asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will take steps to provide adequate pools in the various districts to ensure that personnel of the Services may obtain rationed commodities, especially meat, in view of the fact that in some cases at the moment those on leave are unable to obtain their ration entitlement?

I am aware that there have been difficulties in the case of meat but steps have been taken to prevent their recurrence. If my hon. and gallant Friend will give me details of difficulties that have arisen in regard to other rationed commodities I will look into the matter.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will make arrangements for a more even supply of meat, in view of the fact that, in many cases, only a quarter of the supply is available at the beginning of the week and the balance not available until the end, because it is desirable to have a reasonable supply on each day of the week?

Where districts consume a large proportion of home-killed supplies the evenness of the deliveries is dependent to an important extent on the flow of livestock to the collecting centres, and this is subject to many interruptions, such as severe weather. Every effort is made to distribute supplies of meat to butchers evenly over the week and delays in arrival of stock are met wherever possible by adjustments in the issues of imported supplies, but it is inevitable that shortages must be made up in the latter part of the week.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether the supply of rabbits available for consumption has increased or decreased since the Ministry of Food fixed a maximum price above which their sale is prohibited?

No statistics are in existence of the supply of rabbits available for consumption in the United Kingdom, and I regret I am not in a position to answer my hon. Friend's Question.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, in view of the prevailing confusion as to what constitution of the flour is required to qualify it to be called wholemeal, he will prescribe the formula to be used in the wholemeal loaf shortly to be supplied on the authority of the Ministry and designated as earning the subsidy?

My Noble Friend is aware that the term "wholemeal" is loosely applied to bread made from flour containing between 80 and 100 per cent. of the wheat berry. He is arranging therefore that a flour, to be known as national wheatmeal, milled to standards laid down by his scientific and technical advisers, shall shortly be made available by all controlled flour millers at the same price as national straight-run flour. It is not his intention, however, to withhold subsidy from bread made from other high extraction flours, providing that the conditions of subsidy are fulfilled.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he has considered representations about the inability of retail confectioners in some places to get their share of chocolates and other sweets, which bears very hardly upon many children; and whether he will take steps to remedy this?

Demands for confectionery have increased while total supplies have had to be very substantially reduced, and out of these certain priority claims must be met. Instructions have, however, been issued designed to limit priority orders to essential needs, so as to leave as large a proportion as practicable available for sale through ordinary trade channels. The proportion of cheaper goods produced is being further increased at the expense of the dearer. The industry are endeavouring to distribute reduced supplies equitably on the basis of pre-war purchases adjusted in the light of present distribution of population.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what is the total number of employés under the Ministry of Food; and how many of those employés are in receipt of salaries of £1,000 per annum, or over, and the positions occupied by each of them?

The total staff employed under the Ministry of Food is approximately 30,200. Of these, 114 are in receipt of salaries of £1,000 a year or over. These include senior administrative officers, trade directors, divisional food officers and finance directors.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can give the designed meta-centric height of the corvettes?

It is not in the public interest to give this information.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that the emergency omnibus fare between the Elephant and Castle and Piccadilly is 3d. as against the standard fare of 2d. on the tube railway; and, as this is a great hardship to many workers, there being no workmen's fares, will he make inquiries as to whether this charge is authorised and justified?

My lion. Friend is under a misapprehension as to the fares charged from Elephant and Castle to Piccadilly. The ordinary single fare by rail or bus service (whether normal or emergency) is 2d. The workmen's return fare by rail is 3d. Passengers can obtain tickets from the station ticket offices and use them on the emergency bus service.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he has any statistics showing the number of women now employed and unemployed, respectively, who might be utilised for urgent national work; what co-ordination exists between the different Departments in appealing for such female labour; and whether the War Office will draw its demand for 20,000 more Auxiliary Territorial Service women from the same sources as the munition factories?

The general statistics already available need to be supplemented by machinery for the selection of individuals; this will be effected, so far as necessary, by a system of registration applying to women as well as men. Furthermore, the various industries concerned have been invited to prepare proposals which will ensure the orderly release of workers as and when they are required. Vacancies in Government establishments and in undertakings covered by the Restriction on Engagement Order are filled through the Employment Exchange Service. My Department is therefore in a position to co-ordinate such demands. With regard to the third part of the Question, my Department is in close touch with the War Office with a view to coordinating the supply of women for the Auxiliary Territorial Service with that for munitions work.

asked the Secretary of State for War when the military officers of the "Dunera" are expected to report; whether he intends to appoint a committee of inquiry into the allegations made from Australia now in his hands; and, if so, will he state the terms of reference, composition and powers of the committee as to taking evidence, legal representation and publicity?

All the officers and men concerned have not yet returned to this country, and I am not yet able to say when all those who have not arrived are to be expected. In the meantime, preliminary investigations are in progress, with a view to holding a court of inquiry. The constitution of the court, and its terms of reference, have not yet been determined. A court of inquiry is not normally held in public.

asked the Minister of Health, with reference to the Departmental Circular No. 2154, what is the policy of his Department with regard to the maintenance of rest centres ready for use by homeless persons in cases of emergency through enemy action; and whether local authorities will be reimbursed expenditure for services such as heating, caretaking, and maintenance staff, if, in their discretion, staff for this purpose is considered necessary in rest centres?

I am sending the hon. Member a copy of a Circular issued to county councils and county borough councils on the 6th February, 1941, informing them of the Government's decision to reimburse public assistance authorities the whole of their approved expenditure, from the inception of the scheme, on providing at rest centres for the immediate needs of people who are made homeless or leave their homes as a result of enemy action. A large measure of discretion has been allowed to local authorities in providing for this service and approved expenditure for heating, caretaking and maintenance staff, would be included in the reimbursement. I am obliged to the hon. Member for sending some particulars of a case and I am looking into the facts.

asked the Minister of Health whether any financial assistance that may be necessary as a result of circumstances arising out of the war, to ensure the maintenance of essential services, will be afforded to the local authority concerned out of Exchequer funds by way of gift, or by way of loan; and upon what conditions?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 5th September last giving details of the manner in which and the conditions under which financial assistance is to be given to the local authorities of certain coast towns. I am prepared to consider an application for assistance from the local authority of any other area, and if they are able to satisfy me that the amounts collectable from rates and other normal sources of revenue are unlikely to suffice to maintain essential services, to make interest-free advances on conditions to be settled with them.

asked the Secretary of State for War why the Army allowance allowed to Mrs. J. E. Kilduff, of 47, Wycherley Road, Spotland, Rochdale, wife of a fusilier in the 1st/6th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, has been reduced; whether the reason for this action has been communicated to her; and what are the circumstances justifying this penalisation of a soldier's wife?

I have called for a report on the particular case to which my hon. Friend refers, and have not yet received all the necessary information. I will inform my hon. Friend as soon as a full report has been received and considered.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that soldiers who become incapacitated through illness whilst on home leave and who can give proof of medical certification of illness and proof of communicating their inability to return to their units through illness and of making every endeavour to obtain treatment at local civilian or military hospitals, are arrested by local borough or county police, detained and sent back to their units; whether the police are, on such occasions, acting on the instructions of the commanding officers of the units; and whether better arrangements can be made, so that soldiers on home leave, temporarily incapacitated by certified illness, may be more justly treated?

The procedure in the case of a soldier who becomes incapacitated through illness while on leave is not as indicated by my hon. Friend. A soldier's leave-pass includes instructions as to what he should do if he becomes ill on leave, and, if he carries out these instructions which are simple and easy to understand, none of the consequences envisaged by my hon. Friend will ensue. If, however, the soldier ignores the instructions, and if his commanding officer has not been informed of the grounds for his absence, the soldier will, in all probability, be regarded as an absentee without leave.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is aware that the private banks, especially the big five, have persisted in refusing to recognise the principle of free and unfettered trade union organisation amongst their employés; and whether, having regard to the fact that this persistent refusal to accept and implement this principle of the right of workers to free association is impeding the national war effort and making the factory workers suspicious of the general attitude of the finance of the banking combines, it is his intention to make the recognition of trade unionism a condition of the National Government during the war doing any business with or through these banks?

No, Sir. The committee of London clearing bankers have agreed to participate with representations of the staff in a joint conciliation council of employers and employés in the banking industry in England and Wales and at the present time representatives of the Bank Officers' Guild and of the Central Council of Bank Staff Associations are framing the constitution of the Staff Side of such a council.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that exports from North China are permitted only on payment in the Japanese federated reserve bank currency and imports are not permitted except under licence from that bank; and whether he has represented to the Japanese Government that the control of all imports and exports by a Japanese bank is inconsistent with the repeated declarations of the Japanese Government that they have no intention to injure foreign interests?

Yes, Sir. His Majesty's Government are aware of the trade and exchange restrictions imposed by the Japanese authorities in North China. Repeated representations against these measures have already been made by His Majesty's Government and other interested Governments on the lines indicated by the hon. Member, but up till now no satisfactory answer has been received.