asked the Home Secretary (1) whether he is aware that the Committee for the Care of Children from Germany is not permitted to take children over 16 years of age unless the guarantor is prepared to deposit £50 for emigration at the age of 18 as well as keep the child for those two years, and that this tax upon charitably-minded people is prohibitive; and will he take steps to improve these conditions;(2) how many German refugee children have been received into this country, boys and girls, under the licence scheme; how many of each sex have been taken into British homes, and how many are now left in camp; what guarantees of responsibility are now demanded from anyone willing to take a child; and are these guarantees imposed and determined by His Majesty's Government in consultation with the Jewish organisations?

Up to date 3,526 children (1,974 boys and 1,552 girls) have been brought to this country on the responsibility of the organisation known as The Movement for the Care of Children from Germany. Only 400 of these children, almost all boys, now remain in the arrival camp. Some hundreds are accommodated in hostels, a considerable number are working under agricultural training schemes, but the great majority have been placed in private households throughout the country. These children have been admitted on the undertaking of the Movement to be responsible for their maintenance and training in this country and for their emigration in due course.

asked the Minister of Health, what exact use is being made of architectural advice in connection with the construction of evacuation camps?

Work on the construction of such camps has not yet been undertaken but the Government have taken every advantage of advice both from the architectural staffs of the Departments concerned and from outside sources in connection with the preliminary work on camps.

asked the Minister of Health, what is the average amount paid in rates to local authorities per ton produced from all industries in Glamorgan, and what is the total sum paid in cash upon their rateable value?

The returns made to my Department do not show separately the amount of rates in respect of the various classes of hereditaments, but it is estimated that the rates paid by the occupiers of industrial hereditaments in the administrative county of Glamorgan amounted to about £200,000 in 1937–38. The particulars asked for in the first part of the Question are not available.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in connection with his inquiries into inoculation against typhoid, he will inquire of the Alberta Provincial Department of Health in regard to the death of Basil Forster, of Olds, Alberta, from inoculation with toxoid, and the illness therefrom of 12 other pupils at the Waterside school, and the result of the investigation set on foot by the Alberta Provincial Department of Health into the accident?

I will make inquiries and communicate with the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Labour (1) what would be the estimated saving in unemployment assistance and public assistance of making an offer to insured contributors of pensions at the rate of £1 per week for men aged 65 years of age or over without a wife to support, and 30s. per week for men aged 65 years of age or over with a wife to support; what would be the estimated number of employed persons aged 65 years of age or over who would accept this offer of pensioned retirement; and how many younger persons would be absorbed into industry in their place;(2) what would be the additional cost of paying, as from the age of 65, a weekly pension of £1 to each insured contributor without a wife to support and 30s. per week to each married contributor with a wife to support and to whom he had been married for five years prior to his reaching the qualified age of 65, providing that these payments were made conditional upon the retirement of the contributor from paid employment?

I have been asked to reply. I interpret my hon. Friend's proposal as involving the grant of a pension of £1 a week (£1 10s. to a married couple) to persons aged 65–70 in receipt of contributory pensions (including widows aged 65–70) and contributory pensioners over age 70, but not pensioners subject to a means qualification, the pension of £1 10s. a week to married men being granted irrespective of the age of their wives. The additional cost of increasing the contributory pensions in this way is estimated to be about £57 millions a year at the present time rising to nearly £75 millions a year in ten years' time. Data are not available from which an estimate could be made of the reduction in the additional cost which would be secured by limiting the increased pension to married men to cases where they had been married for five years prior to the attainment of age 65; nor is it practicable to assess what saving might be effected by limiting the £1 10s. pension to cases in which the husband was supporting the wife.If retirement were made a condition for the grant of the increased pension, the cost would naturally depend upon the number who accepted the offer, and any estimate of the effect of such a condition would depend upon the assumptions made as to the proportion who might be thus attracted. I regret, therefore, that I am not able to answer the further questions asked by my hon. Friend as to the numbers who would be absorbed into industry as a result of the grant of a retirement pension at the stated rates or the consquential saving in unemployment assistance and in other directions.

asked the Minister of Health, what additional amount of money would be raised by an increase of 1d. per week in the contribution now being paid by the worker, the employer, and the State, in respect of persons insured under the Old Age Contributory Pensions Scheme?

I have been asked to reply. If the contribution payable in respect of men under the Contributory Pensions Acts were increased by 1d. a week, and in respect of women by ½d. a week in conformity with the present ratio of men's to women's contributions, the additional income would be about £3 millions a year at the present time. If additional contributions of these amounts were payable respectively by workers, employers and the State the total additional income would be about £9 millions a year. As my hon. Friend is doubtless aware, the State subvention to the Contributory Pensions Scheme does not take the form of a grant proportionate to the contribution income but is an annual amount on a scale laid down by Parliament.

asked the First Commissioner of Works, under what existing regulations steps are taken at the present time to compel riders in Richmond Park on certain days and during certain periods to use one specified track for riding and no other?

These steps are taken under Regulation No. 2 of the section of the Richmond Park Regulations headed "Special Regulations with regard to Horses."

asked the First Commissioner of Works, whether the exercising of horses is permitted at the present time in Richmond Park; will he make it clear what such practice is held to involve; and for what reason the provisions with regard to the exercising of horses are applied differently in Richmond Park from other royal parks?

The exercising of horses in Richmond Park is prohibited by Regulation No. 4 of the section of the Regulations for Richmond Park headed ''Special Regulations with regard to Horses." What constitutes "exercising" would ordinarily be a matter for determination in the light of the facts of each case. So far as I am aware, no question arises of the provisions as regards exercising being applied differently in different parks, though the actual Regulation for the Central London parks is not identical with that for Richmond Park.

asked the First Commissioner of Works, under what regulation permits are issued at the present time for a horse-rider to travel from one gate to another in Richmond Park; and why such permits are necessary when the road alone is used?

The permits are issued, when the Park (which includes the roads) is closed to riders, under Regulation 6 of the Special Regulations with regard to Horses. In addition, the Commissioners, by permit, allow grooms to take horses across the Park from one gate to another. The object of this is to make it clear that the holders of the permit are not to be regarded as exercising their horses.

asked the Minister of Transport, whether he will state the number of toll-bridges and roads in Wales; their geographical situation; and the amount of the tolls charged in each case?

I am making inquiries and will communicate with the hon. and gallant Member as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Transport, whether any of the road and bridges tolls in Wales are scheduled to be abolished; and how soon?

No proposals for the abolition of existing toll roads and toll bridges in Wales have been submitted to me by the authorities concerned. I understand that the Cardiff Corporation are considering the acquisition of the Cardiff-Penarth Toll Road but have not yet come to a definite decision.

asked the Minister of Labour, whether he will state the number of persons who have volunteered for National Service in Lancashire, giving numbers in full, and also the percentage of requirements, to the latest possible date?

The number of applications which passed through the Local Offices of the Ministry of Labour in Lancashire from 25th January to 11th March, was 38,740. Including applications which did not pass through those Offices and of which I have no precise statistics I should estimate the total at 60,000 or more.My right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal is giving in reply to another question from the hon. Member the numbers of persons enrolled for air-raid precautions services in Lancashire and the percentage of requirements. It is not possible to give similar figures for other branches of National Service, except in the case of the East and West Lancashire Divisions of the Territorial Army and the National Defence Companies. These two Territorial Units had 14,330 on their strength on 1st March which is 101 percent. of the peace-time establishment, and the National Defence Companies had 1,040, which is 84 per cent. of their quota.