asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the acute shortage of housing accommodation in the borough of Ilford, he will give instructions that persons engaged in the building trade and now carrying out the repair of war damaged houses in the borough will not be directed away to other forms of service until the repair of damaged properties has been completed.

Building labour is not transferred to other work if it is engaged on essential first aid repairs to war damaged houses. I am unable to give any undertaking that labour engaged in the extended repairs to damaged property, beyond first aid stage, will not be transferred to urgent Government contracts of higher priority, but every endeavour is made to leave such labour undisturbed until other sources have been exhausted.

asked the Minister of Health if he will give instructions to local authorities that no housing will be permitted on sites not having main drainage and sewerage.

Wherever a public sewerage system is, or is likely to be, available in the locality local authorities are expected to select housing sites which can be readily connected up with the public system. For quite small groups of houses in rural areas it is, however, possible to make arrangements for sewage disposal involving no difficulty for the tenant, and I hope shortly to be issuing some advice to local authorities on methods which can be adopted to this end.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will cause an early statement of the Government's plans for housing the people to be made; and will he publish at an early date the Report of the Commission that recently visited America to inquire into new building methods.

My hon. Friend will be aware from the statements already made that these plans are being prepared with all speed. I shall be glad to arrange for further statements as soon as possible. I understand that the Report of the Commission will be published early in February.

asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is prepared to allow ex-Service men of the great war who claim to be suffering from disabilities due to war service, but whose applications for pension have been rejected under the seven-years rule, to have their cases considered by newly-created pensions appeal tribunals.

The Statutory Tribunals set up to deal with appeals arising out of the Great War had jurisdiction to hear appeals where the claim was made and rejected under the Royal Warrant. Claims which could not be so dealt with, because they were not made within the limit of seven years laid down by Parliament, were sympathetically considered by my Department under special authority, and cases presenting difficulty or doubt on a medical issue were referred to an independent medical expert. I regret that I am unable to recommend any modification to these long standing arrangements.

asked the President of the Board of Education, on what grounds it is intended to close down the XIVth century grammar school of Saint Lawrence, at Ashburton, Devonshire; and whether it is contrary to his intention in the Education Bill now before the House to level down to a standardised pattern the varied and ancient schools of the country.

Ashburton Grammar School was closed after a public inquiry in 1938, the number of pupils being too small to make it an efficient and economical school unit. It does not appear to me that the closure of this school can reasonably be interpreted in the sense suggested by my hon. and gallant Friend and the second part of his Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can state the number of air-raid shelters which are heated and their accommodation; the kind of fuel used; and whether any illnesses or deaths have been attributed to the methods of heating.

Eighteen per cent. of the public shelter accommodation in England and Wales is heated by slow combustion stoves burning hard coal, and a further twelve per cent. by electricity. With limited exceptions, to meet special circumstances, heating apparatus has been installed only in shelters accommodating 50 persons or more. Only one instance of illness has been reported, and this was attributable to misuse of a slow combustion stove.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what is the acreage of land taken over by the county war agricultural executive committees to be worked directly by them; and whether any statement of accounts for these farms can be provided so that some indication can be given as to the progress and improvement achieved by the change of occupation.

No precise figures are available showing the area of land which Committees are farming direct, but the total area for England and Wales is in the region of 200,000 acres. Committees are not required to keep full accounts for all lands of which they are in possession, and, although records of output are kept by Committees, this information is not readily available, and, in any case, there is no means of making exact comparisons between present production and production immediately before possession was taken.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will state his intention with regard to the continuation of the cultivation of agriculural land after the war which has been taken over by his Ministry through the county war agricultural committees for the purposes of war food production.

In the large majority of cases the land of which possession was taken was not being cultivated at all, or was not being cultivated according to the rules of good husbandry. Under Section 23 of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Act, 1940, the Minister or the County War Agricultural Committee are empowered to continue in possession of land for any period not exceedingly three years from the end of the war period, i.e. three years from the expiration of the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939.In deciding the period of any contract of occupation regard has been had to the provisions of the Act of 1940 in order to afford the farmer concerned security of tenure for a reasonable period, bearing in mind the impoverished condition of the land. As regards land which has not been let on a contract of occupation and is being farmed by an Executive Committee, the period during which possession will be retained will depend on the circumstances of each case, with particular regard to the recoupment of expenditure incurred on bringing the land into a proper state of cultivation.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether, in view of the fact that the expansion of the trade in the importation of pedigree cattle by Canada and the U.S.A. has been handicapped by fear in the importing countries of disease, he will make some pronouncement reassuring the importers and indicating the high standard of health of our pedigree stock throughout this country.

