asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is prepared to modify the regulations under which non-regular officers absent from duty on account of non-attributable disability are reverted to unemployment at the end of three months, so that they are in the position of receiving no income from the Army and cannot undertake civilian employment, and accordingly may be left without any means whatsoever?

The procedure in these cases is under review, but the practice of reverting an officer to unemployment, when he ceases to be entitled to Army emoluments after three months absence from duty on account of non-attributable disability, has been adopted in order that he may then be free to undertake civilian employment.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether, whilst recognising the necessity for preferential treatment in allocation of arms and equipment to units of the Home Guard situated in specially vulnerable areas in this country, he will take steps to ensure that reasonable equality in such allocation is extended to units in less vulnerable areas?

Every effort is being made to secure equality of treatment in this respect.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the theft of an anti-tank gun and ammunition from a camouflaged Army motor car at Epsom; what disciplinary action has been taken in this particular case; whether the gun has been traced; and what steps have been taken to prevent similar occurrences in future?

My attention has been drawn to this matter, which is still under investigation. The anti-tank rifle and ammunition have not yet been traced. I will write to my hon. Friend when I have further information.

asked the Minister of Transport whether civilian driving licences for soldiers driving motor vehicles in the course of duty can now be dispensed with, provided they are in possession of an emergency permit, Army Form A. 2038?

Soldiers while driving motor vehicles in the course of their duty need not hold civilian driving licences provided they have the emergency permit referred to.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the fact that the French Government are refusing exit permits to British male subjects of 42 years of age in unoccupied France, on the ground that they are of military age, this Government will refuse to allow any French male subjects to leave this country until reciprocity in this matter is agreed upon?

Negotiations are proceeding with the French Government on this subject. I hope that it will not be necessary to have recourse to any form of retaliation.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many orders for the destruction of rabbits have been issued by the 40 agricultural executive committees in Scotland; and how are these distributed among the counties in Scotland?

Agricultural executive committees in Scotland have issued 126 orders for the destruction of rabbits. The distribution of the orders is shown in the following table. I may add that in most cases relating to rabbits committees have been able to make satisfactory arrangements without issuing formal orders.

Agricultural Executive Committee.	Number of orders issued with respect to rabbits.
Aberdeen, Deer and Turriff	2
Aberdeen, Alford and Deeside	2
Argyll, North	15
Ayr, South	23
Caithness	1
Fife: East	20
Fife: West and Kinross	9
Inverness: Mainland	21
Kincardine	1
Lanark	11
Midlothian	1
Nairn	7
Orkney	1
Perth: East	5
Perth: West	4
Ross and Cromarty: Mainland	3
Total	126

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury why paper bags required for the War Office are purchased through agents though manufacturers have asked to be allowed to quote direct, pointing out that the only effect of passing orders through agents is to add 33⅓ per cent. to the costs?

I assume that the hon. Member refers to paper provision bags which are supplied to the War Office by the Stationery Office. Orders for these bags are placed, after competitive tender, with the actual manufacturers, and no orders are placed through agents. There is no record of any application from a manufacturer for inclusion in the list of firms to he invited by the Stationery Office to tender for these bags having been refused.

asked the Minister of Information whether any of the 249 registered conscientious objectors now in the Civil Service are in, or under, his Department?

No, Sir.

asked the Minister of Information the office to which Mr. Frank Pick has been appointed, and at what salary; whether this is a newly-created position; and, if not, what salary was previously attached thereto?

As already announced, Mr. Frank Pick has been appointed Director-General of the Ministry of Information. The salary he is to receive is £2,500. The position is not new. Mr. Pick's predecessor, Sir Kenneth Lee, served at his own request without remuneration.

asked the Minister of Transport the total number of driving examiners still on his Ministry's pay roll; how many are fully employed, giving the number of hours per day; how many are working part-time; also, how many at the moment have nothing at all to do; and how does he propose to utilise the services of these latter?

There are 243 on the roll. 44 are serving with His Majesty's Forces. The remaining 199 are employed on a 48-hour week as traffic officers and on other duties in the Ministry's regional organisation. None are employed part-time and none have nothing to do.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will make provisions whereby, during the con- tinuation of the present war period, non-contributory old age pensions payable to persons originally qualified in Great Britain may be made payable in the Isle of Man as is at present done for contributory old age pensions?

I am afraid that I cannot at the moment hold out any hope of legislation to alter the legal position, which is that a non-contributory old age pension cannot be paid to a person who is not in Great Britain.

asked the Minister of Supply what steps have been taken to provide suitable electric supply for machine tools from the United States of America with motors suitable only for French supplies?

The electrical trade have been consulted and are co-operating fully with the Machine Tool Control so that any machines which require electrical alterations can be put into service with the minimum of delay. In some cases alterations are being made to electrical equipment and in others simple stationary transformers are being added to permit the original electrical equipment to be used.

asked the Minister of Supply on what grounds he was led to take over the firm of E. H. Jones (Machine Tools), Limited; and what are the qualifications of Mr. Farrell and Mr. Muirsmith for carrying on such a business?

The order under Regulation 55 of the Defence (General) Regulations was made in resp of this company on the grounds set out in that Regulation. I am satisfied that Mr. Farrell and Mr. Muirsmith possess the technical, accounting and business qualifications necessary in a specialised business of this character.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he will send experts at once to test the quality of the iron ore at Dromara, County Down, which has been declared to be 25 per cent. better than the iron ore to be found in any other part of the British Isles?

I am aware of these deposits, which have been the subject of discussion between my Department and the Ministry of Commerce for Northern Ireland. Arrangements have already been made to send an expert to investigate and report upon their suitability for steel making.

asked the Minister of Supply the cause of the delay in allocating the machine tools, at present in warehouses, which are urgently needed in factories?

There is no avoidable delay in allocating machine tools to the work upon which they can be employed. Many machines have arrived in this country without notice or without shipping documents, having been intended for France. The review of all machines to enable allocation to take place is continuous and so soon as the necessary information is available in regard to the nature of the machine and its tooling, it is despatched for service.

asked the Minister of Supply what steps have been taken to prevent a possible shortage of abrasive materials now that supplies from Norway and France have been stopped; and whether he has considered any proposals for manufacturing aluminous abrasives and silicon carbide in this country?

My hon. Friend can rest assured that arrangements have already been made to replace the supplies of abrasive materials previously obtained from Norway and France. I have under consideration certain schemes for the manufacture in this country of aluminous abrasives and for grinding and grading silicon carbide.

asked the Minister of Information whether he will take steps to put an end to the military censorship on letters to Members of Parliament from their constituents, in view of the complaint that members of the public are afraid of expressing their views or grievances in letters subject to censorship, even on certain urgent matters requiring Members' attention?

There is no military censorship of mail to or from Forces in this country and Northern Ireland. Such mail is subjected to the same degree of postal censorship as civilian mail. I would therefore refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7th August last to a similar question addressed to me by the hon. Member for Down (Dr. Little). I need hardly add that it is neither the intention nor the practice of the censorship to prevent or penalise in any way free communication between members of the public and their Parliamentary representatives. The censorship which exists in certain parts of Scotland is not military and is designed solely to prevent the leakage of information which might be of value to the enemy. Correspondents may rest assured that it has no other purpose and they need have no fear that any attempt will be made to prevent them writing to their Members of Parliament for the purpose of expressing their views or grievances.

asked the Minister of Information whether he will make inquiries with a view to remedying a complaint already placed before him made by a lady in Northern Ireland that she was accustomed to get a parcel from friends in England, but that latterly the Post Office refused to accept such a parcel for transmission to Northern Ireland?

I would refer the hon. Member's attention to the answer I gave him on 7th August.

asked the Minister of Information whether the speakers and canvassers employed by him in the United Kingdom are instructed to disclose the fact that they are so employed?

House-to-house interviewers employed by Wartime Social Survey carry with them a letter of authorisation issued by the Ministry of Information, which they are empowered to show to those whom they interview. Chairmen at meetings held under the auspices of the Ministry are asked to say in their introductory remarks that the meeting has been arranged by the Ministry of Information, but that the speaker is free to express his own opinions and that nothing that he says should be regarded as an official statement. No canvassers are employed by the Ministry.

asked the Minister of Information whether he is aware that it is a common practice for head offices of multiple shops to ask from their managers daily weather reports and also reports pertaining to air-raids which may occur in their town or district; and why weather reports and news of raids, forbidden officially, are allowed to be disseminated in this fashion?

The Ministry of Information prevents, as far as possible, the publication of weather reports and unofficial reports of air-raids in the Press and through the B.B.C., but it is no part of its functions to prevent the collecting of information on such subjects by business men for legitimate business purposes.

asked the Minister of Labour what steps he has taken to compel able-bodied vagrants to take up useful work where available; how many such vagrants were accommodated in casual wards according to the latest available return; and whether this number shows an appreciable diminution from previous records?

The general power to give a person directions to perform work of which he is capable applies to vagrants as to others and there are arrangements under which this power will be exercised whenever it is necessary to do so. With regard to the second part of the Question, I understand from my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health that the total number of vagrants accommodated in casual wards in England and Wales on the 28th June, 1940, the latest date for which figures are available, was 3,739 (including a small number of women and children), which compares with 5,098 on the 24th May, 1940, and 7,255 on the 30th June, 1939. There is no information to show how many of these were able-bodied men.

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the hold up of production in an important London factory arising out of the arbitrary dismissal of shop stewards; and whether he is taking any action to sort out the difficulties that have arisen?

If I have correctly identified the case to which the hon. Members refers, there was no arbitrary dismissal of shop stewards. At the request of my Department it was proposed to transfer a small number of workpeople, including two shop stewards from the factory concerned to other extremely urgent and important work. The answer to the latter part of the question is "Yes."

asked the Home Secretary whether he will grant permits to wives of members of His Majesty's Forces from Northern Ireland serving in Great Britain to enable them to visit their husbands, or, if living with them in Britain, to allow the wives to accompany their husbands to Ulster when on leave?

I regret that I should not feel justified in authorising the grant of exit permits in such cases. Members of His Majesty's Forces can visit their wives in Great Britain or Northern Ireland without the necessity of applying for exit permits provided they are travelling on authorised leave.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that Mrs. Lilian Laumen, the British-born wife of Johann Laumen, a German whom she married in 1937, is interned at Port Erin as a Class 2 alien; that her father has been employed on the London and North Eastern Railway for 41 years, and her two brothers are serving in the Forces; that she is interned with a number of German women with whom she is unable to speak; and, in view of the character and associations of this woman, whether he will take immediate action to liberate her?

This woman's husband was interned on security grounds and his wife was placed by the tribunal in category B and was accordingly interned in pursuance of general directions. I have now considered her case and I have decided to authorise her release.

asked the Home Secretary what facilities he has given for the publication of particulars of the life and amenities provided for people detained in Brixton Prison under Defence Regulation 18 (B)?

No facilities have been given for this purpose and the articles which have been published are in almost every particular inaccurate.

asked the Home Secretary whether he can yet say if the reasons for the arrest of Mrs. Skatulla, of 61, Trinity Street, S.E.1, were such as to justify her removal to prison at half-an-hour's notice when still not fully recovered from the effects of childbirth and nursing a young baby?

