asked the Secretary of State for Air why R.A.F. officers leaving Malta are asked to sign a declaration not to reveal or discuss matters concerning Maltese affairs; and whether signing this document is made a condition of leaving the island.

I am making inquiries and will communicate with my hon. Friend in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Air how many British and American bombers, respectively, were lost over Germany and Northern Europe during the period 1st January to 31st December, 1943; and if he will give similar figures for the month of January, 1944.

From 1st January, 1943, to 31st December, 1943, 2,369 British and 997 United States Army Air Force bombers operating from this country were reported lost over Germany and Northern Europe. The corresponding figures for January, 1944, were 319 British and 178 American.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what shore leave is accorded to members of His Majesty's Navy; and how this compares with similar leave granted to the Army.

The amount of shore leave granted to members of H.M. Navy is necessarily dependent on operational and other conditions, but instructions have been given that, whenever possible, a minimum of 14 days' leave per year is to be given. There is no restriction on the maximum amount of leave which may be given from seagoing ships in Home Waters when circumstances allow of more being given, for example from a ship under repair. Leave on return from foreign service is granted on the scale of seven days' leave for each six months abroad, but foreign service leave in excess of 21 days is subject to recall owing to drafting requirements, unless the man has been abroad for four years when leave in excess of 28 days is subject to recall. Leave in stationary ships and shore establishments is regulated by local orders subject to the above quoted Admiralty instructions that a minimum of 14 days a year is to be granted. The leave given by the Home Depots is seven days every four months plus one long week-end a month. Leave in other Home Commands is dependent on local conditions, but local orders have been formed in the light of the above scale. I am not aware that in practice the leave granted compares unfavourably with that which is given to the Army.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how long price negotiations regarding L.C.T. have been going on between the Admiralty and the Clyde shipbuilding employers; and when he expects such negotiations to be completed.

The first quotations for L.C.Ts. were received in December, 1941, and settlements have now been concluded covering all but a few craft of one type. Quotations for a second type of craft were received early in 1943, and the Admiralty is now in possession of sufficient information about costs to open negotiations.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the L.C.T. engine fitting, carried out by the firm of Redpath, Brown & Company, Glasgow, is a direct contract or a sub-contract; and how the time and price of this firm compares with other Glasgow and Tyneside shipbuilders, respectively.

Redpath, Brown & Company build L.C.Ts. under a main contract which covers the engine installation work. This work is not, however, carried out by them, but is sub-contracted to various firms. The rate of production by Redpath Brown compares favourably with production at other engineering firms on the Clyde and on the North-East coast of England; it would not, however, be in the public interest to give production figures. The prices of several sub-contractors for machinery items and installation are under investigation.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works whether he is aware that meetings of local authorities were held in London under the auspices of the National War Emergency Council in 1941, at which it was agreed that prefabrication would provide a means of rehousing and that a sectional bungalow could be erected in five days, stored at key points throughout the country and made available after raids, but that since that time efforts to establish the value of these prefabricated houses have been consistently opposed by people who are advocating prefabrication as a solution to our post-war problems; and what action is he taking to prevent any delay in the housing programme.

I am aware that certain meetings of the body named were held in 1941, but I have no knowledge of the circumstances under which subsequent efforts to establish the value of the particular prefabricated houses referred to are said to have been unsuccessful. I can assure the hon. Member that the fullest assistance is given by the Ministry of Works to the development of house building technique, including prefabrication in all its aspects. My Noble Friend has recently, in another place, made a full statement on the steps being taken to prevent delay in the housing programme.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will extend the embargo on oil to Spain to cover shipments of coal.

I have no statement to make on this subject.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will state the salary paid to the right hon. Member for the Saint George's Division of Westminster (Mr. Duff Cooper) as His Majesty's Ambassador to the French Committee of Liberation in Algiers; and whether he receives any other remuneration or contribution towards his expenses.

