asked the Secretary of State for Air what are the mileage rates allowed for petrol allowance to members of the Royal Observer Corps; and will he give details of any other allowance?

Members of the Royal Observer Corps, who necessarily use their private cars for travelling between home and the place of duty receive an allowance of 1d. per mile, provided that the distance each way is more than two miles and that public transport is not available. As regards the second part of the Ques- tion, the observers' pay of is. 3d. an hour is an inclusive rate and members of the Corps receive no other allowances in respect of travelling to and from the normal place of duty.

Is this penny a mile allowance the same as that given to other members of the Service?

It is, of course, for a special purpose, namely, for travelling from their homes to their place of duty. For that purpose other members of the Royal Air Force and civil servants receive no such allowance.

Are not the Royal Observer Corps rather underpaid, in view of the magnificent work they are doing?

That is another matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Air under what terms and conditions motor tip-wagons, requisitioned by his officers in Scotland are used by con tractors, whether time, tonnage, or mile age?

The vehicles requisitioned for use by contractors engaged on Air Ministry work are hired on a time basis, usually at an hourly or daily rate, calculated on carrying capacity.

In view of the fact that the Ministry must undoubtedly be making a profit on these wagons, will the Minister see that compensation paid for requisitioning will be something in excess of 50 per cent. of the value?

We are pursuing a more simple course, which, I think, will be fairer all round and, incidentally, fairer to the public. In future we are not going to requisition these vehicles; we are going to buy them.

asked the Minister of Information whether he will consider the advisability of issuing in addition to the poster entitled "The British Common wealth of Nations Together," a poster, illustrating representative types of the Allied nations who are co-operating with us in the war effort?

The suggestion is one which has already received very full consideration, but there are various practical difficulties in the way of carrying it out; nevertheless my right hon. Friend will have the matter re-examined.

In that connection, will the hon. Member bear in mind the importance of not giving the impression that we regard this as a purely Imperial war, and that in any particular references Greece and our other Allies should be brought into propaganda of this kind?

Certainly, Sir.

asked the Minister of Information to what extent steps have now been taken by the British Broadcasting Corporation to call attention to the issuing and contents of "Hansard" in their announcements, in accordance with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Publications?

A talk on "Hansard" has now been arranged, and other steps are under active consideration.

asked the Minister of Information whether he is aware that Sir Nevile Henderson, speaking at Spalding on behalf of his Department, referred to Rudolf Hess as a sincere and blameless personality; and whether he will take steps to prevent Ministry of In formation speakers referring to Nazi leaders in this way as many persons are thereby induced to believe that this is the official view of His Majesty's Government?

The hon. and gallant Member is under some misapprehension. Sir Nevile Henderson has never spoken on behalf of the Ministry of Information, nor am I aware that any Ministry speaker has ever referred to Nazi officials in the manner described. Accordingly, my right hon. Friend does not consider that there is any need to issue a warning such as the hon. and gallant Member suggests.

May I see my hon. Friend later and show him the speech which was made?

I am quite prepared to believe that Sir Nevile Henderson made a speech, but he did not make it under our auspices.

Does the Minister not see the importance of a speech of this kind made by a man who, for so many years, was our Ambassador in Berlin?

He is not there now.

Is not Hess one of those unsavoury fungi which we want to stamp out in this country and elsewhere? We do not want ex-Ambassadors supporting Hess.

asked the Minister of Information whether British propaganda will now be directed to arousing the democratic and revolutionary spirit of the French people, urging them to defy the orders of the Vichy Government, to refuse to pay taxes, and to take every opportunity of revolting against Admiral Darlan and his fellow Ministers?

The hon. Member may be assured that there is no lack of vigour in our propaganda to France. Our view of the policy adopted by the Vichy Government is made abundantly clear to the French people, who are continually urged to manifest their extreme disapproval of the course to which they are being committed.

Is the Minister aware that public opinion is rather exercised over the fact that, until recently anyhow, our attitude towards the Vichy Government has been rather weak and conciliatory and is believed to represent the atmosphere prevailing in the Foreign Office?

I would recommend my hon. Friend to listen regularly in the course of a week to our broadcasts in French.

Will the Minister consider having broadcast now the statement made by General de Gaulle in Brazzaville, last December, and in London, in February, which the French people have not yet heard?

Am I to understand from the answer that the Government are carrying on revolutionary propaganda? If so, I shall be pleased to assist them.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings whether he will publish the Report on Cement by the Balfour Committee?

Yes, Sir. I expect it to be ready quite shortly.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings whether he will give a list of cement works on Thames side where the cost of production exceeds 16s. per ton; and whether he will take steps to reduce the prices of 46s. 6d. to 49s. per ton for four-ton lots, ex-works in the London area, as this is considered by users to be unreasonably high?

