asked the Minister of Fuel and Power why, in view of the additional 1s. per ton to the price of coal, merchants are permitted to add 1d. per hundredweight as well; and whether he will arrange for increases in the price of coal to be made to sums easily imposed on single bags of coal, without leaving the merchant a margin to which he is not entitled?

It is only in a minority of cases that coal merchants are permitted to increase the price of coal by one penny per cwt. on the occasion of a general price increase of 1s. a ton; such increase is in lieu of and not in addition to the general increase. When there is a general increase of 1s. a ton, the most usual increase is a half-penny per hundredweight, but in some districts, including London, alterations of less than one penny per hundredweight are not customary, and in such districts there is either no alteration at all or else an increase of one penny. In general, the hundredweight prices bear a definite relationship to the ton prices and, in calculating the former, account is taken of any gains or losses to the merchants on their hundredweight prices arising out of previous alterations in the ton prices. On the second part of the Question, increases have to be given from time to time to meet increases in cost of production and these are rarely susceptible of precise translation into hundredweight prices.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the number of fatal accidents in the coal mines for the year ended 31st December, 1942; the number of persons killed and the number of serious accidents for the same year; and the number in both cases for the year ended 1941?

Final information is not yet available for the year 1942. Provisional figures are, however, available, and are as follow:

asked the Minister of Labour whether dustmen are in a reserved occupation; and whether this work could be done by older men who could be released from the regiments in which they are now serving?

Dustmen are not in a reserved occupation and deferment of calling up will only have been granted to men in this occupation in exceptional circumstances. Since, in general, this is work which can be done by men over military age or by women, there is no reason why men should be released from the Services for its performance.

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the large number of men of military age in Government Departments occupying posts for which they have no previous qualification or experience; and what steps he proposes to take in view of the combing of industrial organisations?

The general question of further withdrawal of non-industrial civil servants of military age from the Government Service was examined by the Kennet Committee and, as a result of their recommendations, the ages of reservation were fixed for the present at 35 for men in the clerical grades, 30 for men in the administrative, executive, professional and technical grades; men so reserved include some who have been appointed to the Service since the outbreak of war. Those not so reserved have been retained in the Civil Service only where they possess appropriate qualifications or experience. All such cases either carry the specific approval of the Ministry of Labour and National Service before appointment or have been, or will be, reviewed by the Kennet Committee. I am satisfied that such men are not indefinitely retained in Government Service except where it is in the national interest to retain them.

asked the Minister of Labour what grounds of personal hardship are available to a doctor as reasons for his not being called up for service as financial hardship, resulting in the break-up of the family and the closing down and consequential disappearance of his practice, is not a plea which hardship tribunals are entitled to entertain?

Medical practitioners who have been selected by the Central Medical War Committee for service in the Forces have the opportunity of applying for postponement of liability under the National Service Acts on the ground that their immediate calling up would cause exceptional hardship. Applications are considered in accordance with the principles laid down in the National Service (Postponement Certificates) Regulations, 1939–1941, and there is in certain circumstances a right of appeal to the umpire from the decision of the Hardship Committee.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will consider appointing independent medical referees to whom application can be made for a decision where there is a difference of opinion between a panel doctor and a works doctor on the physical ability of a worker to continue in employment?

After consultation with the British Medical Association and local medical war committees, I have appointed independent medical referees who, among other things, examine workers who seek permission on medical grounds to leave employment which is scheduled under an Essential Work Order, but cannot produce satisfactory medical evidence. I am arranging also for these medical referees to examine workers in certain circumstances where the employers wish to discharge them on medical grounds.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that workers tied down under the Essential Work Order become unemployed from time to time for varying periods and are not allowed to accept other jobs usually readily avai- Able; and will he consent to permit Employment Exchanges to facilitate temporary employment in such cases?

I assume my hon. Friend is referring to the Restriction on Engagement Order and the instructions to my local officers are designed to restrict to a minimum periods during which workers are not engaged in work of national importance. If my hon. Friend will send me particulars of any specific cases he has in mind I shall be glad to inquire into them.

asked the Minister of Labour when the gentleman recently appointed as assistant in the North Midland Region of Factory Premises Control was put on the register of the Appointments Department; and how long before his appointment this occurred?

I am making inquiries into this case in consultation with my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.

asked the Minister of Production whether, as workers are available for performing much more war work, he will assign sufficient of this work to Northern Ireland in order to give employment to the large number of its unemployed who are eagerly awaiting such work and are ready to do their full share for victory?

