asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider modifying the terms of the prospectus of Tax Reserve Certificates with a view to enabling subscribers to earn interest on Certificates which are not surrendered for tax due within the prescribed period of two years.

As my hon. Friend will be aware, the rate of interest allowed on Tax Reserve Certificates is a generous one. For that reason, and because the primary object of the Certificates was to facilitate the setting aside of provision for taxes as the taxable profits accrue, a limitation of the period for which the Certificates can earn interest is justified. I am satisfied, however, that the limitation of two years for an effective surrender for tax payments reacts hardly in certain cases, and I have decided to amend the Prospectus so as to provide that Certificates shall be accepted in payment of any tax or contribution deemed to be due not more than five years from the date of the Certificate, subject, however, to the condition that interest will not be allowed on any Certificate for more than two years. The change will not the training centres; the number who have already commenced work at the coal mines; and if he can give these particulars for the various areas.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 23rd March, 1944; col. 1016, Vol. 398] supplied the following statement:involve any extension of the period for which a Certificate accepted in payment of tax or contribution is treated as capital employed in a trade or business for the purposes of Excess Profits Tax. A new Prospectus embodying the change will be issued as soon as possible, but the revised terms will be applied to all Certificates at present held by subscribers or purchased hereafter. They will also be applied in certain cases where a Certificate has already been accepted without interest in lieu of cash payment of tax due more than two years from the date of the Certificate, or where a Certificate has been tendered to the Inland Revenue in payment of such tax and action thereon has not yet been completed. In all such cases the necessary adjustments will be made by the Inland Revenue without application from the holders. In other cases subscribers may already have cashed their Certificates without tendering them in payment of taxes, with the result that they have lent money free of interest to the Government for considerable periods. To meet such cases any subscriber will be entitled, on making application to the Bank of England, to have any Certificate or Certificates, which he now holds or may in future hold, antedated for a period equivalent to the period for which he can show that he has lent the same or a larger amount of money to the Government free of interest on a Certificate bought before to-day.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why particulars of moneys paid to Members of Parliament for expenses whilst engaged on Government business are not available to Members; and if he will reconsider the position with a view to giving the total amount paid to date under such account.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 29th February, 1944, col. 1247, Vol. 397] supplied the following statement:Particulars of expenses payable to certain Members of the House of Commons in respect of whom a certificate has been issued under the House of Common Disqualification (Temporary Provisions) Acts, were circulated on 17th February, 1944 (OFFICIAL REPORT, columns 340–344).In addition regular expenses allowances are payable to the following Members:

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if the total to date of post-war credit which has accrued to individuals and firms can be printed in the Blue Paper circulated on the day of the presentation of the Budget.

Yes, Sir. Arrangements will be made to show in the Blue and White Papers circulated on Budget Day such figures relating to Post-War Tax Credits as are available.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what arrangements have been made for the production of HANSARD in whatever quantities there may be a public demand for.

As I explained in the Debate on the Adjournment on 1st March there is a definite physical limit to the number of copies of HANSARD that can be produced in war-time, and in any case it would not be possible substantially to increase the number in the same form. The whole matter is at present under consideration by the Select Committee on Publications and Debates Reports and I would prefer to await their Report before making any further statement.

asked the Minister of Information whether he will take steps to counter the untruthful propaganda at present being directed against Eire, a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations; and whether he will give an assurance that his Department has played no part in the suppression of views critical of the Allied attitude to Eire which have been expressed in Canada, U.S.A., Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden and other countries.

In answer to the first part of the Question, I would suggest that this appears to be a matter for the Eire Government. In answer to the second part, there has, of course, been very little criticism of the recent Allied representations to the Government of Eire, but I can certainly give the assurance for which my hon. Friend asks.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning whether the Government's announcement on the subject of their conclusions with regard to the Barlow, Scott and Uthwatt Reports, to be made after Easter, will take the form of a White Paper, Bill, Parliamentary Statement, or in what manner it will be made.

A Bill will be introduced dealing with the reconstruction areas, as promised in the King's Speech. The Government's proposals on other matters will be set out in a White Paper. Their views on the recommendations of the Scott Committee were set out in a statement published in the OFFICIAL REPORT of 30th November last. The form in which they will announce their policy on matters dealt with by the Barlow Report has not yet been decided.

asked the President of the Board of Education how many of the direct grant schools are girls' schools.

Of the 232 direct grant secondary schools at the present time 114 are girls' schools and four are for boys and girls.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will arrange for a much larger supply of unfermented apple juice to be assigned to canteens in order that men and women who prefer this form of drink may not have to resort to the use of alcoholic liquor

As I stated in my reply to the hon Member for South Croydon (Sir H. Williams) on 8th March and to the hon. Member for Colchester (Mr. Lewis) on 22nd March, there is no control on the sale of unfermented apple juice. I am sure that producers will do their pest to make supplies available to canteens which require them.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that an increase of £1 15s. a ton has been put on to an already largely increased price for dairy cake for milk cows; and whether, in the interest of milk production, he will control the prices of necessary feeding stuffs at a reasonable level to avoid a shortage of milk.