The answer to the first part of the Question is that the cost of pro- duction exceeds 16s. per ton in the case of all Thamesside cement works, but it must be added that production cost is only one of a number of elements in the price to consumers. As I have already informed my hon. Friend, the Minister is satisfied that current price levels are not excessive.

Has the Minister taken advice from consumers as well as from contractors?

My hon. Friend will see on the Order Paper a Question put down, to be replied to after the Recess, asking for more specific details.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings, whether he can make any statement about the offer of the Australian Government to provide new beams for the repair of the roof of West minster Hall?

I am grateful for the suggestion, but it would appear preferable to await the end of hostilities before deciding what permanent reconstruction is necessary. I am glad to inform the hon. Member that it does not seem likely that much replacement of timber will be needed.

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind the ancient precedent by which oak for the timber of Westminster Hall has been supplied from one estate belonging to a right hon. and gallant Member of this House?

Could steps be taken to protect the roof? There is a great gaping hole, which cannot be doing any good to the structure.

Every step is being taken.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Buildings whether he is aware that the Office of Works was advised, in April, 1940, to remove all planks and other wooden material from the Victoria Tower and other high points of the Palace of Westminster as an air-raid precaution; why the Department failed to follow that advice; and to what extent that failure contributed to the damage recently caused by the enemy?

I am aware of the advice to which the hon. Member refers, but it was decided at the time, in the light of all the facts, to go on with the stonework restoration Additional precautions were taken to minimise the fire risk, and I do not agree that the small fire caused by incendiaries on the Victoria Tower had necessarily any connection with the damage caused by high explosive elsewhere in the building.

Was the restoration in fact in progress at the time of the raid which did the damage?

Yes, Sir. It has been decided to discontinue that.

Is my hon. Friend aware that the tubing round the Victoria Tower was a landmark to bombers, and that long before St. Thomas's Hospital and the House of Commons were bombed I drew attention to the fact but no notice was taken of it?

I should have thought the tower itself would be a landmark.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether any arrangement can be made whereby foreign fishermen, at present engaged in the supply of fish to British consumers, may take their share of mine-sweeping in the cause of the Allies, and, if practicable, relieve some of our fishermen engaged on mine-sweeping, who may then revert to their normal occupation of fishing?

Considerable numbers of allied fishermen are already engaged in mine-sweeping and other Naval duties, both in the Royal Navy and in their own national navies, and have rendered valuable service. It would not be in the interests of efficiency to replace British seamen, already highly experienced, by allied seamen, who would have to be trained.

Is the Minister aware of the feeling among our fishing population owing to the fact that foreign fishermen are making fortunes by supplying fish to our people? Our people do not object to mine-sweeping but they think allied fishermen ought to do a fairer share.

I have said that considerable numbers of allied fishermen are already engaged in mine-sweeping.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether French merchant ships, escorted or otherwise, are now being allowed to pass through the Suez Canal or the Straits of Gibraltar without search?

No French ships now pass through the Suez Canal. As regards traffic through the Straits of Gibraltar I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 25th March to the hon. Member for East Wolverhampton (Mr. Mander) by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Economic Warfare.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he will make the necessary arrangements with the railway companies for workmen's tickets to be available for 48 hours instead of 24 as at present, especially owing to the fact that in certain factories the hours of work and the carrying out of air-raid precautions, fire watching and other defence duties, prevent the holder of the ticket from using the return half within the specified time?

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he is now able to make a statement regarding tram and omnibus return tickets?

Workmen's tickets, available for return at the end of the shift, though this may be on the day following the date of issue, are available to artisans, mechanics and labourers on late shifts, who produce the necessary certificate from their employers. This applies to the railways and to all forms of transport in London on which workmen's tickets are available. As announced in reply to Questions on 30th January and 19th February, special concession fares are available on the railways to full-time Civil Defence workers and to fire watchers.

Why should it be necessary to have these certificates? In view of the heroic and devoted service that these men and women are doing in fire watching and A.R.P. duties, why cannot the tickets by simply extended to 48 hours to enable the return half to be used next day?

These certificates from the employers and the Civil Defence force are needed to distinguish those who are doing these patriotic duties and other people who might not be and who, if there were no certificates, might try to take advantage of this concession.

Why cannot the facilities provided on other forms of transport in this direction be extended to trams and buses?

The concession for the extra shift does operate on all trams and buses on which workmen's fares operate.

Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman not aware that further facilities are granted in other forms of transport, and why cannot they be extended to trams and buses?

I am not certain what other concession my hon. Friend has in mind.

On the Underground a return ticket for one day is available the next day.

The return ticket is available on trams and buses at the end of the shift, although the shift ends on the day after that on which the ticket was issued.

