asked the Secretary of State for War what are the duties of a dock operating unit, R.E.; how many of these units are stationed in the United Kingdom and which of these were used in the recent unofficial dock strike.

The duties of port operating units, Royal Engineers, are to load and discharge military cargoes and vehicles, and to operate cranes, winches, and other cargo handling equipment in ports. It is not the practice to disclose the number of units of a particular type stationed in any one area. Officers and men from a port operating section of the Royal Engineers were employed in the London Docks during the recent strike.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that 6205046 Rifleman T. Speed, an ex-regular soldier, has been informed by Infantry Records that he ceases to be of any use to the Royal Army Reserve, because his category is now A2; and since he has recently been passed as fit both for the local police and the British Railway police, if he will take steps to see that men who desire to serve on the Army Reserve are not discouraged on inadequate grounds.

I am having this case further considered. When this has been done I will write to the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of National Insurance how many applications he has received to contract out of the National Insurance Act; and what action does he propose to take on such applications.

I assume that the hon. Member's Question relates to self-employed and non-employed persons who are entitled to apply for exception from the liability to pay contributions in those classes if their income does not exceed £104 a year. Applications already made are being dealt with under regulations laid before the House recently but I am not yet in a position to give any figures.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether those suffering 100 per cent. disablement either as a result of service in the Forces or of industrial injury will be expected to make their weekly contributions under the National Health Insurance Act; and how they stand with regard to free medical treatment if they cannot afford to pay.

As regards the first part of the Question, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the National Insurance (Contributions) Regulations published today which set out in detail the conditions governing the contribution liabilities of such persons and in particular to Regulations 5 (2) and 14 (3) (d). As regards the second part of the Question, free medical and surgical treatment is available to everyone under the National Health Service irrespective of contributions under the National Insurance Act.

asked the Minister of National Insurance what name his regulations provide should be used when completing National Insurance particulars by an unmarried woman who is living with a man in a permanent and recognised relationship under a married name.

In relation to benefits and for other purposes it is essential under the regulations that correct particulars as to status should be supplied to the Department. The information given will be treated in strict confidence by my Department and it will be open to any woman if she so wishes to ask that her insurance affairs should be conducted under the name by which she is known. All such requests will be scrupulously respected.

asked the Minister of National Insurance whether he will take powers to amend the National Insurance Act so as to enable him to make regulations entitling a woman who lives with a man to benefits in right of his insurance equivalent to the benefits to which a legally married woman is entitled.

No. I do not think that a disturbance of the long-established practice in the matter would be either practicable or desirable. If unmarried,

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware of the hardship existing in the case of the 100 per cent. disabled ex-Service man about whom the hon. Member for Colchester wrote to his Department originally on 19th April, the reference number of whose case is P.O. 2609/1948; and what recommendations or proposals his Department are able to make about the settlement of this man, failing the issue of a feedingstuffs ration.

I understand that this man is in fact receiving an allocation of feedingstuffs, and there is therefore at present no question of my Department making alternative arrangements for his resettlement. We shall of course do our best to find him other work if he does not continue his smallholding.

asked the Minister of Labour what was the number of unemployed persons registered in the City of Birmingham on the last available date; how many of these persons have been unemployed for three, six, or 12 months, respectively; and if he will give numbers of the above in men, women and under 18 separately.

The following table gives the information desired.

asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of additional difficulties occasioned, both before and after the period of service, by the raising of the age of call-up for national service, he proposes to make any special arrangements for the employment of persons affected.

I am not aware of any additional difficulties in this connection but if my hon. Friend will let me know what he has in mind I will gladly look into the matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the delays in the recording of Deeds in the Register of Sasines; that formerly these Deeds were available in five weeks but now it is approximately seven months, and what steps he proposes to take to facilitate the transaction of important legal business.

I am aware of the delays in the registration of writs in the Register of Sasines. The number of writs presented for registration has risen steeply in the last two or three years and, largely because of the general shortage of manpower, adjustments of staff have not kept pace with the growth of work. Sanction has now been given for a substantial increase of staff and it is hoped that it will be possible to provide additional staff in the immediate future.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the annual sales of Stationery Office publications through H.M.S.O. shops as compared with other book retailers.

In 1947–48 the Stationery Office sold £661,000 worth of official publications, of which £360,000 were direct sales to the public through its own shops and £301,000 were sales through other book retailers.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the application for increases in pay in the Civil Service, if he will take steps to relate more closely the hours of work of the Civil Service to those of the workers in industry, so that the industrial workers are not placed at an unfair disadvantge compared with the Civil Service, whose basic hours of work, excluding lunch intervals, are only 40½ per week, coupled with a month's holiday a year.

I cannot accept my hon. Friend's premises. It is certainly not the case that either the basic hours or the actual hours in the Civil Service are shorter than those in comparable occupations. The Service is voluntarily working an emergency standard week of 45½ hours gross which is above its normal obligation. Leave varies with grade and length of service; but large numbers of civil ser- vants have less than 24 days leave a year. Those who have more normally work considerable overtime without pay.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what persons are entitled to use the motor cars nightly provided for the convenience of the staff at the rising of the House.

Officers and staff employed and paid by the House of Commons; Departmental officials on duty at the House (including Whips Office staff, Post Office staff and Police); late night Hansard reporters; annunciator attendants; and Refreshment Department staff.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to prevent art treasures of national importance being exported from this country.