Mrs. Skatulla has been detained on security grounds. I am informed that she was not arrested at half-an-hour's notice but that time was given to her to make arrangements for the care of her two older children. Further inquiries will be made and I will communicate with my hon. Friend.

asked the Home Secretary whether he can say how many persons, refugees from Nazi oppression and under the age of 21 years, have been deported from this country since 1st June, 1940, without the knowledge and consent of their parents or other nearest relatives?

It has only recently become possible to obtain an accurate list of the names of those transferred overseas, and it would require a detailed examination of every file to obtain the information asked for by the hon. Member. My right hon. Friend doubts whether such information, when compiled, would serve any useful purpose.

asked the Home Secretary the result of the arrangements made by the West Bromwich local authority in connection with gas lectures, for cinema employés to enter the gas-chamber on 31st July; and whether any persons found medically certified as suffering from tear-gas poisoning affecting the heart, as a result of such test, will be compensated?

My right hon. Friend is informed that a number of cinema employés recently received training from the West Bromwich corporation in anti-gas measures, and as part of this training were allowed to enter a gas chamber in which tear gas had been released. Later in the same day, one of the 35 persons who passed through the chamber became ill, was taken to the district hospital and offered admission which he refused. No medical evidence that the illness was due to tear gas poisoning has been submitted to the Department or, I am informed, to the local authority.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft Production whether the standard of inspection for American aircraft, prior to the delivery to the British Government, is the same as that prevailing in British factories; and, if not, will he state the reason for different standards?

The standard of inspection for American aircraft ordered by the British Government is the same as that prevailing in British factories.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will explain the state of affairs dealt with in the Ninth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure and make a statement on what action is to be taken on the report?

Immediate consideration was given to the report. I am not yet in a position to make a statement about it, as there are some points which the Ministry wishes to discuss with the Committee.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what instructions have been given to the food committees of the country when workers in factories and works apply for allocation of tea; is he aware that three-quarters of an ounce of tea per week per person is being granted and that this is not enough; and will he make a statement?

Food control committees have been instructed that applications for permits for tea for consumption by workers during working hours must be made by the employer or by a responsible representative of the employer. The maximum quantity of tea allowed under this concession is 1 lb. per week for 20 persons. As far as I am aware this amount has been generally accepted as sufficient.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he can give any information about the circularisation of the staff of Lewis's with the object of obtaining guidance upon the distribution of milk: and whether, before any results of such an inquiry are acted upon, he will ensure adequate protection for the small milk dealer?

The inquiry was made not at the request of my Noble Friend but at the request of the committee recently appointed to advise him on milk distribution costs. I understand that the committee desired to obtain some indication of the manner in which the consumption of milk would be likely to be affected by changes in price and methods of distribution. For this purpose informal arrangements were made for the issue of a simple questionnaire to the staffs of:

• The Ford Motor Company, Limited.
• Lewis's (Manchester, Liverpool, etc.).
• The Gramophone Company, Limited, Hayes, Middlesex.
• The Raleigh Cycle Company, Limited, Nottingham,

and certain other commercial and industrial firms. In reply to the last part of the Question my Noble Friend is not aware that this inquiry has any bearing upon the position of the small, as distinct from large, milk dealer; and in any event no question of action being taken as a result of the inquiry can arise until my Noble Friend has received and considered the committee's report.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that national milk powder is to be subsidised at approximately 7d. to 9d. per packet and sold at 20 oz. for 1s. 2d., whereas the unsubsidised standard recognised brands with which it is competing can only be sold at 20 oz. for 2s. 2d.; and whether he will take action to remedy the grave position in which the latter manufacturers will be placed?

I am aware that national milk powder is to be sold to permit holders under the National Milk Scheme at a price which is less than the cost of manufacture. This is the same principle as has been adopted for liquid milk under the same scheme. Both the liquid milk and the milk powder are supplied free or at a reduced price to those for whom the scheme has been put into operation. The national milk powder is to be manufactured by the firms who supply proprietary brands to welfare centres; but the price to be paid to them for national milk powder has not yet been settled.