asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the postponement by him of the meeting with the Medical Negotiating Committee arranged for 12th November, of which notice was received only a few days before that date, has caused disappointment and misgiving in the medical profession; and why this postponement was affected with so little consideration for members of the Negotiating Committee, many of whom had made arrangements to come from all parts of the country to attend the meeting in London.

The postponement became inevitable when the Negotiating Committee's memorandum, intended as the basis of the discussion, was only sent to me a few days before the date which had been fixed for the meeting. It is a document of 31 pages, covering most of the main points in the Act, and—in the profession's interest alone—I could not be expected to digest and reply to it at such short notice.

asked the Minister of Health if he will now withdraw the instruction issued by his Department to Universities and Medical Licensing bodies dated 12th April, 1945, and renewed 10th April, 1947, that students should not be accepted for combined dental and medical courses, thus preventing dentists who wish to broaden their preparation for practice from taking a medical as well as a dental qualification, as desired by the leaders of the dental profession and by the Board of Studies in Dentistry of London University.

These restrictions were imposed to meet the needs of the Services for newly qualified practitioners. I propose to review the matter, with other Departments concerned, in the light of present circumstances.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the forthcoming increase of 3d. per hour in building wages, an increase in the permitted cost of houses built by private builders will be permitted.

No. The settlement, of which the increase of 3d. per hour in building wages forms part, should, in the opinion of the National Joint Council for the Building Industry, secure increased production and lower costs.

asked the Minister of Health what is the highest cost of the permanent brick houses already built and sanctioned by him.

Very little information is available as yet on the postwar cost of house-building by local authorities. It would be misleading and inconclusive to quote an individual figure.

asked the Minister of Transport whether his Department will reconsider their refusal to allow two small warning notices to traffic to be erected in the grounds of the Home for the Blind, Hampton Grange, Hereford.

In the special circumstances of this case, my right hon. Friend is prepared to agree that these notices may be put up.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that a woman who kept two cows for her household use and who, while her children were away at school, had more milk than she needed and gave it to neighbours, was visited by an official from his Department who declared that she was acting illegally unless the recipients were in her employ; that she would not be allowed to sell the surplus, and must, in future, withdraw smaller quantities of milk from her cows; and if he will issue new instructions to prevent a repetition of this incident.

I know that this story has appeared in the Press in various forms and attributes the statements mentioned to officials of other bodies as well as the Ministry of Food. The whole story is without any foundation of fact. It is clearly laid down in Article 8 of the Milk (Control and Maximum Prices) (Great Britain) Order (S.R. & O. No. 2032 of 1947), that anyone may supply milk from his own cows to other people by way of a gift.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why there has been no prosecution of the German industrialists guilty of war crimes, such as conspiracy to make war and the employment and ill treatment of slave labour, similar to that now held in the United States zone; and if he will repair this omission.

The major industrialists held by us and accused of conspiracy to make war have been handed over for trial at Nuremberg at the request of the American authorities. Other persons accused of crimes against humanity concerning slave labour have been (and are still being) tried in Control Commission or German Courts. Specific war crimes against slave labour have been tried by British Military Courts. Other industrialists who have profited by Nazi war-making are subject to the financial and other penalities of denazification courts.