This facility holds for the whole of the following day on the Underground.

My hon. Friend is wrong.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he will take prompt action to secure that all omnibus companies in Scotland grant the same permission as is given in England for women omnibus conductors to sit in vacant seats in their omnibuses when their duties give them the chance of sitting down?

I am informed that a woman omnibus conductor in Scotland is allowed to occupy a vacant seat in a bus in non-built up areas where the fact that she does so will not interfere with the performance of her duties.

Is the Minister aware that what he has stated is absolutely false? [Hon. Members: "Order."] It is his information, and he has been misinformed. Will he see that the women conductors have the right to a seat?

We consulted our regional transport commissioner in Scotland, and this is the information that came from him. I was not certain how it applied in Scotland when I replied a week ago to a Question of this sort, but inquiries were made, and to the best of my belief what I have said is true.

What is a conductress to do in a bus travelling for 60 miles when every seat in occupied?

Would it not be possible for the end seat in a bus to be reserved for the woman conductor?

It would not be right at all times in a journey for the woman conductor to sit down. Her duties are to see that the bus stops wherever there is a passenger to pick up, and in built-up areas she has normally quite enough to do between one stop and another, issuing fares either on the roof or on the floor of the bus.

Will the Minister make inquiries to ascertain whether it is not a fact that these girls are terrified to sit down? I have asked them time and again.

If my hon. Friend will give me the names of bus companies where that is happening, I will make inquiries.

Every bus company in Scotland, including Glasgow Corporation.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport whether he will require all omnibus companies to fit in their omnibuses, wherever it is practicable to do so, a small tip-up seat or seat slung in hammock fashion for the use of omnibus conductors and conductresses, in view of the fact that small seats of this type could be put in most omnibuses and would greatly lighten the fatigue of these workers?

I will communicate with the association representing operators of omnibuses on this point and will let my hon. Friend know the result.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many hutted camps were included in the estimate of £20,000,000; and how many were actually completed or included in the total of £22,730,860 expended?

The £20,000,000 was not related to any particular number of camps but made provision for some 90,000 Militia, excluding the Militia at searchlight batteries for whom provision was made elsewhere. In addition, it made provision for certain other accommodation. The £22,750,000 referred to in the Comptroller and Auditor-General's Report covered accommodation for 100,000 men at peace scales or 130,000 at war scales, in camps, in extensions to barracks and at searchlight batteries.

Are we to understand from the figures that the total cost of the camps in the original programme was exceeded by only 10 per cent., and, if not, will the Minister say what percentage of the original plan was carried out in the expenditure of the £22,000,000?

The total cost exceeded the Estimate presented to Parliament by approximately 10 per cent., but that figure of £20,000,000 does not apply to the engineering estimates of the individual camps. I think that is where my hon. Friend is under some misapprehension.

Is it not really rather misleading? Would it not have been better not to compare those two figures at all?

It was the Comptroller and Auditor-General who did it and not I.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has taken steps to increase the military training of members of the Royal Army Pay Corps, and other non-combatant services, to enable them to be prepared to defend themselves against attack in the event of the need arising?

Personnel of the Royal Army Pay Corps and similar Corps receive the maximum amount of training in the use of arms that is compatible with the proper performance of their special duties.

Is my hon. Friend aware that that answer is similar to the one which he gave me two or three weeks ago, when I asked whether it might not be increased; and is he further aware that his answer will give very great dissatisfaction to many men serving who are anxious to have more training? Will he consider whether they cannot have some physical training?

Those in non-combatant corps do receive the maximum amount of training in the use of weapons that is possible in their case. Obviously they cannot receive the same amount of training as is given in combatant formations, because otherwise they could not perform their special duties.

Could not the excellent example of the Army Medical Service in this matter be followed?

asked the Secretary of State for War when he expects to be in a position to make a statement on the subject of allowances for married officers under the age of 30?

I am afraid I can give no definite date, but the review of these allowances now in progress will be expedited as much as possible.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the distinction made between officers over 30 and under 30 is due to the fact that in the Regular Army officers were discouraged from marrying at an early age, and in view of the fact that the great majority of the present Army is composed of temporary soldiers, many of whom married before they entered the Army, will he see whether some alteration cannot be made?

Yes, Sir, I am aware of the circumstances which gave rise to this distinction, but I can only assure my hon. and gallant Friend that the matter is under consideration. It does not affect the War Office only. We will get a decision as quickly as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is prepared to consider applications for the release from the Armed Forces of skilled building trade workers who are willing to take up work immediately in the building industry?

I am willing to consider the release of individual men where a sufficiently strong case is made out and it is supported by the Government Department directly concerned and by the Ministry of Labour and National Service. Applications should not be addressed to the War Office but to the Government Department directly concerned.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that it is not so much a shortage of so-called skilled men as of so-called unskilled men, whose absence is adversely affecting the regular employment of the skilled men?

