitment. I regret that the information asked for in the last part of the question is not available in Admiralty records.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether he will state the number of ships, specifying classes and stations on which employed, in which a subscription library is run for ratings, in addition to the service library, by individual ship arrangement, by the Navy, Army, and Air Force Institute, and by other arrangements, respectively; and the fees, deposits, and any other charges made to ratings under each arrangement?

Arrangements of this kind are made by ships' companies or messes privately, and the Admiralty have in general no detailed information about them. There are libraries provided on this basis by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes in 19 ships, and I understand that the charge for a book is two-pence a week and that a deposit is not required. The ships in which libraries are at present provided by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes are:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the number of convictions for drunkenness in Scotland for each of the last six years; and what are the corresponding figures for Greenock, Glasgow and Edinburgh, respectively?

The numbers for the years 1932 to 1937 inclusive are as follow:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in what countries the Government are making efforts to open up markets for our herring exports, with special reference to the Clyde fishing industry; and whether he has any statement to make regarding progress made?

So far as trade agreements concluded by His Majesty's Government are concerned, I would refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the reply given by my right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, on 6th July, 1937, to a question asked by the hon. Member for the Western Isles (Mr. Malcolm Macmillan), of which I am sending him a copy. Exact figures are not yet available, but these trade agreements continued to cover last year nearly 90 per cent, of the total United Kingdom exports of herring to all foreign countries. A further concession has been secured for the herring industry in the recent trade agreement with the United States, under which the United States import duty on cured herring packed in barrels has been reduced. The measures taken or contemplated refer to the produce of the herring fishery generally and not specially to that of the Firth of Clyde.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will state the amount and nature of the importation of glass bulbs and other material in connection with lamp manufacture for general lighting, miners' lamps, and automobile lamps, and the degrees and amount of tubing in connection therewith?

During the year 1938 total imports into the United Kingdom of glass bulbs for electric lamps amounted to 40,267,273 in number, weighing 23,058 cwts. and valued at £109,838. Particulars of imports of other parts of electric incandescent lamps are not available, as they are not separately recorded in the trade returns of the United Kingdom.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will publish the respective numbers of British Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts by Ministers of the Crown, Members of Parliament supporting the Government, and Members of Parliament in opposition to the Government during the past 12 months?

The following information is furnished by the British Broadcasting Corporation:From 31st January, 1938, to 31st January, 1939, according to the Corporation's records, the number of broadcasts by Ministers of the Crown (in both Houses) was 42; those by other hon. Members supporting the Government 48; and those by hon. Members in opposition to the Government 33. (These figures comprise broadcasts in the National or main Regional programme. They do not include broadcasts given in a single Regional programme only, the number of which is not available without further research.)Political addresses on party lines were confined to a balanced series of four broadcasts on the occasion of the Budget, as in previous years. Broadcasts by Ministers of the Crown varied from the straightforward statement of Government policy—such as the statement by Mr. Hore-Belisha on Service in the Regular Territorial Divisions, and that by Mr. Ernest Brown on the Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits—to the non-political talk, such as that by Sir Thomas Inskip on "Sunday: A National Heritage," and that by Mr. Hudson on the Empire Exhibition at Glasgow. Mr. Herbert Morrison, by virtue of his office, broadcast on the L.C.C.'s Education Plan. A number of speeches by Ministers and others on important national occasions have also been broadcast; these "outside broadcasts" have included, for example, the Prime Minister's speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, Mr. Winston Churchill's at the Royal Academy Banquet, Mr. Anthony Eden's at the Royal Society of St. George Banquet and Mr. Lloyd George's at the Manchester Centenary Banquet.A number of the broadcasts by hon. Members were semi-political: e.g., Sir Richard Meller, Sir Arnold Wilson and Mr. Rhys Davies spoke on the question of the private or public control of insurance; Mr. Dingle Foot and Sir Stanley Read on the Freedom of the Press; Mr. Amery (and Lord Snell) on the Need for National Service. Others were entirely non-political, e.g., talks by Lady Astor on Drink and the Community, by Mr. J. J. Lawson on the Miner at Home, and by Miss Ellen Wilkinson on the subject of "Adventure" in a debate of the Under Twenty Club.The majority of the broadcasts by hon. Members on public affairs were informative and factual. For example, the series of talks "Week in Westminster," which is given by three hon. Members of different main Parties, accounts for over 30 broadcasts during the year. Hon. Members took part also in the regular World Affairs talks, in which purely objective and factual explanations of world problems are given by experts, irrespective of Party; the speakers in this series are for the most part not politicians. Another example of the factual broadcast is provided by a series of 12 talks on "The Past Week" by a Government supporter, Mr. Harold Nicolson.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what annual amounts have been guaranteed in subsidies to the respective classes of production and industry in Great Britain?

The conditions governing such subsidies are in most cases laid down by Statute and do not provide for fixed annual payments. The provision actually made in the estimates for the current year was as follows: