asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what salary is being paid to Major Munro for his work as controller of carrots and onions; and what his previous experience has been in this section of the vegetable trade?

Major Munro does not intend to accept any salary for his work as Managing Director of the National Vegetable Marketing Company. He has had special experience of the distribution of onions in this country and his experience of marketing carrots and many other horticultural crops has extended over many years. He was, how- ever, selected for this appointment by reason of his wide experience in the distribution of horticultural produce throughout the country.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will modify the priority groups participating in the distribution of chocolate so as to ensure a ration of a 2d. block of chocolate per week for each child under 14 years of age?

I regret I am unable to adopt my hon. Friend's suggestion that the arrangement whereby priority supplies of chocolate and sugar confectionery are made available to members of H.M. Forces and to certain other organisations should be modified to ensure a ration of chocolate of the amount specified to each child under 14 years of age.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether members of the staffs of foreign embassies in this country and their employés are subject to the same rules with regard to rationing as British subjects?

Yes, Sir, except that heads of mission and certain senior members of their staffs are allowed such extra rations as are deemed reasonable and necessary for the purpose of official entertaining.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will consider altering the milk rationing system, so that persons be rationed and not a reduction made on the basis of the former household consumption, as the poorer housewives in ordinary times only take in the minimum supply necessary for their households, whilst the wealthier have been able always to purchase a very much larger margin than their actual needs?

My Noble Friend is not satisfied that the introduction of-a scheme for the rationing of milk would, in practice, prove more satisfactory than the present method of restricting supplies on the basis of previous consumption. With a view to preventing hardship in the case of the small consumer my Noble Friend has given instructions that no reduction shall be made in the case of households taking one pint or less of milk per day. Furthermore, as already announced, no reduction is made in the case of milk supplied free or at a reduced rate to mothers and infants under the National Milk Scheme or to children under the Milk-in-Schools Scheme. I propose to make a statement on this subject in the course of the Debate on the distribution of foodstuffs.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, in conjunction with the Minister of Agriculture, arrangements are being considered whereby growers of hard fruit, such as apples and pears, can secure storage and preservation of their products in order that they may be available for the winter?

I regret that I can hold out no prospect of supplies of controlled materials for the erection of new buildings for the storage of fruit being provided in present circumstances.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will make a statement on the distribution of dried eggs; and whether the consumer can be compelled to accept them instead of the fresh article?

At the present time the distribution of dried eggs to the general public is not controlled. An understanding has been reached with the distributors of all egg products that they will distribute supplies equitably to their regular customers in the confectionery and manufacturing trades. In reply to the last part of the Question there is no obligation upon any customer to accept dried eggs.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what is the policy of his Department in relation to the growing and the consumption of rye?

It has been agreed with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries that the grain crops principally required are wheat, barley and oats. Farmers have, therefore, been advised that land suitable for growing cereals should be sown to those crops and in that order of preference. Rye should only be grown on the lighter and poorer soils, which are not suitable for the production of the main cereals. On such soils it is a useful crop. Apart from the need of ensuring that adequate supplies of seed are available for autumn sowing, it is not proposed to control the utilisation of rye from the 1941 crop.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware that rice is still used at weddings; and whether he will make this practice illegal?

The practice referred to is prohibited by the Rice (Control) Order, 1941 (S.R.O. 1941, No. 501), which provides that except under and in accordance with the terms of a licence or other authority granted by or on behalf of the Minister no person shall use any rice except for a permitted purpose. The use of rice at weddings is not a permitted purpose. Infringements of the Order are offences under the Defence Regulations.

asked the Minister of Information whether he has now been able to ascertain the approximate total cost of the production, publication and circularising, of the various Press summaries issued in the different regions of the country under the supervision of his Department?

I am sending the hon. Member a statement giving the information requested.

asked the Minister of Information whether a separate department of the censorship is being established for Wales; and will he give the names of the staff, their respective salaries, and their occupations prior to this appointment?

I am sending the hon. Member a statement giving the information requested.

asked the Minister of Information whether he will provide hon. Members with a copy of the suggestions sent out to ministers as to the outlines of sermons?

No such document has been issued by the Ministry of Information.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will give the number of persons registering for employment at the Swansea Employment Exchange up to the last convenient date and the periods of registration in each case?

