asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, how many refugee children are receiving education under local education authorities?

I regret that the Board have not the information desired.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether military training facilities on the lines of the Officers Training Corps are available in any State-subsidised secondary schools; and, if not, whether he will recommend that such facilities should be increased in view of the fact that young men entering the Militia will be prejudiced as regards promotion prospects unless they have had previous experience on such lines?

A number of grant-aided secondary schools are known to maintain Officers Training Corps, but the recognition and inspection of these Corps are matters not for the Board of Education, but for the War Office. The Board are concerned with these Corps only in so far as they recognise for purposes of grant expenditure by authorities in defraying the subscriptions of poor pupils.

asked the Undersecretary of State for Burma whether he has now decided to complete railway connections between Yunan and Burma via Kunlong ferry; and whether the strategical and other implications of this proposal have been fully considered by the Committee of Imperial Defence as well as by the Governments of India and Burma?

The proposals for a railway connection of Burma with Yunan which have so far been put before my noble Friend have not been sufficiently specific to enable a decision to be taken. All proposals for such a connection would of course receive the fullest consideration by the military advisers of His Majesty's Government as well as by the Governments of Burma and India.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Burma whether the present Governor of Burma is likely to return and continue in office after his four months leave or is it intended to appoint a new Governor of Burma in November?

The intention is that Sir Archibald Cochrane shall reassume his duties as Governor of Burma on the conclusion of his leave in November. Any rumours to the contrary are entirely without foundation.

asked the Minister of Transport what steps the Government are taking to ensure an increased supply of British fuel for motor transport and, in particular, an increased supply of British gas and producer-gas as a substitute for foreign petrol?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on the 2nd May to a question by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent (Mr. E. Smith), of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will consider dividing the major road works set out in Appendices II and III of the Ministry of Transport Estimates into different categories according to their respective urgency; and whether he can arrange for this to be done in order to permit work to be slowed down on those of least urgency, thus enabling highway authorities to economise and to concentrate on works of greater national importance?

I find it difficult to appreciate how the sub-division of Appendices II and III to the Roads, etc., Vote in the manner suggested could achieve the object which my hon. Friend has in mind. He may rest assured that in every case the urgency of a road improvement scheme is carefully considered in relation to other calls on the national resources before the scheme is approved.

asked the Secretary for Mines whether he is in a position to state what are the prospects of finding oil from the result of borings at Formby?

The D'Arcy Exploration Company who are the licensees for this area are at present engaged in drilling boreholes for geological purposes with a view to determining the nature of the deeper structural conditions. In one of these boreholes a certain quantity of oil has been met with, but it is impossible at this stage to assess the value of the discovery.

asked the Home Secretary when he will issue the next promised periodical Return of refugees; and whether the Return issued on 28th February includes persons who during the period covered entered the United Kingdom for employment as domestic servants from Greater Germany, and who will not be able to return there at will?

A return of refugees similar to the one circulated with the Debates of the 24th March last will be issued next week. The previous return included women who have been permitted to enter this country to undertake domestic work.

asked the Home Secretary how many refugees have been permitted to start new businesses in this country; how many have been granted permits to take employment; and whether such persons have been given any assurances that they will be granted naturalisation or that they may apply for naturalisation at the conclusion of the statutory waiting period?

No figures are available for the period from April, 1933, to June, 1936, but since that date more than 500 refugees have been allowed to start businesses in this country, many of them in the Special Areas or older industrial areas. No figures are available showing how many have been authorised to take employment, but the great majority of those so authorised are employed in domestic work or are in temporary employment as trainees with a view to emigration. In no case in which a refugee has been permitted to establish himself in business or to take employment has an assurance been given that he would be granted naturalisation when he had fulfilled the statutory period of residence should he apply for it.

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he can provide any figures showing the extent by which the amount of food stored in this country at the present time has increased in comparison with the same period last year; and to what extent this increase is due to Government stores and increased stocks held by wholesalers, retailers, and individual householders, respectively?

I regret that I am not able to give the figures asked for.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he contemplates the termination of the British connection with the Bank for International Settlements?

I would remind the right hon. Member that the termination of our connection (by which I assume he means the inclusion on the directorate of British members) would in no way affect the immunities accorded to the bank by this country under the Protocols.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will consider adopting the practice of typing the name underneath the signature of all official documents throughout the Civil Service in view of the difficulty of deciphering signatures of some officials and the fact that the paper heading rarely provides any clue; and, if not, whether he will state the reasons against it?

Replies from members of the public to official communications should normally be addressed not to any individual by name but to the secretary or other appropriate officer of the Department concerned. This is generally indicated on official stationery, and the need to adopt the practice referred to should therefore not arise.

asked the Minister of Labour (I) whether he will state approximately the amount paid in benefit and allowances in Wales and Monmouthshire during each of the last 10 years;

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will state the numbers employed in each of the principal industries in Wales and Monmouthshire in 1927 and 1938, respectively?

pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 26th May, 1939, Col. 2710, Vol. 347), supplied the following statement:The information compiled by my Department relating to the numbers em-

pursuant to his reply (OFFICIAL REPORT, 26th May, 1939, Col. 2710, Vol. 347), supplied the following statement:The following table shows the approximate amounts of unemployment benefit, transitional payments and unemployment allowances paid direct through Employment Exchanges situated in Wales and Monmouthshire during each of the 10 years from 1929 to 1938, and also the approximate amounts of the contributions by employers and employed persons to the Unemployment Fund from Wales and Monmouthshire in the same periods.ployed in industries relates to persons insured under the Unemployment Insurance Acts. The following table shows, for the principal industries in Wales and Monmouthshire, (