asked the Minister of Works whether he is aware that Essex applications for licences to repair farm buildings when referred to the county agricultural executive committee for report are now being held up for two or three months at the committee's offices at Writtle and that, in consequence, where repairs are urgently needed further damage results; and whether he will now revoke the order under which all licences involving over £10 have to be sent for such report.

I understand that arrangements have been made to accelerate the treatment of cases referred to the county agricultural executive committee. I have made no order such as is suggested in the second part of the Question.

asked the Minister of Health what steps he proposes to take with regard to the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Distribution of Building Materials which reports inter alia that there are restrictive arrangements affecting the distribution of building materials throughout virtually the whole field of building materials and that such restrictive arrangements are not in the national interest.

I have been asked to reply. I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. and gallant Member for Plaistow (Mr. Elwyn Jones) on 4th May, 1948.

asked the Minister of Food what quantities of Mate tea were imported from Brazil and the Argentine in 1946, 1947 and the first three months of 1948.

I regret that I have no accurate information on imports of Mate tea as this item is not separately recorded in the Trade Accounts.

asked the Minister of Food the specific authority and the precise conditions under which a rural builder may become entitled to an extra cheese ration.

In accordance with administrative arrangements which I have authorised, building trades workers regularly employed in rural areas may be granted the special cheese ration if the conditions of their employment are such that they cannot be provided by their employers with a canteen or packed meals service, and the work on which they are engaged is more than two miles from the nearest catering establishment of a suitable type.

asked the Minister of Food what is the annual quantity of feedingstuffs required to meet the ration allowed to owners of homing pigeons under the existing scheme.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Kirkdale (Mr. Keenan) on 10th May.

asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that many persons suffering from complaints which necessitate a light diet are unable to obtain the appropriate kinds of food; and what steps he will take to remedy this position.

My medical advisers have considered the additional rationed foods required by various types of invalids. A list of their recommendations is in the hands of every doctor who knows that individual cases also will always be considered by us on their merits. On such cases we take the advice of our medical advisers, in whom I have complete confidence.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he will reconsider the case of Mr. Henry White, of 56, Orchard Road, Brentford, Middlesex, whose stamped National Health and Pensions contribution card for the year 1946–47, was stolen with his wife's handbag, when she was taking it to the local agent of his Approved Society, in view of the fact that his employers are prepared to prove that the full contributions had been paid and of the hardship being caused to Mr. White.

I regret that there is nothing I can add to my letters to my hon. Friend of 18th March and 3rd May, 1948, in which I explained why it was not possible to credit the insured person with the lost contributions.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many African and Indian co-operative societies exist in Kenya; and whether he is satisfied that they are being given all possible help by the Kenya Government.

There are 69 African and nine' Indian co-operative societies registered in Kenya. The answer to the second part of the Question is "Yes."

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will expedite the conclusion of a Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Britain and Ethiopia, the draft of which the Ethiopian Government presented to His Majesty's Government on 13th September last; and whether he will now state a date for the withdrawal of the British military administration from the Ethiopian Ogaden, which was agreed to by the Ethiopian Government in December, 1944, as a temporary measure to facilitate Allied world war operations, without prejudice to Ethiopian sovereignty.

As regards the first half of the Question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for St. Pancras, North (Mr. House) on the 27th February last. Since then there have been a number of further friendly exchanges of view between His Majesty's Government and the Ethiopian Government on those matters, the settlement of which is a necessary preliminary to the conclusion of a new treaty, and these exchanges are continuing in the same amic- able spirit. In the meantime, satisfactory progress is being made in the study of the technical questions involved in the negotiation of agreements on the subjects covered by the original Ethiopian draft. As regards the second part of the Question, His Majesty's Government are in communication with the Ethiopian Government about the arrangements for commencing the withdrawal of British troops from the Ogaden and it is hoped that withdrawal will begin in the very near future.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty the number of officers and the number of boys in the Sea Cadet Corps to the nearest convenient date.

On 31st March, 1948, the numbers of officers and cadets of the Sea Cadet Corps were:

Officers.
Open Units	2035
Closed (School) Units	40
	2075
Cadets.
Open Units	28,030
Closed (School) Units	930
	28,960

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what are the various forms of messing on the lower deck; what zonal victualling, or messing allowances are payable; what rations are issued in respect of each category; and the comparable payments and issues in 1938.

The main systems of victualling in the Navy today can briefly be described as follows:

(a) General Messing. Under this system supplies are obtained collectively for all ratings of the ship or establishment and the preparation, cooking and serving of the food is performed by one central specialised organisation under the immediate direction of the Supply Officer. The con- sumption of food is regulated by daily money allowances per man. In some cases this form of messing is "centralised," i.e. served from a serving counter as in cafeterias.

(b) Victualling Allowance. Under this system the ratings are divided into messes varying generally between 12 and 20 men; the messes are credited with a money allowance in respect of each person victualled and food is purchased according to the mess requirements either from service sources through the Supply Officer or from the Canteen. Each mess arranges its own menus, prepares the ingredients and takes the food to the galley to be cooked. This system is generally in force in small ships in which suitable facilities and staff for the central preparation and serving of food cannot be provided.

There are no fixed rations of any items of foodstuffs under the various naval systems of victualling, but consumption of nationally rationed items of foodstuffs is limited by "ceiling figures" which represent the maximum quantities which may be used per man per week. I am sending my hon. Friend details of the ceiling figures at present in force (as from 15th May in the case of shore establishments at Home), and of the monetary allowances at present applicable to ships and establishments in the various zones together with corresponding rates for 1938 where appropriate.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty why a confidential letter regarding the future of No. 2 Metal Produce Recovery Depot, Urlay Nook, was addressed by him to the clerk to the Stockton Council; why his Department refused the clerk's request to communicate the information it contained to the rural council, his employers, to whom he is responsible; and in view of the fact that such action on the part of his Department puts the clerk in an untenable position; if he will give instructions that this practice must cease.

