asked the Minister of Labour what special measures are being taken to place in suitable employment men rendered incapable of following their normal employment, for example, mining, and thus make the best use of this still valuable labour force?

A scheme was introduced last year to assist persons who are prevented by injury from returning to their normal employment to get other suitable employment, either direct or through a course of vocational training. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of a leaflet which describes this scheme.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of men on the live unemployment register of the Ferndale, Porth, Treorchy, Tonypandy and Tonyrefail exchanges; together with the approximate age groups into which they fall?

I am sending to my hon. Friend such figures as are available.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will call the attention of heads of Departments and factory managers, wherever young persons are continuously employed in places where artificial lighting only is used, to the importance arranging the lighting so that eye strain may be avoided as far as possible and, in particular, to see that the lights are turned away from the eyes and on the work?

Both the sufficiency and the suitability of factory lighting, including arrangements to prevent glare, are governed by the Factories Act and Regulations. If my hon. Friend will send me information as to any particular factory which he has in mind where the lighting is reported to be defective, I will have the case investigated.

asked the Minister of Labour whether, under the new Defence Regulation 84AA, men and women will receive equal pay for their work and equal compensation for any injuries they may incur?

The regulation prescribes that the rate of remuneration for services rendered in pursuance of directions shall not be lower than that generally paid for comparable services in the district. The regulation does not deal with the question of compensation.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will give a clear declaration of the present policy of the Government with regard to entertainment having regard to the fact that the provision of some kind of entertainment is being subsidised by one Government Department whilst on the other hand the Government have announced their intention drastically to cut down other forms of entertainment?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement made to-day by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.

asked the Home Secretary whether he can give statistics, from police reports or otherwise, of the approximate number of persons present at Harringay, Wimbledon and Wembley dog races on 4th March?

I am informed that the approximate number of persons present at Harringay, Wimbledon and Wembley dog races on the 4th March was 7,500, 6,700 and 4,000 respectively.

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the increasing number of thefts which are taking place, particularly in private houses where men and women are away doing air-raid precautions duties or night work; and will he consider means whereby this can be stamped out?

I am aware that there has been an increase of certain kinds of theft in war-time conditions, but as regards burglary and housebreaking there has been in the Metropolitan Police District some decrease, and I have no information of any increase recently in the particular type of offence mentioned in the Question. If my hon. Friend can furnish any further particulars, I shall be glad to have inquiry made.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to complaints in the county of Essex of the inadequate number of women police in the county, and of the attitude of the local police authorities to this question; and what steps he proposes to take?

It is the policy of the Home Office to encourage police authorities to make full use of the services of suitable women, but the scope and the need for policewomen vary according to local conditions. The decision as to the employment of women police is one for the Essex Standing Joint Committee as the police authority, but I am arranging for the matter to be discussed with them by representatives of my Department.

asked the Minister of Health what are the arrangements in the hospital system throughout the country for the treatment of fractures and rehabilitation of injured persons; the number of fracture departments which conform to the Grade 1 standard laid down by the Delevingne Committee; the number of hospitals in which there are arrangements for completing rehabilitation after hospital treatment has ended; whether there are any rehabilitation centres, residential or otherwise, apart from the hospitals and where such centres are located; whether it is the intention of the Ministry to provide such centres on an increasing scale; and what steps are being taken in that direction?

The arrangements made under the Emergency Hospital Scheme for fracture treatment and rehabilitation are outlined in the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich (Mr. H. Strauss) on 8th January. The 21 special orthopaedic centres and 56 fracture departments mentioned in that reply provide a full range of facilities based on the principles recommended by the Delevingne Committee. The other hospitals in the fracture scheme, which number 200, and are known as Fracture Departments B, are limited to ambulant and short stay cases in war-time because of their geographical position, and many of them attain the Delevingne standard in the facilities which they could offer. All these centres and hospitals, supplemented by numerous out-patient departments and clinics for follow-up treatment, work on the principle of continuity of treatment and rehabilitation in one process, and consequently no separate rehabilitation centres have been established or are contemplated as part of the scheme administered by my Department.

asked the Minister of Health why his chief medical officer had no records of immunisations at Liverpool of children over 10 years of age at his conference held on 28th February?

As regards particular towns the chief medical officer merely passed on to the conference the information he had obtained from the local medical officer of health for the purpose.

asked the Minister of Health who is invited to the conferences held by his chief medical officer; how the selection of persons to whom invitations are sent is made; and whether he will take steps to have the information there imparted more easily and economically conveyed by post?

Invitations to send representatives are extended to the editors of the news agencies, of the national and provincial newspapers, and of medical, technical, women's and other periodicals interested in public health subjects. No question of economy arises since the conferences involve no special expenditure, and no written communiqué is distributed. The conferences are quite informal, and the information imparted could not be conveyed by post because much of it is given in answer to questions.

asked the Minister of Health the value to his Department of the expenditure on the protection of practices scheme connected with the medical profession?

The value of the scheme is that it facilitates the maintenance of an efficient medical service for insured persons during the war. The expenditure falling on insurance committees in connection with the scheme is very small, and cannot be separated from their other administration expenses.

asked the Home Secretary whether he will consider allowing young persons under 18 years of age to serve in fried fish shops after 10 p.m., in view of the difficulty these shops have in obtaining female labour, and the fact that young persons of this age are allowed to work in cinemas after the hour mentioned?

Amendment of the Shops Act, 1934, would be required to give effect to this proposal, and I have no information to show that such an amendment of the law is necessary or desirable.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give detailed information in connection with the case brought against Nathan Davis, of Nottingham, on Tuesday, 3rd March, for selling face powder made by himself; and whether he has seen the statement made by Mr. E. Eccleston for the Board of Trade?

