asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works if he is aware of the position in Rhondda with regard to house repairs; and if he will have an investigation made into the available supply of labour and materials with a view of adding to them if necessary.

I am not aware that there is any special problem over the supply of labour and materials for house repairs in Rhondda. If the hon. Member will send me particulars of any special difficulty he has in mind I shall be glad to look into it.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works whether, in order to concentrate the available supply of labour and materials upon gravely needed house repairs, he will consider preventing builders from undertaking costly alterations and renovations to business premises.

Yes, Sir; this entirely accords with my Noble Friend's policy. If my hon. Friend has any particular cases in mind, I shall be glad to look into them.

asked the Minister of Health whether the whole of the building trade in London is now pooled under the local authorities who alone have the right to effect repairs unless of a trivial character; what hours are worked by each such local authority; whether the rates of pay in the different districts are the same; and whether this enforced pooling arrangement has any fixed or estimated duration.

The Government's intention is to concentrate for the time being as much as possible of the building labour in London to work under or on behalf of the local authorities on the repair of war damage to houses, and an Order has been made prohibiting private work costing more than £10 without a licence. The hours of work are laid down in an instruction, a copy of which I am sending my hon. Friend. The rates of pay follow the terms laid down in the trade agree ments, which entail some variations in outlying districts. The duration of the arrangements depends on the progress achieved with war damage repairs.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will consider the exhibition of a prefabricated house in South Wales.

Yes, Sir. Arrangements are being made to exhibit a full scale timber model of the factory-made temporary bungalow at Cardiff.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that, of the members of the building trade called up as tradesmen in March, 1942, the majority were skilled joiners over 32 years of age; many were posted to units, such as the R.E.M.E., as joiners' mates, and that most have remained in that grade at a lower rate of pay than men in grades 1,2 and 3, many of whom had never been apprenticed to the building trade; that these men would be better employed repairing houses in the bombed areas and building new houses; and what will be their position under the demobilisation scheme.

I think my hon. Friend must be under some misapprehension. No members of the building trade over 25 years of age at registration, other than labourers, were called up in March, 1942. Perhaps he would be good enough to have a word with me on the matter.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that it has been impossible in a number of cases to secure the release of craftsmen urgently required for work of house repairing in London from the various Services; that in some cases there is evidence that these men are not doing specialist work in the Service concerned; that they are not sufficiently numerous to make any appreciable difference to the fighting effort; and to obviate the delay in their release will he direct further inquiries into the matter.

As my hon. Friend stated in his reply to the hon. and learned Member for Ilford (Mr. G. Hutchinson) on 11th October, the Services have made considerable numbers of men available for house repairs in London. The decision as to whether an individual may be released must, of course, rest with the Service Department concerned, but if my hon. and learned Friend will let me have particulars of the cases to which he refers I shall be prepared to consider whether there is ground for making a further application.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works why the Wandsworth Greyhound Stadium was granted a licence for repairs while many houses in the district are still in a bad condition.

An application was received from the Stadium Company to carry out repairs at a cost of £2,490. This was refused. Work estimated to cost something over £400, which is essential to safeguard valuable property and plant, has been permitted. The bulk of the work has been done by the Stadium staff, who will carry out the small amount remaining to be done.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether arrangements can be made for a thorough medical and dental examination of all men and women on demobilisation from the Navy.

Yes, Sir; such arrangements are being made.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether arrangements can be made for a thorough medical and dental examination of all men and women on demobilisation from the R.A.F.

Yes, Sir.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether, in the case of regular airmen, the whole of their war service will count in the age plus service scheme of demobilisation when their contract of service expires.

On the expiry of a regular airman's fixed period of engagement, such of his whole-time service in the Armed Forces since 3rd September, 1939, as counts for Service pay will be reckoned in determining his order of release under the Government's scheme of release or transfer from the Forces.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what funds have been approved, and what spent, in respect of development schemes in Tanganyika under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act.

Grants made to Tanganyika under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1940 total £242,448, of which £120,820 has been expended to date. I will send my hon. Friend a schedule showing the various schemes for which grants have been approved. The main programme for post-war development is still under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what differentiation there is in the minimum salary scales afforded to Africans and to Indians engaged in the Tanganyika Local Civil Service.

There is no differentiation as between Asians and Africans in the salary scales laid down for the various grades of the service but normally Africans enter the Tanganyika Local Civil Service in Grade III on a salary of 72s. a month, rising to 200s. a month, and Indians enter in Grade II on a salary of 150s. a month, rising to 300s. a month.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, with a view to associating more closely the people with Governments in some of our Colonies, he will consider, by way of experiment, the appointment for a limited period of time of an experienced nonofficial member of a legislative council as a whole-time head of a Department.