The letter was marked confidential because of the tentative nature of the inquiries, but it contained no restriction on the communication of its contents to the members of the coun- cil. My information is, that on receipt of the letter, the clerk informed the signatory that as it was marked confidential he was not proposing to bring its contents before the council at that stage. He was informed that this was a matter for his own discretion. The third part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Secretary of State for War to what extent rates of pay and allowances, including subsistence allowance, differ for corresponding ranks in the Army and in the Women's Army Corps; and if he will publish a table giving the corresponding figures for all ranks.

At the present time it is not easy to compare the pay of corresponding ranks in the Army and the A.T.S. An entirely new system of pay and allowances for the Army was introduced on 1st July, 1946, and this included a new system of classification for other ranks. The A.T.S. remained on their existing pay system and retained their old classification scheme for other ranks, but were given increases in pay, from the same date, of Is. a day for officers and 8d. a day for other ranks. As stated in Army Estimates, 1948–49 (page 19), the rates of pay and conditions of service of the A.T.S. are under review. I have sent the hon. Member tabular statements giving the information asked for in the last part of the Question.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will authorise reopening to the public that part of the Devil's Point area available before the war for the use of the inhabitants and visitors to the City of Plymouth.

It is necessary to keep closed a large part of the Devil's Point area, but the matter is under discussion between my Department and the Plymouth Corporation with a view to reopening some five acres of the area.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware of recent demonstrations in support of Fascism by Italians in Eritrea, and also acts of violence practised by the Italians against the native population; and if he can assure the House that military administration of the territory supplies no arms to Italian volunteers.

I have been asked to reply. I am not aware of any recent Fascist demonstrations by Italians in Eritrea. Nor have I any knowledge of acts of violence perpetrated by the Italians against the native population. A number of outrages have been committed by Coptic Shifta bands during the past few months against Italians and their property. The British Military Administration has lent firearms to Italian farmers in outlying settlements as a protection against these attacks.

asked the Secretary of State for War what was the weekly wage of the three caretakers employed at Rosebank House, Lockerbie, from the time when the house ceased to be used by his Department to the time of its derequisitiong.

The three men concerned were engaged as shift-working patrol watchmen and their rates of wages and other conditions were those agreed for this type of employment in Government Service throughout the country. Under the agreement operative at that time, a watchman who worked six shifts of eight to ten hours received 93s. a week (that is, 15s. 6d. a shift) with no extra pay for shift or weekend working. Where, as in this case, seven shifts were worked and the men had no rest day, the total weekly earnings were 123s.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the attacks by disorderly persons in the Ethiopian Ogaden on the oil extraction workings of the U.S. Sinclair Company, which is operating under contract with the Ethiopian Government, arrangements will be made for the British Military Administration to supply the necessary guards, or for Ethiopian Government forces to be brought to Ogaden to afford protection to the Sinclair Company.

Intergovernmental discussions on the possibility of the Sinclair Oil Company resuming operations are in progress and I am therefore not in a position to make any further statement at present.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what were the annual profits of the electricity supply industry for each of the years subsequent to 1943–44, when they were last published.

The distributable profits of authorised undertakers, that is, the gross surplus less the appropriations in respect of fixed charges, Income Tax, and depreciation, reserve and renewals funds, loan repayments and transfers to sinking funds, and special expenditure including amounts applied to capital outlay, were £10,382,224 in 1944–45 and £11,512,773 in 1945–46.

asked the Minister of Health if he will inquire into the case, details of which have been submitted to him, in which the acting town clerk of a borough council sent a letter of warning to a person concerning an alleged breach of Defence Regulation 56a; to what extent his regulations permit a housing authority to issue warning letters; why he requires a housing authority to furnish the names and addresses of persons against whom proceedings have not been instituted, but who have been warned about offences against the regulations; and what use he intends to make of the information thus demanded of housing authorities in regard to such persons.

Yes, I am having inquiries made into the particular case and will write to the hon. Member. As regards the general question I would refer him to the reply I gave to a Question from the hon Member for Hertford (Mr. Walker-Smith) on 8th April, of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Health whether anyone, who is the paying patient of a general practitioner not undertaking to provide medical ser- vices under the National Health Service Act, will be entitled to use the hospital and specialist services available under Part II of the Act; what steps should be taken by or on behalf of such a patient if it is found that he requires those services; and in what respect his use of them will differ from their use by a patient who has been accepted by a doctor for general medical services under the Act.

The same hospital and specialist services under the new Act will be available to any patient who requires them, whether he avails himself of general medical services under Part IV of the Act or not. Normally he would be referred to these services by his doctor, but he is not debarred from getting them otherwise.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the revenue from Purchase Tax on medicines and drugs for 1947–48; and what is the estimated loss of such revenue as a result of his proposal to leave only branded medicines subject to Purchase Tax henceforward.

About £9 million (mainly at the pre-November Budget rate of 16⅔ per cent.); and £4 million for a full year (on the basis of the current rate of 33⅓ per cent.) respectively.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he can analyse further the figure for salaries as an element in the national income given in Table 4 of Command Paper No. 7371; and in particular whether he can state the element in the total accounted for by the salaries of Civil Servants as distributive workers in 1938 and 1947.

The estimate of salaries given in Cmd. 7371 is a global estimate based largely on assessments to Income Tax under Schedule E; it is impossible in the present state of knowledge to allocate it between particular industries or occupations. I do not fully understand what is meant by the second part of the hon. Member's Question: if he will let me know more precisely what he has in mind, I will look into the matter.