asked the Minister of Labour what limits on overtime working in the London Docks have been imposed; by whom these limits have been imposed; and what steps the Government intend to take to speed the turn-round of ships following on the Report of the Working Party.

I am not aware that any limits on overtime working have been imposed in the London Docks. Questions as to hours of working are, however, matters for joint agreement between the two sides. As regards the second part of the Question my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport is arranging for the recommendations of the Working Party's Report, which covers all aspects of shipping turn-round, to be considered and implemented by the parties concerned.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will indicate what progress has been made with the provision of a factory in Burnley for disabled persons; when it is likely to be opened; and for how many persons will employment be found.

It is hoped to start building a Remploy factory at Burnley within the next two or three months and it should be completed during the second half of next year. It will provide employment for approximately 100 disabled persons.

asked the Minister of Labour how many unemployed men and women were registered with the employment exchanges in St. Marylebone at the latest convenient date.

894 males and 264 females at 10th May.

asked the Minister of Labour how many mule spinners in the cotton industry have lost their employment owing to conversion to ring spindles; if he will give an estimate of the numbers during the next twelve months; and what steps are being taken to re-employ them without loss of earnings.

No statistics are available to show the number of mule spinners who have lost their employment owing to conversion to ring spindles, and it is impossible to estimate the numbers in any future period. I am anxious that the skill of any workers who may be discharged should not be lost to the industry and my local officers will make every effort to find suitable employment for displaced workers.

asked the Minister of Labour what is the number of persons unemployed in the new factories and industries provided in the Scottish Development Area; and what is the reason for such unemployment.

Statistics showing the numbers unemployed who were previously employed in new factories and industries in the Scottish Development Area are not available. The following table shows the numbers of insured persons registered as unemployed in the Scottish Development Area at the latest available date, six months ago, and eighteen months ago respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of cases of shops in Glasgow in which he found it necessary to apply his requisitioning order to prevent evictions during May term period; and also the number of shops involved in evictions where he decided to take no action.

On consideration of 228 cases sent to me by Glasgow Corporation, I decided that, subject to any representations from the owners, I would be justified in 90 cases in taking possession of the premises in order to maintain essential supplies and services. I have since been informed that in 41 cases agreement has been reached between the owner and the tenant. The decision to requisition has been confirmed in 16 cases. In 30 cases it has been decided, in the light of all the circumstances, including representations received, not to proceed with requisitioning. Three cases are still under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for War in view of the answers given by the unit commanding officers in Durham as to why there is so little enthusiasm on the civilians' part to join the Territorial Army, he will initiate a social survey to inquire into the lack of success of Territorial Army recruiting.

My Department initiated a social survey, which has been carried out during the last three months by the Central Office of Information, to ascertain the reactions of all sections of the community to Territorial Army recruiting. The report of the survey is now being studied.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that five months have elapsed since the question of Lieutenant J. L. Addison's claim to the rank of captain while serving in India was raised with his Department; and whether he will now give any information regarding this claim.

As the hon. Member has been informed the records from India have now arrived in this country and have been carefully scrutinised, but there is no record that the grant of acting rank of captain was approved for Lieutenant Addison for the period of 9th September to 4th December, 1945.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether the population of Eritrea have permission to carry firearms and swords; and why members of the Muslim League were permitted to carry such weapons in the recent processions organised to manifest Eritrean opinion before the recent Four Power Deputies Commission of Inquiry, in consequence of which the Reunion to Ethiopia Party was obliged to withdraw their contingent and ask for a separate hearing by the Commission.

Eritreans are permitted to carry firearms only if they have been granted a licence by the British Military Administration. There is no regulation banning the wearing or carrying of ceremonial swords or spears. I am aware of no occasion during the Four Power Commission's visit to Eritrea when the Reunion to Ethiopia Party were obliged to withdraw their contingent owing to the aggressive attitude of another political party, nor am I aware of any occasion when they were not heard by the Commission at the same time as representatives of other political parties.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what steps he is taking to publish, in simple non-technical and non-legal language, explanations of the regulations under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, regarding development charges.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what action he is taking to inform the public of the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, which come into operation on 1st July.

Newspaper advertisements will draw attention to the coming into operation of the Act. These advertisements will advise people not to buy or sell land until they have found out their position under the Act, and will tell them that leaflets about various aspects of the Act will be obtainable free from local authority offices. Posters are also being supplied to local authorities. An Explanatory Memorandum on the Act has been prepared and Part II of it is about to be published and will be available at the Stationery Office. A popular booklet in question and answer form will also be ready fairly soon. On development charges the Central Land Board have published an explanatory pamphlet in simple language known as Form D.I.A. Copies can be got from any local authority in England, Scotland and Wales except in the London County Council area, where they can be got from County Hall, or, in the City of London, from the Town Clerk's office.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any decision has yet been reached regarding Belgian currency being made available for those desiring to travel to Belgium.