As my hon. Friend was informed on 2nd December, I am in constant touch with the Minister of Commerce and Production in Northern Ireland, in order to make fuller use of the labour and facilities available there. Further demands on the labour available are likely to be made by certain developments which will shortly be building up their labour force.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will define the position of farmers' daughters with regard to calling-up notices; whether they will be exempted if they work on the land and/or have to discharge heavy domestic duties connected with the farm; and whether, if not exempt owing to their not fulfilling the conditions specified, they will be allowed to join the Women's Land Army and work on their fathers' farms?

Women employed on full-time farm-work for wages will not, under present arrangements, be called up. If a farmer's daughter is not so employed but performs substantial work on her father's farm it is open to the father to apply for deferment. If she is on essential work in the farmhouse the procedure is slightly different but is now being brought into conformity with that set out above. A farmer's daughter who is not reserved or deferred will normally be allowed to apply for enrolment in the Women's Land Army. If accepted as suitable she must, however, as a member of the Women's Land Army, be prepared to work wherever that organisation considers that her services can be most usefully employed.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that complaints still exist as to the lack of tact and politeness on the part of juvenile members of employment exchange staffs in handling women of experience and knowledge who come for interviews; and whether, in view of the calling-up of women of 45 years of age, he will advise greater care?

The number of complaints received concerning women members of the staff who are engaged on interviewing work is exceedingly small in relation to the number of women interviewed. This, I think, indicates that the Department's staff are alive to the need for handling the public with tact and politeness. My hon. Friend may be assured that this is my desire and that no effort will be spared to ensure that the older women who have now registered will be treated with sympathy and understanding. As I have previously informed the House it is the general policy of the Department to employ older women on interviewing work and at September last, the latest day for which figures have been extracted, 89 per cent. of the officers engaged on this work were over 30 years of age.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether his attention has been drawn to the new caterpiller device, known as a Rotoped, which can be fixed to the Fordson wheeled tractor and which enables it to draw double the load with a considerable fuel saving; and whether he will arrange to make a larger supply available in the interests of agriculture and food production.

Yes, Sir. I am familiar with the device to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers, and am actively investigating its application to farm tractors.

asked the Minister of Agriculture why farmers have not been encouraged to keep pigs; and whether since more pigs could be kept if they consumed odds and ends from the farm or in some cases specially grown crops, he will consider a reversal of this official attitude?

Owing to the need to secure the maximum quantity of bread corn from home sources in order to release ships for urgent war purposes and to the prior claims of dairy cows, it has been necessary to cut down heavily the supplies of feeding stuffs available for pigs. This has inevitably led to a substantial reduction in the pig population. Farmers have, however, been encouraged to keep as many pigs as possible by making the fullest use of swill, tail corn, chat potatoes and other waste products of the farm. The collection of swill has been organised by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply and large quantities are now being absorbed by stock keepers.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he can make any statement as to the counties in which it is initially intended to commence the erection of cottages for agricultural workers; the form such cottages will take; and the supervision which will be exercised on their erection in the interests of landscape and other amenities?

As I stated to-day in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Evesham (Mr. De la Bère), I am not yet in a position to make any announcement on this matter. If the programme I have in mind proves to be practicable, the interests of landscape and other amenities will not be overlooked.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what are the number of acres in England and Wales farmed by owner-occupiers; the number of acres let and farmed by tenants; and the number of acres farmed by the State and local authorities?

Inquiries as to the acreages of land farmed respectively by tenants and owner-occupiers have not been made by my Department for some years; but for all practical purposes the proportions may be taken as roughly two-thirds tenants and one-third owner-occupiers. These proportions relate to a total acreage (excluding common land) of 28,822,745 acres in England and Wales in 1939. Figures for the acreage of land farmed by the State and local authorities are not available and could not be compiled without more extensive inquiries than I would feel justified in instituting at present.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware of the surplus of straw at present available on farms; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure the best utilisation of this raw material?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friends the Members for Evesham (Mr. De la Bère) and Petersfield (Sir G. Jeffreys) on 8th October last.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that members of the Land Army are allowed a week's summer holiday only when they have been employed in a single situation for the whole of the preceding 12 months, thus depriving those members who have transferred from one employer to another of the week's holiday; and whether the Regulation can be so altered as to allow of holiday or pay being granted at the time when one situation is left for another, in the proportion of one day's holiday or pay for each complete two months' service?

