asked the Minister of War Transport if he will now take steps to reintroduce cheap rail facilities for groups of schoolchildren to enable them to visit plays, exhibitions and museums for educational purposes.

I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to a similar Question by the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Austin) on 22nd October.

asked the Minister of Works the number of houses now under requisition for Government Departments in the Reigate and Dorking districts, respectively; the number of such houses which are now empty; and the number of houses which are to be derequisitioned in the near future.

Excluding houses held by or on behalf of the Ministry of Health for accommodating homeless or inadequately-housed persons, there are in the Reigate district 54 houses requisitioned by Government Departments. Of these, 15 are now empty and Departments expect to release 14 in the near future. In the Dorking district there are 23 houses requisitioned by Government Departments. Of these, seven are now empty and it is expected that nine will be released shortly.

asked the Minister of Health what arrangements he is making to secure the use of all spare housing accommodation during the housing shortage.

Local authorities are empowered to requisition unoccupied premises suitable for housing persons in need of accommodation and approximately 77,000 premises have been requisitioned or taken by agreement for this purpose. In addition, a Defence Regulation is being made today to facilitate the letting of spare accommodation in occupied houses and I am sending a circular to local authorities, asking them to appeal to householders in their areas who may have any spare rooms, to let them to persons in need. A copy of this circular is available in the Library.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General what necessitated the removal of the Post Office telephone exchange from Warborough to Shillingford; if he will state the cost of the cable and labour, respectively; what benefits have accrued to the public; and on what approximate date the exchange will be automatic.

After the death of the late sub-postmaster of Warborough, it was not possible to find a successor who was prepared to operate the telephone exchange, and it had therefore to be moved to Shillingford. The cost of the cable and labour involved in the removal were £45 and £339 respectively. The location of the telephone exchange does not affect the service to the public. It is the intention that this exchange shall eventually be made automatic, but no date has yet been fixed for its conversion.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is proposed to allocate grants, equivalent to accumulated profits on the West African Produce Control Board's cocoa operations, to provide finance for marketing and research as outlined in the White Paper on Cocoa Control in West Africa, paragraphs 40 and 41.

Parliament has already voted a sum equivalent to the profits up to the end of the 1942–43 season arising from sales of cocoa by the West African Produce ControlBoard to be allocated to the Governments of the Gold Coast and Nigeria to finance the proposed research and marketing organisations, and these moneys will be transferred to the Governments before the end of the current financial year. The House will in due course be asked to vote a sum equivalent to the profits made in subsequent years to be allocated to the Gold Coast and Nigerian Government to be devoted to purposes designed to be of benefit to West African producers as undertaken by His Majesty's Government in the terms referred to in paragraph 1 of the Report on Cocoa Control in West Africa, 1939–1943 (Cmd. 6554 of 1944).

asked the Minister of Health to what extent it has been found that the exemption from vaccination of about 50 per cent. of the children born in this country during the past 30 years has led to an increase in the incidence of smallpox in that period as compared with the previous 30 years.

It is not possible to relate the incidence of smallpox during the period mentioned simply to the extent of infant vaccination since account must be taken of other controlling factors influencing the history of the disease in this country during that period.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that special medical courses are available free to medical officers of the R.N.; that similar courses under similar conditions are denied to medical officers of the R.N.V.R. and will he take steps to remove this differentiation.

I presume the hon. Member is referring to the post-graduate medical courses of up to six months' duration. These courses are provided for the medical officers of the Royal Navy who are making their career in the Navy so that they may be of greater use in their subsequent service. To throw open these courses to R.N.V.R. doctors would involve additional expense which I do not consider would be justified in view of the fact that the careers of these officers lie outside the Service.

asked the Minister of Education the names of all schools which have applied for direct grant status, showing which have been refused and which still await a decision.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answers given to the hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir J. Mellor) on 12th October and to the hon. Member for the English Universities (Mr. Lindsay) on 15th November, of which I am sending him copies.