Works of art and articles more than 75 years old may not be exported without a licence from the Board of Trade and the Museum authorities are consulted in any case of doubt whether export is in the public interest.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what amounts of coarser grain cloth, used in bookbinding, were woven in the first five months of 1947; and what amounts were woven in the first five months of this year.

Particulars of the amount of cloth woven for bookbinding are not available. The amount of yarn delivered to weavers specifically for the manufacture of bookcloth in the first five months of 1947 was 986,000 lbs. and for the same period of 1948, 966,000 lbs.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the remaining supplementary junior orange coupons in the current clothing books will be available for use in August, so as to enable parents to buy clothes for their children before they return to school for the autumn term, as has been the case in the past; and what the value of the G token coupons will be.

Yes, the usual children's supplement of ten coupons will be available for use from 1st August. An announcement will be made shortly before that date about the particular coupons to be made valid.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that, since the issue of 12 supplementary coupons to be used before September, shopkeepers are giving loose coupons as change; and, as it is illegal to use loose coupons and the customer cannot use them, except by post, if he will extend the time for their use.

Traders are strongly advised to give coupon change in the form of Board of Trade vouchers which may be used loose for subsequent purchases. We are aware that the circulation of ordinary loose coupons has increased as a result of the validation of the crimson tokens, and we are considering this question. The necessity for giving change would not, however, be entirely avoided by extending the validity of the tokens.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has taken note of the declaration of the Administrator of E.R.P. to the effect that Marshall Aid would be withdrawn from any co-operating country which shipped to the U.S.S.R. and other countries of Eastern Europe, goods which, in the opinion of the U.S. Government could be of potential military value and that this policy will be applied whether such goods had originated in the U.S.A. or not; and whether he will clarify this point with the Administrator so as to protect the possibility of extending the present Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement and other foreign trade agreements.

I have made inquiries and I find that the Administrator spoke not of withdrawing Marshall Aid in these circumstances, but of opening discussions with the participating country concerned.

asked the Minister of Supply how many cars were produced for export between September and March last.

122,915.

asked the Minister of Supply what steps he is taking to stimulate the manufacture in Great Britain of spare parts for cash registers, so as to end the dependence of this country for these spare parts on supplies from abroad and to reduce the dollar expenditure which, in the past 12 months, amounted to £322,715.

A very large proportion of these spare parts is being imported from the United States for assembly as part of the scheme to build up the complete manufacture in this country of cash registers. Special arrangements have been made for the allocation of steel and other raw materials and for the delivery of machine tools and jigs. There shown be a rapid reduction in the annual value of the imports, but it will be necessary to import a limited quantity for some time to service cash registers imported before the war.

asked the Minister of Defence what concessions are to be made to officers in His Majesty's Forces to compensate them for having to pay National Insurance premiums after 5th July.

Officers of His Majesty's Forces will pay the reduced rates for Service men announced in my answer to the hon. and gallant Member for Chelsea (Commander Noble) on 23rd June. They and their families will, of couse, benefit in various ways under the National Insurance scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why he has approved an order for the destruction of the Torpedo-Versuchts-Anstalt, Ost., near Eckenforde; and whether, in view of the fact that it has been dismantled as an armament works and of the proposal of the German authorities in Schleswig-Holstein to use it as a textile factory, he will reconsider the decision to blow it up.

No order has been given for the destruction of the surface buildings of the establishment referred to, the treatment of which is still under consideration.

asked the Minister of Education whether he is aware that the assurances given to the House on 20th February, 1945, that the bulk of the special allowances, over and above the scale salary for assistant teachers, would be allotted to the grammar schools, have not yet been fulfilled, resulting in dissatisfaction in the grammar schools; and if he will now rectify this position.

I am not aware that assurances were given in the terms suggested by the hon. Member. In fact my information shows that for the years 1945–48 some 65 per cent. to 70 per cent: of the allowances available went to teachers in secondary schools, and that about 60 per cent. of these were given to teachers in secondary grammar schools. I see no ground for intervening.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation what decision has been reached regarding the purchase of Canadair aircraft for B.O.A.C.

This matter is still under discussion and no decision has been reached.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will review a decision by a regional petroleum office in the case, details of which have been submitted to him, of an application from a consulting physician, who is prepared to take in his own motor car to Cornwall, a hospital patient under his care suffer- ing from active ulcerative colitis, which unfits him to travel by rail, and whose application for the necessary petrol has been refused.

On reconsideration of the application referred to by the hon. Member, it has been decided to make the necessary issue of coupons.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that Mr. John Holt, 56, Stoddart Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, who is a registered disabled person, No. NXX 4296, and who was discharged after 12 years service as a marine engineer as physically unfit, has been refused a grant of petrol to commence a private hire service; that Mr. Holt is a tuberculosis patient and his doctor has certified that outdoor work offers the best prospect of Mr. Holt's recovery and resettlement; and whether he will re-open this case.

I am advised that there are 92 applicants on the waiting list in the Regional Petroleum Office prior to Mr. Holt, and that there is no shortage of private hire car facilities in Newcastle. In the circumstances, I would feel justified in granting Mr. Holt a private hire car allowance only if I were advised by my right hon. Friend, the Minister of Labour and National Service, that this form of occupation offered the best prospects for Mr. Holt's resettlement. This advice he has not felt able to give.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many cases of personal injury caused by explosive matter being included in domestic coal have been reported to his Department; in how many cases compensation was paid; and by whom.

There is no statutory obligation for such cases to be reported to me but 33 cases of personal injury have been brought to my notice in the last seven months. I have no information on the second and third parts of the Question.