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there have been instances of the Army taking men and releasing them during the same week during the blitz in Glasgow? Will he take steps to put an end to this?

I think I should make it clear that whether a man goes into the Army is purely a question for the Ministry of Labour and National Service. They are drafted into the Army by that Ministry. Releases from the Army are granted as far as possible when an urgent demand is received from another Government Department.

Will the hon. Gentleman tell us what is the procedure? Has the employer who is willing to employ the soldier to make application, and if he is engaged on Government work, is that all that is necessary before a case is put up to the War Office?

The employer has to apply to the appropriate Government Department. In the case of building workers it would normally be to the Ministry of Works and Buildings. Then the Ministry of Works and Buildings, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and National Service, would make application to the War Office if the case were thought to be strong enough.

Does the hon. Gentleman say that the Ministry of National Service act without reference to the War Office and War Office requirements? Is there no co-ordination?

Yes, Sir, there is co-ordination. We state what our requirements are, though we do not always get them satisfied, but we do not say what men are to be called up.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will give a list of local authorities who have not prepared communal feeding centres; and what action is taken with these authorities, in view of the proved need for these centres in areas that have suffered through air-raids?

There are approximately 1,700 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. Many of these authorities represent rural areas with widely scattered populations where it is not necessary to provide British Restaurants. I am making available in the Library of the House lists of places for which plans have already been approved or are in the course of preparation. There may be other places in the latter category of which I have not yet been advised by the local authority concerned. In reply to the last part of the Question, each divisional food officer has on his staff an officer who is specially charged with the duty of encouraging and assisting in the establishment of British Restaurants. These officers make personal contact with the local authorities in their division and give them all possible assistance in the matter.

I have had experience which shows the necessity for developments of that kind. Can the hon. and gallant Gentleman inform the House what steps are taken to deal with local authorities which do not carry out the instructions and advice of the Ministry?

At the moment, so far as I know, we can do no more than urge them to give these facilities to their districts. I am glad to say that the speed of starting these restaurants has increased very rapidly in the last few weeks.

Has not the Ministry power to set up these British Restaurants where the local authority fails to do so?

I am not quite sure.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what steps are being taken to safeguard the position of cottagers and others in the rural districts who have been accustomed to making jam from soft fruit, and will now be prevented from doing so by the Ministry of Food order; whether he is aware that in many cases it is not possible for this fruit to be disposed of to the women's institute or other body; and whether he will take steps to prevent the waste that will ensue?

The hon. and gallant Gentleman is not correct in stating that domestic jam making is prevented by Ministry of Food order. It will be impossible, in view of the supply position, to issue extra sugar for jam making, either to owners of garden fruit or to persons who, in peace-time, make jam from bought fruit. Growers of fruit will, however, be free either to sell their crop to commercial jam makers, to use it for jam making or bottling themselves with any sugar that they may have saved from their domestic rations, or to sell it to one of the cooperative centres which are being established all over the country for this purpose. In these circumstances, I know of no reason to think that there will be any waste of fruit, as my hon. and gallant Friend fears.

Is not my hon. and gallant Friend aware that in the rural districts they say there will be a great deal of waste?

Does not the Minister realise that the policy of the Ministry in this respect is causing very great and bitter disappointment to a vast number of smallholders all over the country?

We fully appreciate that. If it were possible, there is no question that sugar would be made available for this purpose, but the whole of this policy is dictated by one thing only, and that is the supply position.

Why did the Ministry beside to withdraw the sugar ration in cafés and then to allow it to continue?

I would remind the hon. Gentleman that the Question put to me refers to sugar for soft fruits. With regard to the stone-fruit crop, my Noble Friend made a statement that, if the supply position permitted, the decision would be reconsidered.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will take steps to compel meat-pie retailers to display notices of the meat content of such pies offered for sale to the public?

Proposals for controlling the meat content of meat pies have been considered by the Ministry's advisory committee on meat manufactures, and it has been decided, in the light of the advice of the committee, that it would not be practicable to administer any requirement that the meat content of each pie should be specified.

Does the Minister think it fair to the public that meat pies should be foisted on them containing 79 per cent. of added water and cereal and only a 21 per cent. meat content? That was according to the report of the public analyst. Cannot something be done to prevent the foisting upon the public of something which may be a danger to health?

Naturally, I am anxious to do what I can to protect the public. The advisory committee consist of representatives of both manufacturers and labour in the trade, and they came to the conclusion that as so many small caterers make these things it is almost impossible to carry out a specified meat content. Difficulties would arise on analysis for enforcement purposes; owing to the fact that there is fat in the pastry it is impossible to say where the meat starts and the pastry ends.