Members of the Women's Land Army who are in private employment have the same legal right as other agricultural workers to the holidays with pay prescribed under the orders of the Agricultural Wages Committees. Holidays with pay defined under these orders are granted proportionately to the number of months worked. Further it is a condition upon which the Women's Land Army supplies its members for employment that whatever may be the holiday regulation locally in force in the employing county, the employer shall allow his land army worker at least one week's holiday with pay in the year; this holiday to be arranged at a convenient time after the completion of 6 months', not 12 months' service. If, however, a member of the W.L.A. leaves or is discharged from her employment before she has had her holiday, the Land Army has no power to compel the employer to grant a holiday with pay in excess of that for which the worker has qualified under the order of the Wages Committee. Members of the W.L.A. who are employed by a War Agricultural Executive Committee receive one week's holiday with pay in the year, usually on the completion of 6 months' service, and employment with any War Agricultural Executive Committee may be regarded as counting towards this holiday.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many of the Press and Public Relations staffs of the Civil Service Departments are under 35 years of age; how many have been appointed through the Central Register; and by what means those not so appointed have been selected?

I assume that all the parts of my hon. Friend's Question refer to individuals who fall properly within the ambit of the Appointments Department of the Ministry of Labour. Excluding permanent civil servants and Service personnel, the total number in question is 246, including women. Of this total, 76 are under 35 years of age; 126 were appointed through the Central Register or the Appointments Department of the Ministry of Labour. The rest were either recruited prior to or on the outbreak of war, transferred from other Government service or from quasi-governmental bodies, re-employed in Government service, recruited through the Ministry of Labour in lower grades and subsequently promoted, or appointed direct by Departments in view of their special qualifications for particular posts.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury why women pension officers in the Department of Customs and Excise, rendered redundant as a result of the transfer of work to the Assistance Board, are being transferred to that Department in the assistance officer grade despite the fact that there is a redundancy in the Assistance Board in that grade which the Treasury and the Ministry of Labour have been unable to clear over a period of months?

The number of women pension officers surplus to the requirements of the Customs and Excise Department as a result of the transfer of certain non-contributory old age pensioners to the Assistance Board as from 1st January, 1943, is about 30, and as arrangements have been made to transfer this number to Departments in immediate need of staff of the type involved, transfers of such officers to the Assistance Board are now unlikely.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can make any statement as to bringing back to London at an early date some part, at least, of the evacuated Ministries; and whether he will take into consideration the fact that some of them are now more exposed to enemy attack than they would have been in the Metropolis?

I do not know what particular cases my hon. Friend has in mind or on what evidence he bases his views on the location of enemy attacks in the future. I am afraid, however, that I can hold out no hope of a reversal of current policy under which the return of the evacuated staffs of Government Departments is in general forbidden.

asked the Minister of Health how many demolition orders have been made, to the last convenient date, which have not yet been complied with by the owners of the properties concerned?

The number of houses subject to operative demolition orders or confirmed clearance orders which were empty but had not been demolished was between 33,000 and 34,000 on 31st March, 1942, the last date to which information is available; precise information as to the number in the two separate groups is not available.

asked the Minister of Health how many applications have been received by him from rural district councils in Berkshire within the last 18 months for permission to carry out urgent repairs to rural workers' houses; and what action has he taken?

Application is not made to me for permission to carry out repairs to rural workers' houses except where financial assistance towards the cost of improving the houses is desired under the Housing (Rural Workers) Acts. No such applications have been received by me from rural district councils in Berkshire within the last 18 months.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the need for new housing, water supply and sewerage schemes in rural areas as urged in the memoranda of the Rural District Councils Association of England and Wales, especially in view of the expansion of agriculture; and whether, without waiting for the end of the war, he will take steps as soon as possible to have labour and materials released to enable these councils to resume the development

asked the Minister of Health how many houses were, respectively, built and improved under the Housing (Rural Workers) Acts for the three years before the outbreak of this war in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Following is the information:of these services which was interrupted by the outbreak of war?

Yes, Sir, and I am in close touch with the other Departments concerned, with a view to enabling rural district councils to resume urgent work of this kind at the earliest possible moment.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will issue an order under the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, requiring the ingredients of food substitutes to be stated on the outside of the container in which they are offered for sale?

I am in consultation with my right hon. and Noble Friend the Minister of Food upon the subject of measures to deal with the labelling and description of food, but I am not yet in a position to make any further statement.

asked the Minister of Health (1) whether he will give the percentage increase or decease in the death-rate per 1,000 in 1941, as compared with 1938, from non-pulmonary tuberculosis in children under 15 years of age in Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh and Bristol;(2) whether he will give the percentage increase or decrease in the death-rate per 1,000 in 1941, as compard with 1938, from non-pulmonary tuberculosis in children under 15 years of age in the following counties, excluding county boroughs, if any, Huntingdon, Radnor, Rutland, Pembroke, Montgomery, Devon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Westmorland, Buckinghamshire, Dorset and Bedford?