Nathan Davies was prosecuted for contravention of the Limitation of Supplies (Miscellaneous) (No. 11) Order, 1941. He was charged with supplying face powder made by himself without having applied for registration. The summons was issued but was not served and about three months later Davies was arrested on warrant at Sheffield where he was living under an assumed name. The case was heard at Nottingham on 3rd March, when Davies pleaded guilty. Mr. Ernest Eccleston, solicitor, of Nottingham, conducted the case on behalf of the Board of Trade. Although there was some evidence as to the weight of the goods sold by Davies the prosecution had been unable to secure satisfactory evidence as to the price which the goods "might be expected to fetch if lawfully sold" and therefore it was not possible to ask the court to impose the additional penalty of three times that price under Regulation 55(1B). Mr. Eccleston informed the Court that whatever monetary penalties they might see fit to impose they would not wipe out the illicit profit made by Davies. After this statement had been made by Mr. Eccleston, Davies admitted that he had made a profit of £600, but as there was information that Davies had only a few shillings on him at the time of his arrest, it was obvious that mere monetary penalties were not likely to be very effective. The Bench imposed the maximum penalties provided by Regulation 92, namely, three months' imprisonment and a fine of £100 and in default of payment of the fine a further three months' imprisonment to run consecutively.

asked the Secretary for Petroleum whether any further change is contemplated in the basic petrol ration for private motor-cars during the coming summer; and whether any basic ration for private motor-craft will be allowed?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the statement I made to-day, of which I am sending him a copy. No allowances will be made for motor-craft for pleasure purposes.

asked the Minister of Supply the value of the work undertaken for his Department by Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners during the year ended 31st December, 1941, or convenient date, and the fees paid or credited to them during the same period?

The value of the work supervised on behalf of the Ministry of Supply by this firm during 1941 is about £9,200,000. A fee of £15,000 per annum is payable for the services of the firm and for all services, work and time of the principals of the firm. This fee also covers work supervised on behalf of the Ministry of Works and Buildings. In addition, the firm are reimbursed the actual expenditure incurred for salaries and expenses of technical staff and other personnel employed at the site, quantity surveyors and specialist consultants and an appropriate proportion of "on-cost." The estimated amounts payable to the firm for 1941 are £452,000 for actual expenditure incurred, and £11,000 for proportion of "on-cost."

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that the University Members' Committee, at a recent meeting, passed unanimously a resolution urging that male students entering upon a university year of study, at an age of less than 18½ years, should be allowed to complete that year at the university; and whether he will add this to the agenda of the meeting he is arranging with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of British Universities?

The reply to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative; the resolution was communicated to the Conference mentioned in the second part of the Question.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a considerable number of men passed as fit to join young soldiers' battalions are found shortly afterwards to be physically incapable of performing the duties required; and whether, to save trouble and expense in partially training men who are unable to become soldiers, he will instruct medical boards to be more careful in carrying out their tests in future?

No reports have been received that any considerable number of men posted to young soldiers' battalions have been unable to stand up physically to their duties. No special statistical analysis has been possible at short notice, but the figures which I have seen suggest that the percentage of gradings requiring subsequent revision among these men is lower than for the Army as a whole. I shall, however, be happy to examine any figures which my hon. Friend may care to send me.

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he will make a recommendation to education committees to adopt as a reader in elementary and secondary schools the work entitled "The Wings of Victory"?

It is the Board's general policy to leave the choice of books, together with details of the curriculum, to the discretion of the local education authority or other authority responsible for the schools. I should be reluctant to vary this procedure.

asked the President of the Board of Education what steps he has taken to ensure that suitable girls, as well as boys, are being trained in technical engineering schools throughout the country; whether arrangements have been made for the more advanced students to repair and re-assemble, vehicles and engines belonging, or essential, to the war effort; and whether there is continuous collaboration between his Department and the Ministries of Labour and Supply in these matters?

I assume that my hon. and learned Friend has primarily in mind special training related to the war-time effort. In addition to the continued output to the engineering industry from junior technical schools, the Board have taken steps to ensure the fullest use of technical colleges for the training of persons of both sexes prior to entry into wartime industry. This training is now mainly in the form of short intensive courses for women and girls, while training on a large scale is afforded to tradesmen in the fighting Services, including soldiers concerned with the maintenance of vehicles. I am sending my hon. Friend further particulars about the nature of the training. The answer to the last part of the Question is in the affirmative.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that upon the Brechin Castle Estate, Trinidad, where several hundred West Indians are employed, all requests for war-time increase of wages to meet the rising costs of living have been refused; and whether he will make representations to remedy this hardship?

The Governor of Trinidad is being asked for a report on this matter, and I will communicate with my hon. Friend on receipt of his reply.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether he has now received from His Majesty's Ambassador at Ankara further information as to the sinking of the ship "Struma" with the loss of Rumanian refugees;(2) whether he has instructed the Palestine Administration in any further case of Jewish refugees similar to that of the "Struma," that entry into Palestine to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution will not be refused?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on this subject to the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Lipson) on the 11th March, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the case of Edward Preston, of Gerrard Gardens, Liverpool, sentenced for refusing to perform his duties as a fireman on board ship, thereby causing a whole convoy to slow down and be exposed to additional dangers from submarines; and whether he will drastically increase the penalties for such offences?

Yes, Sir. My attention has been called to this case. The maximum penalties under the Defence Regulations on conviction in a court of summary jurisdiction are, imprisonment for three months or a fine of £100 or both. The maximum penalties on conviction on indictment are imprisonment for two years or a fine of £500 or both. In general, these penalties are considered adequate. In the case of Preston, it was necessary to prosecute in a court of summary jurisdiction, as procedure by indictment would have delayed the sailing of the ship.