asked the Minister of Labour whether, as no mention is made of the provision of an industrial medical service in the White Paper on a National Health Service, it is the intention of his Ministry to establish such a service; and whether any steps have been taken towards a plan for the organisation of health services in industry.

It is not the case that no mention of an industrial medical service is made in the White Paper. The existing Industrial Medical Services are described on pages 60 and 61 and lines on which their development is contemplated are indicated on page 10. Health services in industry include far more than medical services, and I contemplate that they will continue and develop on the lines laid down in the Factory Acts and similar legislation.

asked the Minister of Health when, in view of the fact that he is responsible for the care and treatment of tuberculous patients, he expects to be able to provide sanatorium accommodation for all those patients needing it.

In present circumstances I regret that I cannot make any forecast. Every effort to provide additional accommodation will continue to be made as conditions and resources permit.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning if he can give the distance of the site of the suggested electric power station in Kepier Woods, Durham, from the site of the Durham Cathedral.

I understand that the distance is about three-quarters of a mile.

asked the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that Regular officers in the Indian Army, who are granted 61 days' leave at home, are asked to pay half their fare, whereas officers holding war emergency commissions do not have to contribute to their fares; and whether, as the amounts granted by His Majesty's Government towards these passage accounts are fixed for the whole of an officer's career and officers are therefore anxious only to use up their credit when comparatively long periods of leave are allowed, he will arrange for no charges of this nature to be made against passage accounts during the war.

The suggestion that Regular Indian Army officers are being asked to pay half the cost of their leave passages home requires some further explanation. As my Noble Friend recognises in the second part of his Question, Regular Indian Army officers have a passage account opened for them at the expense of Government to which the cost of leave passages taken during the whole of their service is debited. In the present case the Government of India recommended that, in view of the comparative shortness of the leave, only half the cost of passage instead of the whole cost should be debited to their account. Emergency Commissioned officers of the Indian Army have no such passage account and the Question in their case does not arise.

asked the Secretary of State for India how many officers in the Indian Army who have served for five years or more in India have been given leave at home; and how many passages per month are now available for such officers.

The leave scheme for Indian Army personnel is not yet in opera- tion, though an Army Instruction implementing the scheme is expected to be issued at an early date. The number of passages which will be available under the scheme will vary from time to time according to the shipping available and operational considerations. On the average it will be at least 125 a month, but discussions on this subject are still in progress.

asked the Minister of Pensions if he can explain the conditions under which a 100 per cent. disability pension is supplemented on grounds of unemployability.

This supplement is given in cases where a pensioner, despite all available remedial measures, remains so severely disabled by his pensionable disablement as to be unlikely ever to resume employment. Nominal earnings up to 20s. a week are disregarded in determining unemployability.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many cases have been brought to the notice of his Ministry of men who joined the Army as A1 but have since been discharged as medically unfit and suffering from asthma; and whether such cases are accepted as due to war service unless there is pre-war evidence of this malady having been suffered by the person concerned.

I regret that the figures asked for in the first part of the Question are not available and could not readily be obtained. Entitlement to pension for asthma depends on the circumstances in the individual case. If it is clear, having regard to the pre-war evidence and the clinical condition, that the asthma was not present prior to war service, pension is granted on the basis that the asthma was attributable to and not merely aggravated by service.

asked the Minister of Pensions how many applications for review of pension claims have been received by his Department since the amendment of the Royal Warrant; and in how many of such cases pensions have been awarded without recourse to the appeal tribunals.

Up to a recent date the numbers were approximately 33,000 and 9,000 respectively.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the serious disadvantages under which the industries of this country will suffer by reason of the fact that for five years it has not been possible to give attention to post-war civilian requirements; and can instructions now be given to enable a small percentage of the available labour force to be employed on the preparation of the necessary prototypes.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. and gallant Friends the Members for The Hartlepools (Colonel Greenwell) and North Kensington (Captain Duncan) on 8th July last.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department if his Department has information as to the nature of business connections existing pre-war, particularly for goods manufactured in this country.

The Department of Overseas Trade and its overseas officers had a very wide knowledge of the methods by which United Kingdom exporting interests arranged for the sale of their goods in overseas markets. It is the intention that the contact with distributors abroad should be even more closely developed in the future.

asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department what steps are being taken to encourage British exporters when they endeavour to regain their pre-war connection with their customers abroad; and is favourable consideration being given to those applications which are the result of pre-war business connections.

Re-establishment of pre-war connections with customers abroad can be best achieved by visits of representatives of United Kingdom exporting interests. Travel is at present rigorously curtailed, but it is the intention to encourage and facilitate resumption of connections as soon as conditions permit.

asked the Minister of Aircraft Production what steps he is taking to bring home to the workers in the appropriate factories the services to the Allied Armies now being rendered by the output of heavy bombs for which they are responsible.

Photographs and enlarged pictures showing damage caused by bombs are supplied for exhibition in the factories concerned, and arrangements are made for bomber pilots to visit factories to give to the workers first-hand accounts of bombing assaults. In addition, the operations of Bomber Command

Year and Prison.			Daily Average Population.	Punishments.
				Corporal Punishment.	Close Confinement.	Dietary Punishment.	Loss of Stage, Privilege or Remission.
1939.
Dartmoor	…	…	362	—	113	119	194
Wandsworth	…	…	710	2	131	201	300
1942.
Dartmoor	…	…	427	—	184	193	923
Wandsworth	…	…	939	3	73	211	367
1943.
Dartmoor	…	…	530	—	112	177	1,000
Wandsworth	…	…	1,059	—	76	264	464

In most cases the punishment awarded to a particular prisoner consists of a combination of two or more of the various types of punishment. During 1943, corporal punishment was awarded for a prison offence in five cases, of which one occurred at each of the following prisons:—Bedford, Exeter, Lewes, Liverpool and Winchester.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why a large number of persons evacuated from Gibraltar have been permitted to proceed to Northern Ireland in preference to Northern Ireland residents who are undergoing hardship through the restriction of cross-channel travel; and whether, in view of the abandonment of this security restriction by allowing such a large body of people to go to Northern Ireland, travel restrictions will now be removed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the daily average population of Dartmoor and Wandsworth prisons and the number of prison punishments in 1939, 1942 and 1943, respectively; the number of cases of corporal punishment inflicted for offences against prison discipline in 1943; and the prisons in which these floggings took place.

The following are the particulars asked for in the first part of the Question:

The persons recently transferred to Northern Ireland are in transit to Gibraltar, and will be removed to Gibraltar as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made. They comprise, in the main, persons eligible for evacuation from the London area under arrangements with which my hon. and gallant Friend will be familiar. The accommodation which they were occupying in London was urgently required for other purposes, including the housing of building operatives and homeless war workers. Suitable alternative accommodation was not available in Great Britain, and the Government of Northern Ireland was good enough to make available accommodation in Northern Ireland. The exceptional steps taken to deal with this exceptional problem do not affect the answer which I gave on 13th July on travel restrictions generally, to which at present I have nothing to add. I should like to take the opportunity of expressing His Majesty's Government's appreciation of the public spirited attitude of the Government of Northern Ireland in assisting us to deal with a grave and urgent problem.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will state the chairman and members of the Committee appointed to consider post-war policy for poultry farming; and whether it is proposed to publish its report.

No Committee has been appointed to consider post-war policy for poultry farming; the second part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Minister of Agriculture in how many cases the War Agricultural Executive Committees have opposed the establishment or extension of milk production on the ground that the farms in question are better suited to stock raising; and what action his Department took in regard to the various recommendations.

I have no record of the cases to which my hon. Friend refers, and I do not consider that it would be justifiable, in view of the labour involved, to ask War Agricultural Executive Committees to supply this information.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether proposals have been made to the Ceylon Government for modifications of the existing Constitution; whether he has modified his procedure for dealing with constitutional changes in any important respects; and whether the proposed Commission to Ceylon will include persons of political experience.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the Declaration made by His Majesty's Government on 26th May, 1943, which formed part of the reply which I gave to a Question by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Isle of Wight (Captain P. Macdonald) on that date. I would also refer him to the statement I made in reply to Questions in the House on 5th July last. Cer- tain points have been raised by the Ceylon Ministers in reference to my statement of 5th July concerning which I am awaiting a despatch from the Governor. Until I have had an opportunity of considering this despatch I am not in a position to make any further statement. As regards the last part of the Question, the constitution of the Commission is now under consideration, but I regret that I am not yet in a position to make any statement on the matter.

asked the Lord President of the Council whether, as the Report of the Industrial Research Board is unable to state whether reduced working hours increase or decrease output and utter a warning against reckless assumptions, he will arrange for the Medical Research Council to continue its investigations along the same lines.

The Industrial Health Research Board of the Medical Research Council propose to investigate this subject further as opportunity permits. As mentioned in the Report, it has already been firmly established that, except for brief periods of special emergency, working hours in manual operations should not exceed 60–65 for men and 55–60 for women. The point not yet decided conclusively is whether reduction of working hours below those limits has a further beneficial effect which is measurable in terms of output. The Report indicates the practical difficulties in reaching a clear decision on this question by investigations carried out under the unstable conditions of war-time.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the Hoole Urban District Council, after a survey in January, notified the appropriate authority that 250 evacuees could be accommodated; that on 10th July they were informed that 400 evacuees would arrive the same day; that no compulsory billeting was resorted to; that the householders willingly placed their accommodation at the disposal of the Council; that no family was informed that a billet could not be found for them; that the rest centres were satisfactory; that the evacuees were appreciative of the reception arrangements; and what inquiries were made by his Department to ascertain the facts.

The clerk of the Urban District Council was informed on 8th June that the allocation to Hoole under the evacuation scheme in preparation would be 400. On Sunday, 9th July, he was notified by telegram that the party would arrive on 11th July. In the light of reports that billeting was not going well an officer of my Department visited on 12th July. It was found that the billeting organisation needed assistance and that conditions at the rest centres required improvement. At the request and with the co-operation of the Council arrangements were made for the billeting officer of the Birkenhead County Borough Council to go in and organise the billeting. It is true that no compulsory billeting was resorted to and that householders willingly co-operated. I do not know that no family was informed that billets were not available; the Press reported interviews with some families who had returned. I have no doubt that evacuees are appreciative of the billets now found for them.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that certain proprietors of seaside boarding houses have been summoned for alleged refusal to admit evacuees; that the smallness of the billeting allowances causes loss to such persons who earn their livelihood by boarding and lodging ordinary visitors; and whether he will issue an order that compulsory billeting powers shall not in future apply to persons thus earning their living in houses used for business purposes, but only to occupiers of private dwelling houses.

The answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes." In regard to the latter parts, I regret that I am unable to differentiate between one type of householder and another in the matter of their initial liability to be served with a billeting notice. If the presence of evacuees is felt to cause hardship in a particular case, it is open to the occupier concerned to lodge a complaint with the Billeting Tribunal set up under Defence Regulation 22.

asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to an advertisement appearing in the personal column of the "Daily Telegraph," on 21st July, in which a doctor offers to accept as paying guests a couple wishing to escape from the flying bomb; and whether he will arrange in all such cases, where residents in safe areas seek to exploit emergency conditions, for official evacuees to be billeted at the Government rate of payment.

If the address were published, or readily ascertainable, it would rest with the billeting officer of the area to take note of it.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will make available for the evacuation of mothers and children some motor transport at present in part-time use by Italian prisoners of war.

Only a few small trucks are held at Italian Labour Camps. These are fully employed drawing rations and performing other essential services.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the sum of 5s. per week paid to householders in respect of each worker billeted as an essential war worker by a local authority is less than the actual expenses incurred in accommodating such worker; and will he consider increasing this sum to meet the actual expenses involved.

The great majority of transferred war workers have been accommodated under voluntary arrangements and it is only a very small number which has required to be billeted compulsorily. When compulsory billeting is undertaken, it is for lodging only, the worker making his own arrangements for board, and I have no reason to suppose the billeting allowance calls for revision.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, arising out of the proposals in the White Paper on a National Water Policy, he has considered the need for reviewing the methods of rating and charging for water in Scotland, in view of the divergencies in existing practice.

Yes, Sir. I have decided to appoint a Committee whose terms of reference are:

"To consider the basis of valuation for the purposes of water rates and the methods of rating and charging for water supplied by statutory undertakers in Scotland, and to make recommendations."

I am glad to say that the following gentlemen have agreed to serve on the Committee:

• Sir Robert Bryce Walker, C.B.E. (Chairman).
• D. A. Anderson, Esq., J.P.
• Major the Hon. Alastair Fraser, D.S.O.
• Sir John Milne Home, D.L.,J.P.
• J. D. Imrie, Esq., C.B.E., J.P.
• C. H. Lockhart, Esq.
• J. McBoyle, Esq.
• John Mackie, Esq.
• Treasurer Hector McNeill.
• J. R. Rutherford, Esq.

asked the Minister of Health what initial steps he is proposing to take to bring to the notice of those bodies concerned the powers provided in the Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act.

I am proposing to address a communication on the subject to the local authorities concerned when the Bill in question has received the Royal Assent.

asked the Minister of Food what is the post-war policy of his Department in regard to the freeing of milk for the manufacture of chocolate and other sweets.

The possibility of allocating liquid milk for use in the manufacture of chocolate and other confectionery in the early post-war period will depend upon a number of factors, including the relationship between total milk supply and requirements for direct consumption, and for the manufacture of milk products which may be more urgently required than the products to which my hon. Friend refers. I should, however, like to carry out his suggestion as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether increased allowances to Maltese, Cypriots and Palestinians serving with His Majesty's Forces are being paid as a result of the White Paper.

I have nothing at present to add to the reply I gave my hon. Friend on 22nd June.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will place in the Library of the House of Commons a copy of the monitor of the broadcast talks from the radio station at Cherbourg to the people of France.

I understand that this station is covered by the monitoring digest which is available in the Library of the House.