There is a fundamental distinction between the system by which the head of a Department is a civil servant and that under which he is a Minister. The Ministerial system is at present in force in one Colony only, Ceylon. No doubt it will be extended to others in the course of constitutional development; but in the meantime I do not consider that the experiment suggested by my hon. and gallant Friend would be practicable.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that an ordinary Army wireless set can transmit and receive speech over a distance of 350 miles when a Wymondham aerial is used; and whether he will give consideration to the desirability of obtaining wireless sets from the Services as soon as they can be made available, with a view to improving both short distance and inter-district communications in the Colonies.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the information given in the first part of this Question. Consideration is already being given to the general question of disposal of surplus military and Service stocks, and full advantage will certainly be taken of any supplies of wireless equipment which may become available and are required by Colonial Governments for the improvement of internal communications in the Colonies.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if, in view of the additional facilities provided for the shipment of oranges from South Africa, he will see that early steps are taken to resume shipment of bananas from Jamaica.

The shipment of bananas from Jamaica requires special ships which cannot yet be made available for this purpose. In any event there is no immediate prospect of large consignments of bananas being available from Jamaica, owing to the destruction caused by the hurricane of last August.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can make any statement on the treatment of our prisoners of war by the Bulgarians.

Between 20 and 30 British Servicemen—nearly all airmen—fell into Bulgarian hands. They were placed in camps with Americans who far outnumbered our men. Some cases of ill-treatment have been reported, and they are now being investigated so that those responsible may be suitably punished. As these investigations are now proceeding, I can add nothing to this reply at the moment.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether on the formation of the L.D.V., when the distinguishing mark was an armlet, the German Government undertook to recognise its members as combatants, entitled to the treatment prescribed under International Law; and, in view of the treatment the Germans accorded to the Maquis out of uniform, what will be the status of the proposed German Home Guard, without uniforms, and wearing armlets.

The answer to the first part of the Question is "No, Sir." As regards the second part of the Question I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given yesterday to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Sir D. Hacking).

asked the Attorney-General what steps are being taken to consolidate statute law and to clarify archaic and ambiguous statutes.

The Government realise the importance of consolidating statutes dealing with the same subject and of generally clarifying and overhauling the Statute Book. This task requires much more skill and experience than is commonly supposed. It should, the Government think, be undertaken systematically and with adequate provision for the specialised staff required. It will be a very long task. The war has, of course, increased the difficulties of the Parliamentary Counsels Office in recruiting and training draftsmen, and in view of this and of the heavy programme of legislation to be expected in the near future, some time must inevitably elapse before the necessary staff is available. At present one Parliamentary Counsel is giving part of his time to this work with a trained assistant who has no other duties. As soon as men can be trained it is intended that one Parliamentary Counsel should be set apart for this work alone and have two trained assistants. If further staff are proved to be necessary in the future they should, in the Government's opinion, be provided. My Noble Friend the Lord Chancellor is becoming the Chairman of the Statute Law Committee, who will exercise general supervision over the programme of consolidation work. When the machine is got into working order it is proposed to make an annual report to Parliament on the progress made.

asked the Minister of Health whether the corrections of cases of infectious diseases notified each week which appear in the weekly returns of the Registrar-General signify corrections of diagnosis received from medical officers of health.

Class			Land and Buildings	Mortgages	*Government Loans
			£	£	£
Co-operative Societies:
Retail and Wholesale Societies	…	…	5,400,000	13,200,000	25,400,000
			(1938)	(1938)	(1943)
C.W.S. Bank	…	…	Nil	Nil	148,800,00
					(1943)
Cooperative Insurance Society Limited	…	…	Nil	5,800,000	21,200,000
				(1938)	(1943)
Building Societies	…	…	Nil	576,200,000	77,600,000
				(1943)	(1943)
Registered Friendly Societies—(Including Orders and their Branches)	…	…	9,700,000	38,000,000	51,200,000
			(1935)	(1935)	(1942)
Registered Trade Unions	…	…	1,500,000	1,200,000	8,500,000
			(1936)	(1936)	(1942)
* Excluding deposits in the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks, the amounts of which were as follows:—Co-operative Societies £21,179; Building Societies £36,237,566; Trade Unions £230,283. No total figure of the deposits of Friendly Societies is available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many outbreaks of rinderpest have occurred in Kenya during the last 12 months; and what steps are being taken by the Kenya Government to control the disease and prevent its spread to Tanganyika and the Rhodesias.