I am afraid that currency cannot be made available for holiday travel to Belgium in present circumstances.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that Mr. W. B. Farrow, of Cawthorpe, near Louth, an 80-years-old pensioner, has been visited six times by a pension official since March and is now without his pension book and unable to draw his pension; and if he will have the case investigated immediately.

Mr. Farrow has been receiving a pension of 26s. per week from 4th October, 1946. His pension order book expired on 28th May last. A new one was issued on 1st June, but no delay in payment resulted as the pensioner received his new book at least two days before the first payment was due, i.e., 4th June. Non-contributory pensions, which are subject to a test of means, are reviewed at 12-monthly intervals, and an officer of the assistance board visited Mr. Farrow in March, 1948, to carry out the normal review. As a result of his visit it became clear that the pensioner's circumstances were substantially changed and the officer's subsequent visits were made in order to obtain the precise facts and figures before submitting a recommendation for revision of pension to the local pension committee.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether local government officers who have applied for transfer to Ministry of National Insurance or National Assistance Board Staffs and are dissatisfied with the decisions of the Civil Service Commissioners as to their grading, may have the right of appeal to an independent tribunal.

The Civil Service Commissioners are responsible for selecting and grading candidates for permanent posts in the Civil Service. To set up an appeal tribunal to review their decisions would not be in keeping with that responsibility.

asked the President of the Board of Trade who are the representatives of the interests of the independent producers on the Films Council; and what are their qualifications.

The representatives of first-feature producers on the Cinematograph Films Council include Sir Alexander Korda and Mr. Anthony Havelock-Allan. The former is "independent" in the sense that he does not rely for his finance on money provided by an American distributor or any of the companies associated with the circuits. The latter is likewise "independent" in the sense that he owns no studio of his own and does not rely for his distribution on one distributor exclusively.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many extra coupons are allowed for clothing for disabled ex-Service men; whether they are granted to all irrespective of the degree of disablement; whether they are supplied automatically or application has to be made in each case; how many are now receiving them; and how many are not.

The number of coupons allowed to disabled ex-Service men does not depend on the degree of disablement, but varies according to the amount of abnormal wear and tear to which clothing is subjected in consequence of the disablement. The extra coupons are issued only on application. I cannot say how many disabled ex-Service men are receiving them and how many are not, since issues made to them are not recorded separately from those made to other disabled persons.

asked the President of the Board of Trade on whose initiative trade talks with Russia have been resumed; when they commenced; and whether he will make a statement.

As my right hon. Friend informed the House on 1st June in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. S. Silverman) he wrote to the Soviet Ambassador suggesting a resumption of the trade talks and he has now received a reply accepting this suggestion. I hope that the necessary exploratory talks may take place fairly soon.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that curtain material for which the retail price was 9s. 10d. per yard, when available only on docket, was immediately advanced to 25s. 9d. per yard when taken off dockets; and what steps he is taking to restrain price increases of this kind.

No. There can be no justification for such an advance in price and, if my hon. Friend will let me have full particulars, I shall be glad to look into the matter.

asked the President of the Board of Trade which branches of his Department handle or trade in timber, both home-grown and imported, and what was the financial result of their operations during 1947 or other convenient period of 12 months.

The Home Timber Production Department ceased to trade in timber before the end of 1947. The Timber Control still purchases and re-sells the main types of imported timber. The hon. Member will find the latest available information in the trading and profit and loss accounts of these two bodies for the year ended 31st March, 1947, in the "Trading Accounts and Balance Sheets 1946–47,"recently presented to the House.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many projects have been approved in Scotland for the light engineering and heavy engineering industries, respectively; and what is the potential employment in each case.

Seventy-four projects with a potential employment value of 16,800 and 54 projects with a potential employment value of 11,000 had been approved for Scotland at the end of May, 1948, in the light and heavy engineering industries respectively. In addition 57 projects with a potential employment value of 21,000 had been approved in the electrical products and vehicle sections of the engineering industry.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will announce the date on which the new factory built at Gorseinon for Messrs. Swears and Wells, is expected to start production; and whether he will give an estimate of the employment capacity of this factory.

I understand that production will start on 1st September, 1948, with a labour force in the early stages of 600 with a possible increase in due course.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is proposed to proceed with the building of the factory for Durex Abrasives Limited at Gorseinon; whether he will indicate the proportion of the original building plans now submitted for immediate construction by the company; whether he has considered the economy in preparatory work if undertaken in the early summer in preference to the winter; and whether this industrial enterprise is intended to provide for the maximum proportion of male workers on production for the export markets.