Records of the numbers of children in individual towns and counties are not available execept in census years, and it is therefore not possible to furnish the death-rates desired. The numbers of deaths of children under 15 years of age from non-pulmonary tuberculosis in 1938 and 1941 in the specified areas were as follow:

asked the Minister of Health why homoeopathic medicine is not represented on the Medical Advisory Committee recently set up by his Department; and what representations have been received by, or on behalf of, the British Homoeopathic Society?

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on 15th December last to my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes). I have received representations, including a letter from the Chairman of the British Homoeopathic Association, and I will send my hon. Friend a copy of this letter and of my reply.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the complaints of doctors that they are overwhelmed with the signing of certificates; and whether he will consider the simplification of these duties?

I am aware of these complaints. In many cases the granting of some exemption or privilege must depend on the physical condition of the applicant, and the only suitable evidence of this is a medical certificate; I am grateful to the medical profession for the assistance they have given. I have been consuited both by the other Government Departments concerned and by the medical profession and am always ready to discuss proposals for restricting and if possible reducing the number of purposes for which medical certicates are required.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that free maintenance in hospital has been extended to tubercular patients and of the importance of encouraging sufferers from cancer to seek early treatment, a similar provision can be made in their case?

The distinction in regard to payment for hospital treatment between infectious diseases (of which tuberculosis is one) and non-infectious diseases (of which cancer is one) is a matter of statutory requirement. In deciding whether any charge should be made in an individual case of the latter type local authorities are authorised to have regard to the financial circumstances of the individual, and I have no reason to suppose that individuals are deterred from undertaking treatment by any difficulties on this account.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has sent out the circular to local authorities with regard to the free supply of insulin to diabetics?

Yes, Sir.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that young ladies starting to train as nurses have to supply for their use two pairs of black shoes, six pairs of stockings and provide three coupons when arriving at the hospital; and whether he will consult the Minister of Supply so that all necessary equipment for training shall be arranged by the hospital authorities and the minimum of coupons surrendered?

Under arrangements made by the Board of Trade, nurses, including student nurses, are able, in return for surrendering nine coupons, to obtain the uniform they require up to a fixed maximum, the coupon value of which is, both for initial outfits and for annual replacements, greatly in excess of the number of coupons they surrender. Shoes and stockings are not included in this concession, and I understand that, in view of the present supply position, the Board of Trade would not feel able to make any special arrangements for nurses to be supplied with them.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that considerable disquiet is being felt in Hornchurch and district at the inadequate staffing of sanatoria under the control of the Essex County Council following call-ups; and whether, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, he will rectify this?

I am aware that in some sanatoria there is a shortage of nursing and domestic staff. Such staff are considered to be engaged on vital war service, from which women are not called upon to transfer by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service, so that loss of staff cannot be the result of call-up action on his part. My information is that in the institutions within the area to which my hon. Friend refers some staff have left of their own wish. Arrangements for securing a better supply and distribution of nurses are under active consideration by my right hon. Friend with the various organisations concerned and myself. He is also making every effort, within the limits of the available woman-power, to encourage suitable women to undertake domestic work in hospitals and similar institutions, including sanatoria; such work is regarded as vital war work, to which women of all ages can be submitted.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether with a view to the equitable distribution of available goods among all traders, he will take steps to limit the granting of licences to combines and chain stores for any articles which do not coincide with the main portion of their trading concerns and to withdraw any such licences already granted after suitable notice?

Licences are only required by retailers to sell goods in their existing premises in respect of those categories which they did not sell in the basic period of the Location of Retail Businesses Order. Very few such licences have been granted to the type of business which my hon. and gallant Friend has in mind, and then only to meet the essential needs of consumers.

asked the President of the Board of Trade when utility umbrellas will be on the market, in view of the fact that prices now range from £2 2s. to £7 7s. for a second-rate article?

An Order fixing maximum prices of umbrellas will be issued shortly, but I have decided, after further consideration, that the production of a utility umbrella is not necessary.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, when sanction is given to the raising of laundry prices, the books of the companies concerned are examined to ascertain their exact financial position; and whether he has considered a typical laundry case brought to his notice, where the profit was 10 per cent. plus a bonus of 5 per cent.?

Yes, Sir. Whenever Orders have been made fixing maximum charges for laundries, the accounts of typical concerns in each area have been fully examined, and their financial position taken into account. As regards the particular laundry to which my hon. Friend had drawn my attention, I observe that the total net profit for the last financial year amounted to under £700, which represents 3½ per cent. of the turnover during the year.