The practice of including, in the Registrar-General's Weekly Return, corrections to notifications recorded in preceding issues of the Return, was discontinued at the beginning of the present year simultaneously with the introduction of the new quarterly procedure described in the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford Central (Mr. Leach) on 1st March last, a copy of which I am sending my hon. Friend.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether figures can be supplied showing the approximate present investments of cooperative societies, building societies, friendly societies and trades unions in land, buildings, mortgages and Government loans.

Figures showing the present investments are not available, but the latest available figures and the year to which they relate are as follow:

The latest information available covers the year 1943. There were no fresh outbreaks of epizootic proportions in Kenya during the year. In the settled areas 13 outbreaks were confirmed, of which eight were attributable to contact with infected game. Most of the outbreaks were suppressed by inoculations and mortality was light. In the native areas eight outbreaks, with a low incidence of infection, were reported in reserves where an almost complete cover was obtained in the 1942 mass inoculations. In other reserves where for various reasons—shortage of staff, unfavourable weather conditions or the attitude of native stock owners—mass inoculations could not be undertaken, the incidence of infection remained high. At the end of the year there was, from Lake Victoria to the Coast, practically a continuous belt of immune cattle varying considerably in depth but almost everywhere extending to the railway line. The Directors of the Veterinary Departments in Kenya and Tanganyika work in close collaboration in the control of rinderpest, and at a conference held in Tanganyika early this year plans were made for simultaneous inoculation of cattle on the Tanganyika side of the border and of the natural calf increase on the Kenya side.

asked the Minister of Labour whether, before proceedings were instituted against the 18-year-old youth, William Archer, of 2/116 Highgate Street, Birmingham, recently sentenced to one month's hard labour for absenting himself from mining work after having been directed, consideration was given to the fact that on two previous occasions he had broken down in health and that on this occasion his absence was supported by a medical certificate that he was unfitted physically for such work.

William Archer had been absent from work for a period owing to sickness before he was examined by the Medical Board on 2nd August, and found fit for coal-mining employment. He was then instructed to resume work on 9th August and on his failure to do so I had no option but to institute proceedings.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether teachers seconded by the local authorities to the R.A.F. education service and employed and paid as civilians although granted commissions are entitled to terminate their em- ployment by giving three months' notice as provided in their contract.

The conditions of service of these Royal Air Force Education Officers provide that appointments will normally be terminable by three months' notice on either side. Under present conditions, however, the right to resign is subject to any order or direction which may be in force or may be made under Defence Regulations.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport whether experience has shown that the scheme for the purchase by British shipowners of ships built on Government account requires any substantial amendments to render it more effective.

Experience has shown that some modification in the details of this scheme are now desirable. Apart from the removal of certain restrictions depending upon the tonnage of the lost vessel, the following extensions of the scheme will apply so far as vessels not yet allocated are concerned:

1. The original scheme provided that an owner who has lost three or more vessels will not be given an opportunity of replacing more than two-thirds of the total number of vessels lost until other owners have had their turn. This will no longer apply to deep-sea tramps.

2. In the case of deep-sea tramps, obsolescence as well as loss will be regarded as entitling an owner to an option to take a Ministry owned ship provided that when the new ship is transferred to his ownership the obsolescent vessel is scrapped or put to a use of which the Minister approves. Sale to a foreign buyer will not be permitted.

3. In the case of coasting tankers, any existing British owner who so wishes may ask for an allocation, preference being given to owners who have lost tonnage during the war.

4. The present scheme does not allow resale within three years except with the Minister's sanction. It is proposed to permit sale to a British buyer at any time after the general requisitioning of British tonnage comes to an end subject only to the provision of the Ships and Aircraft (Transfer Restriction) Act, 1939, so long as that Act continues in operation.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, for the purposes of establishing the measure of public investment which it is essential to know in connection with the Government White Paper on Employment, he will ascertain what capital expenditure was defrayed by public utility concerns in each year 1931 to 1938 on activities productive of employment at home.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th June, 1944; Vol. 401, c. 40] supplied the following statement:A large part of the capital expenditure of public utility undertakings is made by local authorities and was therefore included in the figures given in my answer to my hon. Friend's Question of the 9th June, 1944. Estimates of the net capital expenditure of the main public utility undertakings in the domain of transport and electricity and outside the local authority field have been prepared and are given below. Corresponding figures for gas and water undertakings are not available, but the amounts involved would in any case be relatively small. It is not possible to say how much of this expenditure was directly productive of employment at home and how much represented expenditure on imported goods and land.