The salary paid to His Majesty's Representative with the French National Committee of Liberation in Algiers is £2,500 a year. He receives in addition frais de representation of £3,050 and furnished quarters.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the delays in the delivery of parcels of tobacco and cigarettes sent by relatives to the troops in Italy; and whether he can expedite transit.

All parcels are sent by sea to Italy. It takes on the average 31 days for a parcel posted in this country to reach the base in Italy. Everything possible is done to speed up the parcel service, and if my hon. Friend will send me particulars of parcels of tobacco and cigarettes which have taken an abnormally long time to reach the addressees the cases will be investigated.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether Naples has been placed out of bounds for soldiers in Italy on account of the typhus outbreak.

Naples is out of bounds for all troops except those whose duties make it essential for them to enter the city.

asked the Secretary of State for War the limits within which members of the Home Guard who lose their earnings as a result of being mustered for an actual or apprehended invasion, will be entitled to compensation.

At present the limits for members over 17 are £3 18s. 6d. a week, or 13s. 1d. a day, less an adjustment for food supplied and insurance contributions paid. It is intended at the outset to pay all claimants alike 7s. a day and to adjust any balance due later.

asked the Minister of Food how he has paid, or proposes to pay, for the recent imports of oranges and onions to this country from Spain.

The imports to which my hon. Friend refers will be paid for through the Anglo-Spanish Clearing Office.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport whether he is now able to make any further statement with regard to the railway accident which took place recently at Ilford.

No, Sir. I regret that the Report on the railway accident at Ilford is still in course of preparation; it will be issued as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Committee on Advanced Musical Training and Education has yet reported.

Yes, Sir. The Committee, after considering the position of a number of institutions, came to the conclusion that those falling naturally within the ambit of their inquiry, which was limited to action necessary to maintain the standard of professional musicianship, were the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Manchester College of Music. To these institutions the Committee recommend the payment of annual grants, commencing with the present year, of £10,000, £8,000 and £4,000 respectively. In the first two cases the grants are intended to be in addition to the existing Government grants of £500 each. These recommendations have been framed to cover the war period only, and the Committee suggest that after the war they might be reassembled to review the position in relation to post-war needs. My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Education and I are agreed that these recommendations should be accepted, and the necessary provision is being included in the Civil Estimates for 1944.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware that empty bottles are normally broken when collected by refuse collection authorities; and whether he will institute a scheme for salvaging such bottles with a view to their being used again.

Of the large quantities of bottles collected by local authorities as salvage about 20,000 tons per annum are sold intact for re-use and a similar quantity is sold either intact or broken as raw material for the manufacture of new bottles, etc. The Ministry of Supply encourage both the reclamation and reuse of empty bottles wherever practicable, but in many cases reclamation and re-use by fillers would involve uneconomic employment of labour, transport, etc.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can give details of the new system of air-raid warning put into operation during recent weeks; and if he contemplates any further changes for the immediate future.

As I explained in reply to a question by my hon. Friend the Member for Durham East (Mr. Ritson) on 8th July last, it is not possible to publish details of the new system of issuing air raid warnings without giving useful information to the enemy. Present experience of the working of the new system does not indicate that any further changes will be required in the near future.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the salary attached to the post of controller of air-raid precautions in the borough of Camberwell; and whether this salary now ranks for Government grant.

The Borough of Camberwell were informed early in the war that the salary which they proposed to pay to the Controller would not rank for grant. I understand that the salary now being paid to the Controller is £850 per annum.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the number of civilian casualties during recent air-raids on this country due to the effects of the A.A. barrage; and if he will issue to the public a further warning of the dangers of sky-gazing.

It is not possible or desirable to give accurate figures, but I can assure my hon. Friend that casualties are not heavy. I do not think that any further warning to the public, in addition to the many warnings already given, is necessary. My impression is that the public are fully aware that everything that goes up must come down.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will inquire into the case, details of which have been submitted to him, of a graduate of London University who has been appointed to a scientific post in the British Council at Stockholm, but his assumption of the office has been vetoed by the British Minister.

