asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty at what average price the "Flower" class of corvettes are now being disposed of by the Director of Small Craft Disposals; and if special consideration has been given to their advantageous disposal to fishermen in this country and in European distressed countries in order to assist the supply of fish as food both here and in the appropriate European countries.

It would be contrary to practice to disclose contract prices which are confidential. I am advised that corvettes are unsuitable for adaptation for fishing purposes owing, amongst other factors, to the high cost of conversion.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what is the target for shipbuilding tonnage for 1948 as a whole, and not only for tankers completed as shown on page 37 of the Economic Survey for 1948, Command Paper No. 7344.

The output of ship tonnage is largely dependent upon supplies of steel. The likely available supplies of steel have recently been the subject of earnest consideration by my noble Friend who hopes very shortly to discuss with both sides of the industry the target for 1948.

asked the Postmaster-General how far he has considered sharing G.P.O. telephone poles with the electricity suppliers in rural areas in the interests of timber economy and in order to speed up the supply of electricity and telephone services in these areas; and what conclusion he has come to.

Post Office telephone poles are used jointly with electricity suppliers in rural areas in suitable cases. The possibility of extending the practice was recently carefully reviewed by Post Office engineers and the Electricity Commissioners, but the field for such extension is severely restricted by technical and safety considerations.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will remove the charge of threepence on form P58B which has to be filled in when the sender's registered letter is lost.

No. There is a distinction between advice of delivery of a registered packet, for which a charge of 3d. is made, and search for a missing registered packet. Form 58B is primarily for the latter, but, as packets feared lost often prove to have been delivered, it is necessary to cover both eventualities. For this reason a fee of 3d. is charged. This is refunded if the packet proves to have been lost.

asked the Postmaster-General how many outstanding applications for the installation of a telephone at Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, were made prior to 1944; and when Mr. A. Bielby, Kirklands, Cemetery Road, Kirkheaton, will have installed the telephone for which he applied in 1943.

Three applications for telephones at Kirkheaton have been outstanding since 1944, owing to lack of spare wires in the underground cables. One of the applicants, who applied before Mr. Beilby, is now being provided with service on a shared basis, and I am hopeful that similar arrangements can be made for Mr. Beilby.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what financial consideration compelled him to abandon the scheme for additional married quarters for Bomber Command.

The scheme has not been abandoned. It has been modified because the tenders indicated that the total cost per house, including outside services, would be too high.

asked the Minister of Defence whether he will now give the details of the new scheme for the purchase of discharge from the Forces.

Yes; the details are as follow:

asked the Minister of Food what is the estimated amount that will be paid in subsidies on food and feedingstuffs during the current financial year, and of that total how much will be spent in respect of imported supplies and how much in respect of home produced supplies.

The total amount to be spent on food subsidies including animal feedingstuffs, welfare schemes, acreage payments and fertiliser subsidies, during the year to 31st March, 1948, is now estimated at £395·3 million. Of this sum £189·6 million is in respect of home-produced supplies and £205·7 million is in respect of imported supplies.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a statement setting out the present position in regard to the recovery of German assets in neutral countries.

I regret that there is nothing which I can usefully add to the reply given to the hon. Member for Solihull (Mr. M. Lindsay) on 28th January last.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will consider extending the regulations so as to allow ordinary visits, say, once a year, by British subjects to their German relations in the British and U.S. zones without the production of a doctor's certificate or other evidence of compassionate grounds; and whether he is aware that such British visitors would make no claim on travel rations, accommodation or foreign exchange.

We are reviewing the regulations covering private visits to the British zone of Germany to see whether it is possible to allow visits on reasonable family or personal grounds, and my right hon. Friend hopes to make an announcement shortly. The regulations covering visits to the American zone are not within his jurisdiction.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he will give the number of occasions on which charter planes have been hired during the last 12 months for Ministers and officials of Government Departments.

Excluding certain flights by aircraft of R.A.F. Transport Command and flights originating abroad, details of which are not readily avail-able, 100 in the year ended 31st December, 1947.

asked the Minister of Health how many municipal nurseries were in existence at 31st December, 1947; how many children were accommodated in them; how many new nurseries were opened during 1947; and how many were closed during the same year.

Returns are not yet complete. I can, however, say that 6 day nurseries, for 344 children, were opened during 1947, and 13, for 567 children, closed.

asked the Minister of Works whether he is aware that timber dry rot is now costing £19,000,000 per annum, compared with £1,000,000 per annum prewar; and whether, in the case of replacements and new work under his control, he is taking advantage of the timber preservatives available to eradicate this trouble.

I am not aware of the precise annual cost of timber dry rot, but I am fully alive to its seriousness. Officers of my Department are instructed in methods of construction that avoid danger of dry rot and in the use of timber preservatives.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that licences for petrol have been refused to farmers wishing to attend the Highland and Agricultural Society's show at Inverness this year; and whether he will instruct the regional petroleum officers to issue petrol licences for this event.

I regret that a number of applications for special allowances for this purpose have been refused in error. Suitable instructions have now been issued to the regional petroleum officer concerned.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that during the recent cold spell there was a shortage of coal in the Hastings area and many people were without fuel for several days; and whether he will lake steps to see that adequate supplies are maintained in future for distribution in the borough.

No complaints have been received by the regional coal officer or by the local fuel overseer at Hastings. Merchants' stocks in this area are at present approximately three times those held at the same date last year, and I am advised that with current supplies these should be adequate, subject to any transport difficulties due to severe weather conditions, to maintain regular distribution. If the hon. Member will send me particulars of any specific case of difficulty with which he is familiar, I shall be glad to make inquiries.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether dairy farmers who retail milk are entitled to an allocation of coal for the purpose of heating water for cleansing milk bottles and cans; and whether additional coal has now been issued to coal distributors to enable such coal allocations to be met.

No separate allocation of coal is made to farmers for the cleansing of milk bottles, but the scale of supplies allowed for agricultural use covers requirements for this purpose where necessary. No complaints of difficulty in obtaining supplies have been brought to my notice, but if my hon. Friend has any particular case in mind and will let me have the details, I shall be glad to have it investigated.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many experiments on living animals were carried out each year since 1934 for the purpose of testing the effects of high explosives; how many were killed on account of such experiments; and how many had to be destroyed afterwards;(2) what was the total number of experiments on living animals carried out each year at the Experimental Station of the Chemical Research Department at Porton and elsewhere since 1937; what categories of animals were used; and how many in each category were killed on account of the experiments; and how many had to be destroyed afterwards.

I regret that on grounds of security it would be contrary to the public interest to give this information.