asked the Minister of Agriculture what instructions have been given to pests officers as regards destruction of wild mammals and birds; and on whose responsibility the details of such instructions are decided?

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer I gave on 23rd May to a. Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Brixton (Mr. Colman) which explains the policy of my Department and the responsibilities of county war agricultural executive committees in this matter. Pests officers are the servants of such committees and it is not practicable to set out the instructions which have been given to them by the committees regarding the performance of their duties.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether the serious insect pests affecting cultivation this year are regarded as requiring organised and effective effort to suppress them and what is being done on such lines?

The incidence of attack by insect pests varies greatly from year to year and while some kinds are abundant this year, others are scarcer than usual. Advice is available to farmers through the war agricultural executive committees and the provincial advisory entomologists, and war agricultural executive committees have been supplied with a large number of spraying machines of different types for controlling insect attack. In addition the technical development sub-committees are taking such steps as are practicable to demonstrate suitable methods of control.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he can make any statement on the prevention and treatment of the Verticillium wilt disease of hops?

This problem is receiving close attention in conjunction with the Hops Marketing Board, prominent hop growers and representatives of the research stations concerned. I hope to be able to send my hon. and gallant Friend details of what is proposed in the near future.

asked the Minister of Health what criticism he has received as to the inadequacy of the diet in agricultural workers' camps; and whether he will investigate the suitability of the food supplies?

I have been asked to reply. The allowances of food for agricultural camps are equivalent to those for hostels for regular agricultural workers and I am satisfied that they are generally adequate and of a suitable kind. Very few criticisms have reached me on the subject, but if the hon. Member has any particular case in mind, I should be glad to have inquiries made.

asked the Prime Minister whether, in order to clarify the position. he will consider the introduction of a Bill to amend the Emergency Powers Acts to provide that the annulment of a Defence Regulation or Order on a Prayer by the House shall not have the effect of reviving an earlier Regulation or Order repealed by the annulled Regulation or Order?

I have been asked to reply. No Bill is necessary for the purpose indicated by my hon. Friend. The Interpretation Act, 1889, applies to Defence Regulations as if they were an Act of Parliament, and the effect of Section 38 of that Act, as so applied, is that if a Regulation is amended and subsequently the Amendment is revoked by Order in Council, then, unless the contrary intention appears, the original provision is not thereby revived.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what arrangements are made for putting up Royal Air Force officers passing through Glasgow?

Sleeping accommodation and facilities for meals for Royal Air Force officers passing through Glasgow on duty are provided at the Royal Air Force transit centre at Glasgow. I have not received any complaints that the hotel and hostel accommodation available for Royal Air Force officers passing through Glasgow on leave is not adequate.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether lie is aware of the dissatisfaction existing in many provincial centres at the small supplies of controlled soft fruits they are receiving compared with the London area; and on what basis the allocations are made?

Dissatisfaction regarding the small supply of soft fruit available has been expressed on behalf of consumers in many parts of the country. The reason is that there is not enough to go round. Part of the crop is diverted by my Department to jam manufacturers. The distribution of the remainder is not subject to control, since the quantity is quite inadequate for the purpose.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware of the great difficulty experienced by housewives in the West Riding of Yorkshire in obtaining supplies of cakes and other confectionery; that queues are formed every day in the industrial districts at bakers and confectioners shops; and why it is that in the principal streets of London ample supplies of all kinds of confectionery are available every day in the strops compared with the meagre supplies in the West Riding?

The quantity of flour confectionery available for sale in the West Riding of Yorkshire is not, I am advised, less than in other parts of the country. The existence of queues is not necessarily proof that supplies are short, in comparison with the size of the local population.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what steps should be taken by persons holding food ration books whose grocer, being the only one in the district, announces he is closing for a week to enable him to fill up the necessary forms and give his overworked staff some rest?

If my hon. Friend will let me have particulars of any case which has come to his notice, I shall be glad to investigate the matter.