asked the Minister of Health if by counties he will state the allocation of the 6,000 temporary houses to rural councils; and how many requests of the kind have not as yet been satisfied.

I will send my hon. Friend a copy of the list, which is increasing as further applications are received. No local authority has been refused temporary houses but some have been allocated less than they applied for. Where an authority is in possession of or can speedily obtain sites with roads, sewers and other services for a larger number than has been allocated I would consider increasing the allocation.

asked the Minister of Production whether he will state the quantities of essential building materials applied for by the Northern Ireland Government for the erection of dwelling houses since the outbreak of war; and how much has been granted for that purpose.

Building materials in short supply have been allocated since the middle of 1940, and Northern Ireland has received bulk allocations for all building work including housing. I regret that the details requested in respect of dwelling houses since the outbreak of war are not available.

asked the Minister of Works whether he is ready with a spring and summer programme for the repairing of bomb-damaged residential property in London; and will he make an early statement on the subject.

Last September the Government declared its intention to repair up to a tolerable emergency standard 719,000 houses. The aim was to complete this winter programme by 31st March. Over 680,000 houses have now been repaired up to this emergency standard. This represents 94 per cent. of the target with two weeks more to run. During the last few weeks repairs have been proceeding at an average rate of about 40,000 per week. This is about double the rate last December.Even when the winter programme is completed a large amount of further work will still remain to be done. Many houses in different parts of Southern England have been damaged by enemy bombardment during the winter months. Some of these have been repaired as part of the winter programme, but the majority have only received field dressings and are waiting to be tackled. The state of repair in parts of Southern England is therefore still far behind that achieved in most other parts of the country. Until the areas affected have been brought up to the standard of the rest of the country it will be necessary to retain on this work a large labour force including a substantial number of men from the Provinces.For the purposes of this further repair programme the affected parts of Southern England fall into two categories:

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that five sick and elderly women in Stowmarket who urgently required admission to one of the county institutions and who are suffering from serious neglect are unable to obtain proper accommodation owing to the fact that there are no vacancies in the whole of the East Suffolk institutions; and what action he proposes to take to deal with this state of affairs.

I am aware that a number of persons are unable to obtain admission to East Suffolk institutions owing to the lack of available accommodation. I am informed that about 20 more beds could be made available at the Stowmarket Institution for such cases as my hon. Friend has in mind if additional nursing staff were supplied. I have been in touch with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour and National Service, who has made a statement on the question of nursing staffs in the Suffolk Public Assistance Institutions.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether personnel who are honourably discharged from the R.A.F. before the release scheme starts to operate will be entitled to receive any grant in respect of foreign service.

Yes, Sir. Personnel honourably discharged from the Royal Air Force before the Release Scheme starts to operate will, if they have served overseas for a minimum period of six months, receive foreign service grants at the rate of one day's pay and allowances for every month of overseas service. Applications for foreign service grants will be invited at the same time as applications for war gratuity.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can arrange for facilities for telegrams to be sent to officers and men serving overseas in His Majesty's" Navy, with only a G.P.O. address, and for such telegrams to be receivable at ordinary telegraph offices.

Ordinary telegrams cannot be sent to H.M. sea-going ships overseas because it is not possible for security reasons to reveal the port to which the telegram would have to be routed. Concession telegrams are available to meet special domestic difficulties, and these, together with E.F.M.'s are accepted for transmission at ordinary telegraph offices, and are sent by Naval means. I regret that it is not possible to extend these arrangements owing to the volume of traffic already passing over Naval channels.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he can now take steps to lessen the disturbances caused to residents by the disposal of unexploded bombs in an area of the constituency of the hon. Member for Gravesend, of which he has been made aware by previous complaints and correspondence.

Everything possible is done by the Naval authorities to minimize the disturbance caused by the detonations for which they are responsible to these residents. Notice is always given to the local police and A.R.P. authorities. I regret that the disposal of enemy bombs must continue; but I would point out that the number of demolitions carried out by Naval authorities in the area is very small, only some half-dozen having occurred since the beginning of the year.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps he is taking to develop the elver trade on the banks of the River Severn.

Soon after the outbreak of war the elver collecting depot at Epney, previously operated by a German company, was taken over by my Department. In order to gain experience, my Department has operated the depot during the past two seasons on a limited scale compatible with war-time conditions. Some 4,000,000 elvers have been distributed in this country for the purpose of increasing stocks of eels, and a further distribution will be made from the elver fishery which is just commencing.

asked the Minister of Labour who is the Chairman of the National Dock Labour Corporation in London; and what is his salary.

The Chairman of the National Dock Labour Corporation Limited is the Rt. Hon, Lord Ammon of Camberwell, D.L., J.P. He is remunerated at the rate of £500 per annum.