No appointment has been made to the post to which the hon. Member refers.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if, at the appropriate time, he will give his support to proposals to make low-interest loans to farmers to enable them to have electricity installed and also to make subsidies in approved cases to meet the cost of connecting up premises remote from transmission lines.

While I am anxious to see the widest possible extension of electricity supplies to farms after the war, it would be premature at this stage to promise support for any specific suggestions as to how such a development might be facilitated.

asked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that there is considerable delay in the delivery of letters to rural areas in villages in North-east Suffolk; and if he will take steps to speed up these facilities in view of the fact that the farming community depend largely upon the post for their war-time business communications.

I am not aware of any regular general delay in the area in question. I will, however, gladly make full inquiry if my hon. Friend will give me details.

asked the Postmaster-General how many village and country post offices and sub-post offices are closed at the present time through lack of persons able or willing to conduct them.

I regret that this information is not available and could be got only by considerable inquiries. I shall be very happy to look into any individual cases my hon. Friend has in mind if he will write to me.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware of the delay in the express parcel post in the London area; and that such parcels take three and a half days to travel 15 miles and a week to travel about 40 miles; and what are the reasons for this.

No, Sir. If the hon. and gallant Member will kindly furnish me with full particulars of posting and delivery, including the cover of the parcel if possible, of any cases he has in mind, I shall be happy to have full inquiry made.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will arrange for all ordnance survey maps, before issue for sale, to bear printed conspicuously on the outside as well as in the present position, the date of the survey and of the latest corrections; and make this system compulsory for all maps based on the ordnance survey for sale to the public.

I am considering my hon. and gallant Friend's proposals and will communicate with him in due course.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if, in view of the fact that allotments have been of great value to the country in war time, he will be prepared to make provision for permanent allotments on suitable land and under conditions safeguarding the position of the allotment holder in the after the war period.

The post-war position regarding allotments will come up for con- sideration in all its aspects in the near future.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he has considered the details of a case heard at the Central Criminal Court on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd February last, when certain charges were made against three commercial firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of fuel economisers; and whether, in view of certain facts that were disclosed in evidence, he will now order a full public inquiry into all the circumstances connected with this matter.

The answer to the first part of the Question is, "Yes," and to the second, "No." The device which was the subject of the cases in question received most careful and prolonged consideration by my Fuel Efficiency Committee, which consists of highly qualified experts. This Committee unanimously advised me that they were quite unable to accept the claims made for it by its sponsors. In view of the publicity accorded in certain newspapers to the charges made by Mr. Shelley, K.C., in the course of his evidence for the defence, against Dr. Macfarlane, Director of Fuel Efficiency in my Department, and against members of my Fuel Efficiency Committee, I feel it my duty to point out that those charges were investigated under my direction and I am satisfied that they are completely untrue. One of the three defendant companies had never associated themselves with Mr. Shelley's accusations, and the other two dissociated themselves entirely from the accusations before their pleas of guilty were accepted. Mr. Shelley could not therefore be cross-examined on the accusations, and my right hon. Friend, the Attorney-General, stated in court that if it had been relevant to go into the charges he was satisfied that he could have offered evidence which would have completely disposed of them.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether any member of the Boyd-Orr Committee on infantile mortality visited any area outside Scot- land or London in connection with the committee; whether any attempt was made to interview and ascertain the opinion of scientists outside the medical profession; and whether any attempt was made to secure recent information on the methods of dealing with infantile mortality in Iceland, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, other than through the children's bureau at Washington.

The Chairman of the Committee informs me that the Committee did not make any visits, nor take any oral evidence during the course of their inquiry, but that they obtained and studied all information which they considered necessary for the purposes of their remit.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of cinemas, passed by the Glasgow Dean of Guild Court, now situated in corporation housing schemes; and the total acreage of land, held by those cinemas, at present not in use.

I am informed that the sites of two cinemas are wholly, and the sites of four cinemas partially, within the areas of Glasgow housing schemes. The total area of land given off for these six cinemas is 1.313 acres, and it is all in use.