I am communicating with my hon. Friend.

asked the Secretary for Petroleum the amounts of paraffin wax and paraffin scale imported from America and Burma during the last six months?

It would not be in the national interest to publish the information asked for.

asked the Secretary for Petroleum the c.i.f. costs of Burma waxes and American paraffin scale and wax; and the respective prices charged to users over the last six months?

During the period 1st October, 1940, to 31st March, 1941, the approved selling prices ex store of paraffin scale have varied from £23 3s. 4d. to £28 11s. 3d., and of refined paraffin wax (122⁰ F.) from £42 12s. 9d. to £45 12s. 6d. The second figures mentioned in each case are the current prices.

asked the Attorney-General whether, in order to reduce expense for the investigation of title at future sales of property in the replanned districts injured by enemy action and where registration is not yet compulsory, he will stipulate that the re-planned properties shall be entered on the land registry?

The difficulties which may arise in connection with future dealings with properties in bombed areas which are subsequently rebuilt, will require very careful consideration in connection with the general problem of the replanning of these areas. I can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that the point to which he draws attention will receive careful consideration, but my Noble Friend is not in a position to give an undertaking in the terms asked.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the attempts of certain borough councils to demand repayment from persons billeted after being bombed out of their own homes, of the billeting allowances properly and regularly paid in respect of their billeting; and whether he will take steps to stop this practice?

Local authorities have been directed to ask billeted persons in certain circumstances, to repay the whole or part of the cost of their billeting. Repayment is not expected for the first two weeks of billeting and, after that, only to the extent that a wage-earner accommodated with his family, if any, is able to pay for the new accommodation with no greater difficulty than for that previously occupied.

asked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the increased number of road accidents, and in order to add to the sense of personal responsibility on the part of drivers generally, he will consider the advisability of limiting, by legislation or order, insurance against compensation claims to 80 or 75 percent. of the full amount payable in successful claims?

I think the present system, under which insurers encourage safe driving and the sense of personal responsibility by imposing an "excess" or offering a "no claim bonus" according to claims experience, is preferable to a position under which, in many instances, an injured third party would be able to recover only 80 or 75 percent. of the compensation awarded to him.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the date by which applications under Section 27 of the Finance Act, 1940, can be received, namely, before the end of the year 1940, as provided in Sub-section (7) thereof, can be further extended to before the end of the year 1941 to enable bodies corporate, who might benefit by the application of the Section but who have not yet been able to ascertain and agree their Excess Profits Tax position, to have further time in which to determine whether any claim for a substituted profits standard under the terms of the Section would be advantageous?

The Finance Bill will contain a proposal for an extension of the term within which a notice of application under Section 27 of the Finance Act, 1940, may be given.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in connection with the granting of a loan to Spain, any representations were made to the Spanish Government with a view to securing fair treatment for British companies with important interests in Spain such as the Rio Tin to copper mines?

Full consideration was given to this question in connection with the Trade and Payments Agreement signed in Madrid with the original Loan Agreement on 18th March, 1940.

asked the Postmaster General, how many automatic telephone exchanges were opened during 1940 and where they are placed; and whether he has any statement to make regarding the automatic telephone exchange for the Greenock area?

About 200 automatic telephone exchanges were opened during 1940, of which about 180 were relatively small exchanges. In the majority of cases the building work was well advanced on the outbreak of the war. I am sending a list of the places concerned to my hon. and learned Friend. Owing to the extremely heavy demands on the building industry for purposes directly connected with the prosecution of the war, it has not yet been possible to commence the buildings for the new exchanges in the Greenock area, and I am sorry that in present circumstances I am unable to say when it will be possible to make progress with them.

asked the Secretary of State for Air why a street lighting system has recently been installed on an aerodrome, the name of which has been given to him privately; and how many lamp standards, yards of cable and man-hours of labour, were used in its construction?

It is not correct to say that a street lighting system has recently been installed on the aerodrome to which my hon. Friend refers. A contract for such a system had been placed before the war but under wartime policy it was not installed. As, however, a station fire alarm and loudspeaker system was required twelve of the standards and 4,000 yards of cable ordered under the contract for the lighting system were used for this purpose at a cost of approximately £1,100. I regret that I have no information immediately available as to the man-hours involved in this work.