The erection of the factory at Gorseinon for Durex Abrasives Limited will be sanctioned as soon as it can be included in the national industrial investment programme and the local building programme; the Board of Trade are keeping in touch with the company. No building plans have yet been submitted but it is the intention of the company to proceed with the scheme by stages of which the first will cost £175,000, including £60,000 for site preparation work. The company will be given permission to start on the site preparation work when the timing of the main construction work has been settled. The

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he will introduce a regulation under which National Insurance benefits may be paid to a woman who lives with a man as his wife in the same way that they are paid to a legally married wife.

The National Insurance Act contains no power to make a regulation entitling a woman who lives with a man as his wife to benefits in right of his insurance but she would not be disqualified for any benefits arising from her own insurance.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the number of new jobs actually provided at May, 1948, or the latest available date; and the numbers eventually to be provided in Scotland and the Scottish Development Area, respectively, in accordance with the categories set out in Appendix IV Table 1 of Command Paper No. 7125.

The following is the information required by the hon. Member:

asked the Minister of National Insurance if he will consider opening his Department's offices throughout the country on one evening each week to provide information only, in view of the fact that the great majority of persons seeking information and guidance are employed during the normal office hours.

Arrangements have been in operation some time for the local National Insurance offices to remain open one evening each week until 6.30 p.m. and for this hour to be varied where necessary to meet local circumstances.

asked the Minister of National Insurance why curates of the Church of England, who are classed as employed persons for Pay-As-You-Earn purposes for Income Tax, are classed under his regulations as self-employed for purposes of National Insurance; and whether he will remedy this anomaly.

The courts have decided that for the purposes of National Health Insurance curates of the Church of England are not as such employed under a contract of service. Failing any specific provision to the contrary they will, therefore, fall into the class of self-employed persons under the new National Insurance scheme. The National Insurance Advisory Committee has recently had under consideration the classification of these and other classes of persons engaged in specified kinds of employments. The Report of the Committee will be laid before the House very shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why, since county councils are responsible for the new Fire Service, his circular No. 33A/1948, Supplement J, restricts the expenditure which may be incurred by county councils without his prior approval to such small sums.

These arrangements were intended to be provisional and temporary. A fresh circular dealing with permanent arrangements for the future is in course of preparation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any Ukrainians have been deported to Germany from this country; and on what dates.

I assume that the right hon. Member is referring to the Ukrainian prisoners of war regarding the disposal of whom I informed the hon. Member for Bucklow (Mr. Shepherd) on 16th June that no final decision has been taken. None of these men has been deported.

asked the Minister of Defence what progress is being made in withdrawing British troops from Palestine.

The withdrawal is well advanced and will certainly be completed well before 31st July.

asked the Minister of Food if he will consider allocating additional soap to those engaged in the engineering industry.

I regret that supplies do not permit of any increase in the present allowance.

asked the Minister of Health if he is prepared to consider means of relieving the burden, now imposed upon county councils, of compensating local relieving officers rendered redundant under the provisions of the National Assistance Act, 1948; and whether he has any means of assisting such officers to obtain other employment.

No. The Act itself places upon such councils the duty of compensating these officers. But arrangements have been made with the local authorities and appropriate staff associations to give these public assistance staffs the chance of applying for posts in the Assistance Board and the Ministry of National Insurance.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is satisfied that local authorities have adequate powers to clear up privately-owned bombed sites which are proving a nuisance to the occupiers of surrounding property, especially in cases where it is difficult to trace the owners of the sites; or what action he is proposing to take in the matter.

The reply to the first part of the Question is "Yes," but my right hon. Friend will be glad to consider with the local authority any particular case of difficulty.

asked the Minister of Works what is the present delay in delivery of cement to local authorities in Dumfries-shire; and what steps are being taken to eliminate the delay.

I am not aware of any undue delay in the delivery of cement for local authority work in Dumfries-shire at the present time. Most of the supply, however, has been coming by sea through Annan, which is accessible only at Spring tides, and in order to avoid delays on this account, arrangements have been made for some shipments through the port of Silloth and for road-borne supplies.

asked the Minister of Works what total sum has been expended to date on the erection of buildings for the purposes of the National Insurance scheme; and what is the total proposed expenditure.

The expenditure to date on the erection of buildings is about £60,000. The total proposed expenditure is estimated at £589,000. In addition, there is the Headquarters Building at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the estimated cost of which is £1,299,000. This building is practically completed.

asked the Minister of Works what is the total sum which has been expended to date on the erection of buildings in the borough of Darwen for the purposes of the National Insurance Scheme; and what further expense is proposed.