Estimated net capital expenditure of main line railways, London Passenger Transport Board, Central Electricity Board and electricity supply companies.
					(£ millions)
1931	…	…	…	…	34
1932	…	…	…	…	34
1933	…	…	…	…	21
1934	…	…	…	…	17
1935	…	…	…	…	26
1936	…	…	…	…	28
1937	…	…	…	…	29
1938	…	…	…	…	35

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he can furnish an estimate of the increased permanent expenditure in a post-war year as compared with 1939, arising, respectively, out of the interest on the National Debt to be created up to 31st March, 1945; social legislation enacted since 1939; pensions arising out of the present war; Treasury contributions to the War Damage Fund; any other commitments incurred since 1939.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 5th October, 1944, Vol. 403, c. 1148] supplied the following statement:I. The annual interest charge on the estimated National Debt at 31st March, 1945, may be expected to exceed the charge in 1939 by approximately £230,000,000II. The increase in the permanent annual cost to the Exchequer in the field of social services (insurance, pensions, education, etc.), due to legislation enacted since 1939 and, except where otherwise stated, on the basis of the estimates published when the relevant legislation was introduced, is as follows:

	£ millions.
Contributory Pensions (beginning 1946)	4
(rising to 7)
Unemployment Insurance—cost to the Exchequer	4
Health Insurance Benefits—Exchequer contribution	1¼
Disabled Persons (Employment) Act	3
Supplementary Pensions (1944 cost)	55
Education	7¾
(rising to 58)

Housing (the rate of subsidy will not be fixed until costs of building can be estimated).III. The ultimate cost of pensions arising out of the present war cannot yet be estimated as it clearly depends upon the future course of the war.IV. With regard to War Damage, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Sir J. Mellor) on 26th September. It is not possible at present to form a reliable estimate of the total cost of War Damage. It is still less possible to estimate its effect on post-war budgets, as that depends on how far it will have been met before the war ends, at what rate it will fall to be met thereafter, and whether, or to what extent, it will be met out of borrowing instead of out of current revenue.V. Besides the commitments in Head II which arise under legislation which is now on the statute book, there are other items on which proposals have been submitted to Parliament of which the chief are:

	£ millions.
Social Insurance and Allied Services(see Tables VI and VII on pages 53 and 55 of Cmd. 6550)	74
(rising to 279)
Industrial Injury Insurance (see paragraphs 34 and 47 of Cmd. 6551)	4
School Meals and Milk (see paragraph 51 of Cmd. 6550)—increase over pre-war cost	9
(rising to 59)
Trunk Roads	2

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport if he can now make arrangements for the M.V. "Lochearn" to be reinstated, if necessary for mails and passengers only, on her old run to the Inner and Outer Hebrides, that is, from Oban, Tobermory, Kilchoan, Coll, Tiree and Barra to Lochboisdale and back.

No, Sir. I regret that I do not think it right to change the service of the "Lochearn," as my hon. and gallant Friend proposes. I am satisfied that the present arrangements give a better and more regular service to the islanders as a whole.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport what regulations have been imposed on, or advice given to, American Army drivers who have to drive at night in this country on unaccustomed roads and difficult circumstances and in the black-out.

American Army drivers have been given instruction in Cafe driving in this country, and they are required to study the Highway Code. The standard of their training is comparable with that given to drivers in the British Forces.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether it is proposed to include Ullswater within the jurisdiction of the Eden Fishery Board; and whether he will take steps to preserve to the local inhabitants the rights of free fishing in the said lake.

There is no proposal before me at the present time for any extension of the Eden Fishery District. If any such proposal should be submitted, persons wishing to oppose the project will be given full opportunity to state their case and their views would be carefully considered before I decide whether or not an Order should be made.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if arrangements can be made under the land drainage schemes to make use of bulldozers to clear the rivers of Neath and Tawe, so as to remove the grave loss and danger of flooding and to reclaim a large area of valuable agricultural land in these two industrial valleys.

I am advised by the Mid-Glamorgan Rivers Catchment Board that the cost of a comprehensive drainage scheme for the River Neath valley would not be justified during the war by the benefits likely to result, whilst they do not consider that efficient drainage can be secured by piecemeal works. There is no Catchment Board for the River Tawe, but, whilst the information at my disposal indicates that conditions in this valley are broadly similar, I should of course be willing to consider any suitable minor works for the improvement of agricultural land which might be submitted to me for grant aid during the war by any of the county councils concerned. Any proposal to use bulldozers for such work would require careful consideration.