asked the Minister of Food what is the retail price of mackerel now, or at the last convenient date, in London and in the East Midlands; whether mackerel remains as scarce as it was in January and in other winter months; and whether he is prepared to re-impose control at the last maximum retail price of 6½d. per lb. or at some other price.

Recently the retail price of mackerel has been 1s. 6d. per lb. in London and 1s. 4d. per lb. in the East Midlands, but on occasions when fish generally has been scarce the prices have been higher. Although landings of mackerel this year have been well above those of last year, they are still low at this season and supplies do not become plentiful until the summer. For the reasons given to my hon. Friend in reply to his Question on 21st January, I do not at present propose to re-impose price control of this fish but I shall continue to watch the position.

asked the Minister of Food what proportion bread grains provided of the pre-war annual average daily intake of 3,000 calories; and what proportion they will provide of the estimated daily intake of 2,681 calories for the first half of 1948.

The proportions of calorie intake provided by bread grains are: Prewar, 28 per cent.; 1948 (1st half) 37 per cent.

asked the Minister of Food what percentage is allowed to milk retailers on their M.K. 2 permits in respect of waste where they purchase their milk already bottled and where they bottle their own milk, respectively.

In neither case is there any allowance for wastage on the milk retailers' M.K. 2 permits. The M.K. 2 is a certificate of the quantities of milk required by a retailer to meet the authorised entitlements of his registered customers and includes a marginal allowance to cover supplies to un-registered customers holding valid temporary ration documents R.B. 12. The quantities of milk purchased by the retailer cover the requirements of his M.K. 2 permits and also his wastage, the retailer exercising his discretion in regard to the quantity required to cover wastage. The retailer must not, however, sell milk in excess of the quantities shown on his M.K. 2 except with the permission of the regional milk supply officer.

asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that no instructions have been given to retailers of milk to cut out the grids in emergency ration cards R.B. 12, and how the supply of milk against such cards is allowed for in the retailer's authorised supplies.

As regards the first part of the Question I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 22nd March. As to the second part of the Question, the retailer receives a percentage addition to his sales permit to cover these emergency cards.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many veterinary surgeons were recruited into the Animal Health Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries during 1947.

Nine newly appointed veterinary surgeons took up duty in a temporary capacity in the Animal Health Division of the Ministry during 1947. A further 16 were recruited into permanent appointments as a result of the competition held in the autumn of 1947, although they did not actually take up duty until early in 1948. Seventy-two officers already serving in the Ministry in a temporary capacity during 1947, including four of the nine previously mentioned, obtained permanent appointments from the same competition.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many farmers are affected by the announcement at Aberdeen of his Chief Scientific Adviser that those graded, C, are to be placed under supervision and ejected from their farms if there is not a substantial improvement within a year.

My Chief Scientific Adviser did not make an announcement: he was explaining the provisions of Part II of the Agriculture Act, 1947. County agricultural executive committees may find it convenient to use the system of grading as a basic for the administration of those provisions, but I cannot say how many farmers may—in due course, when the grading has been reviewed—be affected.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the net amount of gold and other assets that have been released to the Polish Government under the terms of the Financial Agreement of 1946; and whether, apart from that agreement, the Polish Government have made any payment to this country on account of financial indebtedness or of British claims in respect of industries and other property nationalised in Poland.

I cannot disclose information about the amount of gold and other assets in the United Kingdom belonging to another country. Apart from the payment made under Article III of the Financial Agreement of 24th June, 1946, the Polish Government have not, so far as I am aware, made any payments to this country on account of prewar or war-time financial indebtedness or British claims in respect of industries and other property nationalised in Poland.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the gold found in Germany and deposited in this country for account of the Brussels Three-Power Commission has been claimed by European Governments by whom money is owing to the United Kingdom either on account of financial indebtedness or on account of claims for compensation of nationalised British property.

The monetary gold found in Germany, which remains to be distributed by the Tripartite Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold, is still in Frankfurt. Claims for the restitution of monetary gold have been made by the following countries:—Albania, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia. I am not in a position to say how much has been claimed by each country.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take steps to remit Purchase Tax on replacements at present prices by owners of requisitioned wrought iron gates, who were compensated at scrap iron prices, as shown by the case of which he has received detailed particulars.

Wrought iron garden gates are not chargeable with Purchase Tax. If the hon. Member will let me know the source from which the particular gates in question are to be purchased, I will see that any misunderstanding is corrected.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what was the cost of salaries and wages of non-industrial civil servants in the last full year.

£245 million for the calendar year 1947.

asked the Minister of Education the number in the national schools of graduate teachers with three or four years' training, training college teachers with two years' training and emergency teachers with one year's training, teaching in March, 1947, compared with the number of unqualified teachers at the same date.

The following table gives the information for teachers in maintained or assisted primary and secondary schools and for special schools as at 31st March, 1947.

Graduate Teachers	28,482
Teachers qualified after a Training College Course	111,568
Other qualified teachers	23,386
Temporary Teachers	5,928
Other unqualified teachers	10,111

Separate figures for emergency teachers are not available, but at that date 2,116 teachers had completed emergency courses of training. In addition there were 7,090 teachers in all maintained and assisted schools, about whom information was not available at the time of this return.

asked the Minister of Education whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction amongst head teachers with the scheme for assessing their salaries, according to a varying mathematical unit-value of children, by which a child under 15 represents one unit, 15 to 16, four units, between 16 and 17, eight units, over 17, 10 units; and if he will consider the modification or withdrawal of this scheme.

This is one of the recommendations recently agreed upon by the Burnham Committee as part of the salary scales to apply to teachers in primary and secondary schools from 1st April, 1948, except that, in the proposals submitted to me, a pupil between the ages of 16 and 17 years is reckoned as 7 units, and not 8 as stated. In the absence of further recommendations by the Committee I am not prepared to take action as suggested by the hon. Member.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what amendments he proposes to make in the Standstill Orders which come into force on 26th April.

In general, the Orders follow very closely on Statutory Instruments Nos. 348, 349, 352, 353 and 354 of 1948 presented to the House on 24th February and suspended by Statutory Instrument No. 508. I have, however, been giving consideration to the problem of goods not similar to those sold in the basic period. I am anxious not to prevent the development of new types of goods, apart, of course, from new types produced simply to evade price control, and I have decided, therefore, to make the control more flexible in this respect. I am accordingly proposing to replace the original form of control for these goods by a provision that the maximum price for goods not similar to those sold in the basic period shall be the costs of production and sale plus 5 per cent. thereof. As with other cost plus provisions, these costs may not include increased costs due to increases in wages, salaries or commissions agreed after 4th February, 1948. Applications for an increase in the margin of 5 per cent. will be considered wherever it can be shown that it is unreasonably low for particular sections of industry; similarly, the margin will be reduced it it should appear that a lower figure would be appropriate in particular cases.I have received assurances that these arrangements will not be used to break the Standstill. The second point to which I have given further consideraltion, and on which I have consulted with the interests concerned, relates to quantity discounts and allowances. The new Order makes provision for these and for the adoption of an earlier basic period for seasonal goods which were not being sold in the 1948 period.Thirdly, as the Standstill control is designed primarily to cover goods sold to the public, the new Order excludes from its scope goods purchased for use in the manufacture of other goods.