The total sum expended to date on the erection of a building for the Ministry of National Insurance in Darwen is £4,776. The cost of completing the building is estimated at £720.

asked the Minister of Transport how many locomotives on British Railways were scheduled for conversion from coal to oil burning prior to 1st January, 1948; how many were actually converted and what is the total estimated cost of work actually done or suspended.

The original programme was for the conversion of 1,229 locomotives and the provision of the necessary equipment and storage depots. By the end of 1947 the storage installations were approaching completion but, owing to changes in the relative coal and oil situations, the conversion of engines was halted after 93 had been dealt with. The cost incurred on the whole scheme is about £3 million. No further engines are being converted at present.

asked the Minister of Agriculture the amount paid during the last financial year out of Treasury funds as subsidies to farmers in Northern Ireland under the Tillage Scheme for the production of food.

Farmers in Northern Ireland are not paid subsidies from the United Kingdom Exchequer directly under the Tillage Scheme, but in 1947–48 they received £271,444 from Imperial funds by way of ploughing grants made to increase the area under tillage. They were also paid £165,607 in the same year in contributions towards the cost of lime to improve the fertility of agricultural land, and benefit in addition from the stabilisation of the price of fertilisers at the 1940 level.

asked the Minister of Education what local authority controlled schools in Gloucestershire are in privately-owned buildings; in which cases there has been difficulty in securing the improvement of sanitary conditions; and what steps he is prepared to take to overcome these difficulties.

Thirty-seven maintained schools in Gloucestershire are in privately-owned buildings. Of these, 30 are voluntary schools. I know of only one, Great Witcombe Church of England School, in which this has caused difficulty in securing improvements to sanitation. The authority intend to close it as soon as the new school at Brockworth, which is on their short-term building programme, is ready. Meantime arrangements have been mad: for the offices to be cleaned thoroughly at once.

asked the Postmaster-General it he is aware that Post Office employees have been advising applicants for motor fuel ration books who produce torn Registration Books to return the books for renewal to the local petroleum office instead of the local taxation office; and if he will take steps to see that all Post Office employees are fully informed as to the correct procedure in order to avoid delay in the issue of the petrol books to such applicants.

I have had no complaints of the type mentioned by the right hon. Member. Post Offices have correct standing instructions on the subject, and I will look into any deviation from them if the right hon. Member will give me the name of the office concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what amount was expended in the purchase of maize from non-Empire sources in 1946 and 1947 for the following territories; Bechuanaland, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Kenya. Tanganyika and Uganda.

Northern Rhodesia spent £21,400 in 1946 and £142,000 in 1947 on the purchase of maize and maize meal from the Congo, together with £50,400 in 1947 on maize from the Argentine. No maize was bought directly from non-Empire sources by any of the other territories mentioned, but the East African Cereals Pool received 67,900 bags of Argentine maize from South Africa in 1947. These were later replaced by a similar quantity of East African maize supplied to Southern Rhodesia at the request of the Union Government. I am informed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations that no individual purchases were made from non-Empire sources for Bechuanaland during these two years, but that owing to poor crops in South Africa, a proportion of the maize which the Union sold to Bechuanaland consisted of Argentine maize.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that his circular 12412/12.2.48, requiring that essays by medical officers in the Colonial Service which it is desired to publish should be first submitted to him to ensure that nothing is published which might misrepresent the policy of the Colonial Governments, has caused misgiving amongst medical officers in the Service; and if he will recall this instruction.

No information has reached me that this circular has caused misgiving. The Question implies that the effect of this circular was to impose a new general regulation about publications by medical officers in the Colonial Service. In fact, its purpose was to inform Colonial Governments of a generous offer by the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis to award a prize of 100 guineas for an essay on the control of tuberculosis in Colonial Territories and the reference to the publication of essays was only incidental. One of the rules of the competition says that essays sent in shall become the property of the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis and that any of them may be published at its discretion in the author's name. The circular drew attention to this and said that in order to ensure that nothing is published which might misrepresent the policy of Colonial Governments or of His Majesty's Government, the Secretary-General of the Association had agreed to arrange that essays which it is desired to publish should first be submitted to the Colonial Office. This conforms generally with Colonial Regulation 57, one of whose provisions is that an officer shall not, without the express permission of the Secretary of State or of the Governor, publish in any manner anything which may be reasonably regarded as of a political or administrative nature. I think it was right in the interests of all concerned to make this precautionary arrangement and I see no reason why it should be altered. I can assure the hon. Member that there is no intention whatever of fettering free scientific discussion.