No, Sir, the ex works prices of dairy cakes have been increased since 1st January by 3s. to l0s. per ton according to the ingredients available. If my hon. and gallant Friend will provide me with particulars of any case where the increase charged to the farmer is substantially more I will be glad to have the matter investigated. The recent increase -in the prices of dairy cakes was caused by the necessity for using in their manufacture a larger proportion of home grown cereals, the prices of which are generally higher than those of other feeding stuffs. The ex works prices of all rationed feeding stuffs are controlled and with the exception of home grown cereals and their products these prices have not varied since 1940.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he has as yet formulated any programme for the provision of openings for men now in the Armed Forces in postwar agriculture; and if he is aware of the keen demand by many such men for this work.

While I hope there will be openings in agriculture and ancillary occupations after the war for certain numbers of ex-Servicemen in addition to those previously occupied therein, the formulation of any programme is necessarily dependent upon decisions that have yet to be taken on general post-war agricultural policy.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what plans he has made to provide adequate fruit tree and bush stocks to meet the demand for post-war planting.

I have asked County War Agricultural Executive Committees to allow fruit-growers, as well as nurserymen, to use their land for planting root stocks and propagating fruit trees provided they are satisfied that the applicant has the necessary skill and facilities to raise the trees properly. The Fruit Research Stations will also grow large quantities of stocks and seedlings.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that, owing to the delays and difficulties to which they are exposed in travelling to and from their constituencies by rail and steamship under war conditions, Northern Ireland Members are gravely handicapped in the performance of their Parliamentary duties by inability to use air services save at prohibitive cost to themselves; and whether some relaxation of the rules governing air travel can be made in their case.

Yes, Sir; I recognise the special difficulties of Northern Ireland Members in travelling to and from their constituencies by sea in present conditions; and arrangements, of which particulars can be obtained at the Fees Office, have been made for relieving them of a proportion of the extra cost of travelling between London and Northern Ireland by air.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of occasions on which the Tithe Redemption Commission formally threatened to take bankruptcy proceedings for the recovery of the annuity and the arrears of tithe rentcharge, actually commenced such proceedings and carried such proceedings through to actual bankruptcy, respectively.

During the seven years since the Tithe Redemption Commission began to collect annuities and arrears of tithe rentcharge, a bankruptcy notice has been issued in 32 cases. It has been unnecessary to present a petition in bankruptcy in more than nine of these cases or to proceed to adjudication in more than four.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has received from the chief building societies of the country any estimate of the houses they expect to erect in the first two years after the war; and whether, in that case, he can state the amount.

No, Sir.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport what prospect there is of shipping being available to take wives and mothers back to the Colonies in which they are normally resident.

The present military demands on our shipping resources leave only a limited number of berths available for the transport of wives and mothers back to the Colonies. The Colonial Office, in accordance with an agreed scheme of priorities, receive an allocation of such berths as are available, and they decide how this block allocation shall be used. I regret that I cannot make any useful forecast about the future prospects of increased accommodation for civilian passengers.

asked the Minister of Health whether he can make any statement as to the shortage of water supply in specific rural districts; and whether he proposes to issue a warning regarding its consumption.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the appended statement which was issued on 28th March and which is in addition to and in support of warnings issued locally through the Press and directly to consumers by the water undertakers principally concerned. Following is the statement:

asked the Minister of Pensions on what grounds pension is withheld from a widow between the date of a wrongful decision on the cause of her husband's death and the date of the rightful decision that his death was attributable to the conditions of the service he performed.

If, as I assume, my hon. and gallant Friend is referring to the case in which pension is awarded under the revised standards of entitlement announced in the White Paper in July last, payment is normally made from the date of application thereunder as a result of which pension is granted. Where application was made within a short period of the issue of the White Paper pension could be ante-dated to 16th August, 1943, which is the date on which the changes announced therein became effective and which, in any circumstances, is the earliest date from which pension may be paid in a case of this kind.

asked the Secretary of State for War to what authority persons should apply if they wish to travel to a destination in the neighbourhood of the newly restricted coastline and wish to find out whether their destination is included in the areas mentioned but unspecified in the published instruction, which are restricted though over 10 miles from the coastline.

The person intending to travel should inquire of the person to be visited whether the latter resides in one of the boroughs or urban or rural districts included in a Protected Area. The list of these has been published and will be displayed at police stations and certain railway stations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the new restrictions affecting entry to certain coastal districts in Great Britain will prevent persons not exempted from these restrictions from travelling to places outside the restricted areas if it is necessary to descend at a railway station within the restricted area and to proceed immediately to the destination by taxicab or privately owned vehicle because no public service vehicle is available.

I have been asked to reply. Descent at a railway station inside a Protected Area to proceed by public or private vehicle to any destination is not permitted by the Protected Area Orders for persons not entitled to enter those areas. They should reach destinations outside those areas by descending at stations outside them, even though they may not be the most convenient.