The general standard of health of our pedigree stock is well-known throughout the world. The fear that cattle brought from Great Britain might be responsible for introducing disease into Canada or U.S.A. applies almost entirely to foot-and-mouth disease and arises from the number of outbreaks of that disease which have been experienced in this country in recent years. To prevent any risk of that disease being carried by animals from this country to Canada, a quarantine station is maintained at Glasgow in which all cattle intended for shipment to Canada or U.S.A. via Canada are detained for 14 days prior to embarkation.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware of the difficulty encountered by civilian doctors in urgent cases, especially in rural districts, in obtaining supplies of M. and B. 760, sulphathiazole; how far this drug is reserved for Army use only; and whether its production and distribution generally can be accelerated.

I am aware that the demand for this drug, which is of recent development, has exceeded the supply. All possible steps have been, and are being, taken to increase production in order to make adequate supplies available both for civilian and Service use.

asked the Minister of Food what were the total number of raw milk sales in gallons sold in November and December in 1942, respectively; and the number of gallons of raw milk sold in the same months in 1943, respectively.

I regret that it is not in the national interest to publish the total number of gallons of milk sold in any month, but the increase in the sale of milk off farms was just over 5 per cent. and just over 7 per cent. respectively in November and December, 1943, compared with November and December, 1942.

asked the Secretary of State for War what is the nature of the post which Brigadier Frank Owen is now filling.

As my right hon. Friend explained in an answer to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for South-East Essex (Flight-Lieutenant Raikes) on Tuesday, this officer holds the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He is the producer of newspapers and magazines for the troops in South-East Asia Command, and is the publisher of the daily newspaper "SEAC."

asked the Secretary of State for War if he has now had time to consider the claim of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kay, of Sunflower Farm, Laxfield, Suffolk, whose son, Lance-Corporal F. Kay, was accidentally killed during Army manoeuvres at the time and place of which he is aware.

I am afraid I have nothing to add to the reply I gave on 10th November, 1942, to my hon. Friend's Question about this case.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what plans have been made for national parks and reserved coastal areas; and if he is satisfied that the execution of these plans will not be impeded by land speculation or any form of interim development.

A special survey is being made of the entire coastline in order that proper planning control may be applied to it. A further special survey is being made of areas likely to be suitable for national parks. Final plans have not yet been made, but I shall seek, by the control now exercisable over interim development, to prevent anything being done which would impede their execution. In this connection I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Keeling) on 13th October, 1943, of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning whether he intends to set up a regional planning authority for the area of Greater London.

I have the matter to which my hon. and learned Friend refers under consideration, but I wish to have an opportunity of considering together the plan for the City, the plan for the area of the London County Council and the further plan which Professor Abercrombie is now preparing for Greater London before coming to a conclusion on the matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when and where the first appeal tribunal will sit in Scotland.

The tribunal held its first sitting in Edinburgh on 7th December last. Since then the tribunal has sat on 13 days in Edinburgh and on 10 days in Glasgow, and appellants who are concerned are duly informed of the time and place at which their appeals are being heard.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he is aware of the short time working at some of the collieries in the Lancashire coalfield due to the shortage of wagons; and whether he will consider giving instructions to all collieries to stock the coal, where practicable, on the surface, as was done in pre-war years in these circumstances.

I am aware from the colliery returns that some collieries in Lancashire are sustaining losses of working time owing to shortage of wagons, and the general question of wagon supplies to collieries is one which is engaging the Government's closest attention. As regards the second part of the Question, it is still the practice for collieries to stack coal on the surface and colliery undertakings are being instructed to do this to the maximum practicable extent.

asked the Minister of Labour whether there are any training facilities in Scotland for young conscript miner trainees, or whether such trainees have to be sent to England for training.

Arrangements are being made to open a Coal Mine Training Centre in Scotland at an early date. In the meantime men selected by the Coal Mines Ballot who reside in Scotland are not being sent to a Training Centre in England or Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the large number of persons directed into part-time service with the N.F.S. during the last 12 months, what steps have been taken to release proportionate whole-time male personnel.

The man-power requirements of the National Fire Service, both full-time and part-time, are kept constantly under review in the light of the changing war situation. It would not be in the national interest to publish detailed information as to the adjustments in strength made as the result of these reviews.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will consider issuing another addendum to circular 2709 authorising the supply of mechanical chairs to crippled persons who are potential war workers.

I am discussing this suggestion with my right hon. Friends the Minister of Pensions and the Minister of Labour and National Service, who are also concerned, and I will communicate with my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the number of basic industries of the following categories operating in the years 1925 and 1931; collieries, ironstone mines, blast furnaces, steel producing plants, coke ovens and shipyards, respectively.

The numbers are as follow: