asked the Minister of Health when arrangements will be completed for the distribution of the Medresco Hearing Aid in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne area.

I cannot yet say, as the present rate of production does not allow of any immediate increase in the number of distribution centres.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the secretary of the Chelsea Hospital for Women has been dismissed by the new board of governors of this joint hospital after 26 years' hospital service, 11 as secretary of this hospital and with only eight years to do for pension; and what further employment he is considering for him under the National Health Service.

I understand that the new board of governors have decided, as they are entitled to do, to appoint a new secretary for their hospital. This officer can apply for other posts, and the National Health Service Act provides for compensation of transferred officers who suffer loss attributable to the passing of the Act.

asked the Minister of Health how many new hospital appointments have been made on the administrative side, and at what annual cost, since the National Health Act came into force; and if he is satisfied that the local medical officers of health staffs have been reduced to the same extent now that this work has been taken from them.

I regret that the information asked for is not available.

asked the Minister of Health what steps he will take to encourage appeals for subscriptions by the public towards funds for special amenities for the patients and staff of specific hospitals.

I welcome voluntary financial help for amenities for patients and staff, but I do not wish to encourage hospital bodies or their members to take part in appeals.

asked the Minister of Health if he will now make a statement regarding the refusal of some members of the dental profession to give emergency treatment to patients, except as private patients; and what action he proposes to take.

A simplified procedure is being devised to assist dentists to deal expeditiously with emergency cases. The dental organisations have also been asked to arrange with dentists in the National Health Service to reserve a short period daily to deal with emergency cases.

asked the Minister of Health if he will take the necessary steps to bring colonies for sane epileptics under the provisions of the National Health Act, 1946.

No. The National Health Service provides treatment, but not residential care such as these colonies give. This is the responsibility of the local welfare authorities under the National Assistance Act.

asked the Minister of Education what facilities are provided in this country for the higher education of Polish ex-Service men and women; how standards compare with British entering similar schools and what success has been attained in attempts to place these Poles on leaving school.

So far as my information goes facilities for Polish ex-Service men and women at universities and establishments of further education in this country are provided under the same conditions and standards as for ex-Service students from the United Kingdom. The information available on subsequent employment is incomplete, but it appears that the majority of students who complete courses are satisfactorily employed.

asked the Minister of Education whether all the members of the Secondary School Examination Council were present when the unanimous vote in favour of the special schools examination was taken.

No vote was taken. After the general lines of the Council's recommendations had been settled a draft report was submitted to each member individually and everyone agreed to sign it.

asked the Minister of Education what was the number of school children regularly receiving milk in schools and school meals at 1st June, 1945; and what was the comparable number at the latest convenient date.

In June, 1945, 1,700,000 day pupils in grant-aided primary and secondary schools had School dinners and 3,187,000 pupils in these schools took milk. The comparable figures for October, 1948, are 2,720,000 and 4,592,000, respectively.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will extend to ordinary retail distributors of sports goods the right now exclusively granted to N.A.A.F.I. to sell football shorts, jerseys, stockings and boots, and cricket shirts to the Territorial Army, Army Cadet Forces, A.T.C., R.N.V.R. and Sea Cadet Units coupon free, on condition that the goods remain the property of the unit.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 14th December last to similar Questions on this subject.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is now able to make a further statement about the export of pottery to New Zealand during the present year.

I regret that I am unable to add anything to the reply which I gave the hon. Member on 2nd December last.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement regarding the history, development, cost and prospects of Trident furniture.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the composite furniture constructed of light alloys, plastic and other materials described in a statement which appeared in the Board of Trade Journal of 8th January. Some three years ago when the shortage of timber for furniture manufacture was most acute, experimental work was begun by the Directorate of Furniture Production of the Board of Trade, in collaboration with certain British furniture manufacturers, on the possibilities of making furniture from materials that were not in short supply. From this, prototypes of a new kind of cabinet furniture have been developed, the framework of which is made of aluminium alloys, and the panels of plastic or other materials.Timber supplies subsequently improved, and it became unlikely that this furniture would be needed for the utility furniture scheme for which it was originally intended; but as a considerable amount of work had been done and the results appeared promising, it was decided to continue the work. Patents were taken out covering the methods of construction, and prototypes were made by a firm of furniture manufacturers under contract for the Board of Trade in order to test the possibilities of export to the North American market for which it seemed exceptionally suitable. These have just been shown at a trade exhibition in the U.S.A.I am awaiting reports of the outcome of this exhibition. If they are promising —and, indeed, I hear preliminary reports are encouraging—I hope that it will be possible to arrange for furniture manufacturers here to take up production of the new furniture on a commercial scale and thereby make a useful contribution to our export trade. It is not the intention that the Government should undertake the manufacture of this furniture on a commercial scale. The cost of the development work on this furniture has been about £20,000.

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) the amount of exports from Scotland to hard currency countries;(2) in what export field, apart from whisky, does Scotland head the list of exports to the U.S.A.

I regret that this information is not available as the trade statistics do not distinguish Scottish exports from those of the rest of the United Kingdom.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that the purchaser of three books from Copenhagen is prohibited from receiving all in one parcel, but permitted to receive them in three separate parcels and that as this involves three applications by the purchaser to the bank and the filling in of nine forms, he will amend the regulations so as to simplify this procedure.

Under the open general licence for books, periodicals and other printed matter imported by post, only a single copy of a book can be imported in any one parcel. This concession, which applies to imports from all countries, was deliberately limited to one book per parcel in order to keep the total expenditure of dollars and other foreign currencies on printed matter imported by post as low as possible, and in these circumstances I cannot extend it.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what is the estimated peak demand and peak capacity for electrical supply in the Scottish area for this winter as compared with last.

Apart from the area supplied by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, it is estimated that the peak demand for this winter in extremely cold weather would be 980,000 kw. and peak capacity 780,000 kw. The maximum demand so far this winter has been 860,000 kw. These figures compare with an actual peak demand last winter of 791,000 kw. and peak capacity of 774,000 kw.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what is the total value of the machinery that has been installed since July, 1945, in the mines of Great Britain, giving out-crop and deep-mining figures separately.

I regret that complete information on this subject is not available.

asked the Minister of Labour the total estimated population, the insured population on a comparable basis and the number of unemployed persons for Cardiff city and Rhondda urban district, respectively, for the years 1935, 1940 and 1945 and for December, 1948; and if he will indicate the growth of factory space occupied for production for the same period and, separately, for each authority.

With regard to the first part of the Question, it is not possible to supply figures on a strictly comparable basis throughout. The statistics of total population relate to residents in particular local government areas, whereas the statistics of insured persons, which are based on the numbers of unemployment books exchanged at employment exchanges, relate more closely to the numbers of such persons working in the areas of the exchanges in question than to the numbers resident in those areas. Moreover, the employment exchange areas are not necessarily co-terminous with those of the local government areas in which the exchanges are situated. Furthermore, owing to changes in the scope of unemployment insurance, the statistics of insured persons for 1945 and 1948 cover a slightly wider field than

Date	Cardiff County Borough			Rhondda Urban District
	Estimated total population (all ages)	Estimated number of insured persons in the area of Employment Exchanges situated in the Borough	Number of insured persons registered as unemployed at Employment Exchanges situated in the Borough	Estimated total population (all ages)	Estimated numbers of insured persons in the area of Employment Exchanges situated in the Urban district	Number of insured persons registered as unemployed at Employment Exchanges situated in the Urban district
July, 1935	221,400	71,920	15,294	134,600	45,240	17,856
" 1940	226,100	80,920	4,402	117,900	38,480	10,933
" 1945	217,410	83,850	429	116,480	33,090	2,150
" 1948	234,970	100,240*	2,615	112,050	35,600*	4,497
December, 1948	†	†	3,075	†	†	3,953
* Excluding persons insured under the National Insurance Act who were not previously insured against unemployment.
† Figures not available.

As regards the second part of the Question, the information is as follows:

NEW FACTORY SPACE OR EXTENSIONS OVER 5,000 SQ. FT. COMPLETED OR OCCUPIED.
Local Authority	1935—Mid 1940		1940—Mid 1945		1945—Mid 1948
	No. of Projects	Sq. feet	No. of Projects	Sq. feet	No. of Projects	Sq. feet
Cardiff C.B.	2	138,000	4	792,000	25	961,000
Rhondda U.D.	2	83,000	1	120,000	10	383,000

The above figures do not include certain schemes of re-organisation of existing factories by civil engineering work or external plant extensions not measurable in terms of floor space. Nor do they include existing premises converted to factory use for the first time or occupied by new industrial concerns during the periods in question; information about the floor areas of these factories is not available.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that there

I am aware of the shortage. It is due partly to the scarcity of certain grades of skilled labour and partly to the lack of accommodation in districts where the labour is needed. The industry is receiving first preference and in the 11 months ended 24th November 6,562 preference vacancies in the heavy electrical plant firms were filled and 646 remained outstanding.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that married mining recruits who at the time of entering the mine were living apart from their families owing to the housing shortage do not qualify for a lodging allowance; that the lodging allowance is only granted when the mining recruit has to leave his family to take the work in the mines; and whether, in order to prevent newly trained miners leaving the industry in order to rejoin their families, lodging allowances will be paid to all miners who have to maintain two homes and incur additional travelling expenses even though due to housing difficulties such conditions existed before entering the industry.

Lodging allowances are payable to a worker transferred to approved employment, such as coalmining, to assist him in meeting the additional expense, incurred as a result of the transfer, by living away from home. I am unable to modify the rule to enable allowances to be paid in cases where the transfer does not involve additional expenditure.

asked the Minister of Labour in what trades and industries have wage increases been granted since the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his appeal for a standstill for wages, prices and profits on 6th April, 1948; how many persons were affected by these rises in the principal industries; and how great were the increases.

Information on this subject appears monthly in the "Ministry of Labour Gazette," copies of which are in the Library.

asked the Lord President of the Council whether he will procure and publish the available evidence in respect of experiments made in recent years in America and Australia to discover whether buildings can be satisfactorily protected against the effects of harmful and noxious fumes emitted from oil-burning plants such as that proposed for the Bankside Power Station.

I am not certain to which particular experiments my hon. Friend refers, and I should be glad to receive further details. I do not accept the implication that the proposed oil-burning plant for the Bankside Power Station will emit harmful and noxious fumes: my right hon. Friend, the Minister of Fuel and Power stated on 18th November, 1948, that the Government's technical advisers are satisfied that harmful sulphur fumes can be effectively eliminated.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that an Income Tax Child Allowance is not granted in respect of a still-born child; and whether he will look into this matter with a view to making a more flexible ruling in view of the fact that the same expenses are incurred whether the child is still-born or not.

The law provides that the Income Tax Child Allowance can be granted only in respect of a child living within the year of assessment. In reply to the second part of my hon. Friend's Question, I would remind him that provision for maternity has been made in the National Insurance Act. 1946.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is now in a position to make a further statement on the subject of equal pay for equal work.

No.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total amount of pre-war and war debts owed by Russia to Britain; how much of this has been written off and how much is owing; and if he will give similar information of the amounts owing from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Roumania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, respectively.

The amounts owed to the Government and the amounts waived by the Government are known, but other amounts can only be estimated from returns made to the Government at various times. As a considerable number of figures are involved I will, with permission, circulate them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what statistics he founds, when he states, in paragraph 30 of Command Paper No. 7572, on European Co-operation, that wages are relatively high; and what is the basis from which this comparison is made.

The basis of comparison is with pre-war wage rates.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, under Article 6 (A) of the Paris Reparations Agreement and the relative accounting rules covering the disposal of German assets under His Majesty's Government's jurisdiction, he proposes to avail himself of His Majesty's Government's right to treat such assets, in so far as legitimate contract claims of British nationals exist against them, as British assets not accountable to the Reparations Pool.

This question has not yet been settled: My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now considering representations which have been made to him. The hon. Member will have seen a notice issued two days ago by the Treasury on the subject, and I would like to take this opportunity of repeating its main point: in order to protect their position in case it is later decided to allow offsets of the kind to which the hon. Member refers, all creditors of persons in Germany who think that their debtors held assets in this country at the outbreak of war, should make a pro forma application to have those assets used towards payment of his debt. Any United Kingdom creditor who has not already registered the debt owing to him with either the Board of Trade, the Trading with the Enemy Department, or any of the United Kingdom Custodians of Enemy Property, should notify the Administration of Enemy Property Department, 32, Warwick Street, Regent Street, London, W.1, before 24th January. Those who have already registered the debts owing to them are invited to write to the Administration of Enemy Property Department at an early date (though this need not be during this week) giving reference to the previous correspondence, and naming— where this has not already been done— any assets which, to the best of their belief, were held by their debtors in this country at the outbreak of war.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the number of U.S. strip cartoons in British newspapers is increasing; what dollar expenditure has been approved to date and for which newspapers; and whether he is satisfied that such expenditure is in the national interest.

I regret that separate statistics of the dollars spent on strip cartoons are not available. Opinions may differ about the merits of this form of art, but I am satisfied that the difficulties of discrimination between various sorts of publication are so great that it would not be in the national interest to impose a censorship for exchange control purposes.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer at what date the maximum income limit of £500 for the age allowance, granted to persons of 65 years and upwards, was fixed; and whether he will consider increasing the limit commensurately with the present relative value of the pound.

The limit of £500 was originally fixed in 1925, but provision was made in this year's Finance Act modifying the maŕginal provision and thus extending some measure of age relief to investment incomes up to £757 single and £731 married. As regards the second part of the Question, my right hon. and learned Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer cannot anticipate his Budget statement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his regulations permit the 2 per cent. interest charged on the Special Contribution, if it has not been paid by 1st January, to be allowed as a deduction from the Surtax assessment.

An individual who pays interest on Special Contribution will be allowed to deduct for Surtax purposes the gross amount which, after reduction of Income Tax at the standard rate, would give a net amount equal to the amount of interest paid.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total sum spent by all Government Departments and bodies on advertising in the British Press in the financial year 1947–48; what is the estimated expenditure on advertising in the present financial year; and whether he will give the figures for the two financial years for "The Times," "Daily Express," "Daily Telegraph," "Daily Mail," "News-Chronicle," "Daily Mirror," "Daily Herald" and "Daily Worker" newspapers, respectively.

Following is the information:

EXPENDITURE BY GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS ON ADVERTISING IN THE BRITISH PRESS IN THE FINANCIAL YEARS 1947/48 AND 1948/49
——		1947/48	1948/49 (partly estimated)
		£	£
Total expenditure	…	1,568,780	1,558,856
		£	£
"The Times"	…	21,834	20,244
"Daily Express" (a)	…	30,883	28,583
"Daily Telegraph"	…	14,674	10,434
"Daily Mail" (b)	…	38,222	49,725
"News Chronicle"	…	34,509	52,348
"Daily Mirror"	…	21,380	25,804
"Daily Herald"	…	37,228	43,460
"Daily Worker"	…	7,434	3,925

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will now make a statement on the loan under the Economic Co-operation Agreement and the interest rate and terms of repayment thereon.

I would refer the hon. Member to the White Paper on the Loan Agreement published as Cmd. 7550.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the unpredictable and rapidly changing events to which he refers in paragraph 7 of Command Paper No. 7572, on European Co-operation, which make it impossible to draw up a firm, pre-determined economic plan.

I would refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3 of the Long-Term Programme published in Command 7572, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reductions in the totals of blocked sterling balances, held by foreign countries and Dominions, have taken place over 1948.

In accordance with formal agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Ceylon, Egypt, India, Iraq, Pakistan and Uruguay, releases during 1948 amounted to £79 million for current purposes, £25 million for working balances and £162 million for purchases of U.K. concerns, repurchase of securities, etc. The figure of £162 million includes sums amounting to £16 million which were included in the figures for current releases given to hon. Members in July of last year, but which were in fact to be applied to the purchase of U.K. concerns. These figures take no account of the payments by India and Pakistan for the purchase of annuities from His Majesty's Government and for defence stores under the Financial Agreements of July, 1948 (Cmd. 7472 and 7479).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied that children from this country emigrating to Australia under the United Kingdom Adoption of Children Regulations Act, 1939, Section 11, paragraph 3, receive adequate protection of their interest after adoption in Australia since the arrangements made by the Australian Government for the welfare of other emigrants cannot apply to these children; and whether he will consider amending the regulations which allow children from this country to be adopted by families overseas under this Section of the Act.

The effect of Section 11 of the Adoption of Children (Regulation) Act, 1939, and of the rules made under it is that a child may not be sent to Australia for adoption unless the transfer of the care and possession of the child is shown to be for its welfare. Moreover, an immigrant child in Australia may not be legally adopted without the consent of the Minister of Immigration, which is given only if the Minister is satisfied that adoption is in the child's best interest. Once a child has been adopted in Australia it is protected by the safeguards of the Australian law relating to the welfare of children.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons he has decided that it is in the interests of this country to allow M. Antal Ban, a member of the Hungarian Socialist Party, now in exile from Hungary, to pay a visit of indefinite duration to the United Kingdom, in view of the fact that other refugees from Hungary who have been waiting longer than Mr. Ban for similar permission have been refused.

As I have already explained to the hon. and gallant Member, M. Antal Ban is a leading Hungarian Social Democrat in exile from Hungary and I came to the conclusion that it would be in the interests of this country to allow him to pay a visit of indefinite duration. If the hon. and gallant Member will send me particulars of the other refugees from Hungary whom he has in mind I will consider them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make available to all the chief public libraries in the country, as a public reference book, a free issue of the Annual Returns giving particulars of aliens to whom certificates of naturalisation have been granted.

No. I understand that in accordance with the usual practice copies of the Annual Returns are obtainable from the Stationery Office by any public library that wants them, at half-price.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Oaksey Committee Report on conditions of pay in the Police Force will be presented.

I understand from the Chairman of the Committee that he expects to present the Report to me by Easter at the latest, and I can assure the House that there will be no delay on my part in considering the Committee's recommendations. In the meantime, I am sure that the House will join with me in deprecating forecasts of the Committee's recommendations which cannot but have an unsettling effect on the Police Service.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been drawn to the remarks of Mr. Justice Finnemore in the case of Clifford Andrew at Warwickshire Quarter Sessions on 4th January last; and whether he has any statement to make.

On 4th January, 1949, Clifford Andrew pleaded guilty at Warwickshire Quarter Sessions to charges of larceny, receiving and forgery committed while he was physical training and games master at Norton Approved School. The prosecution informed the court that Andrew had been formerly employed at Chute Forest Approved School; that it had been stated that his influence on the boys there had been bad; that he had been dismissed on 28th February, 1945; that, as a result of his dismissal, Andrew had made a complaint against the other masters at Chute Forest School, and that a Home Office inquiry had been held at which the other masters had been entirely vindicated. The court were also told that on 1st March, 1945, Andrew had joined the staff of Norton School; that his selection by the headmaster and managers of this school had been confirmed by the Home Office, and that the prosecution had been unable to find out why the Home Office, who must have known of all the circumstances at the Chute Forest School, never notified the headmaster of Norton School of Andrew's activities there. It was on the basis of this information that the learned Deputy-Chairman made the observations which have been reported in the Press.The inquiries which I have made show that the information given to the court was misleading in material respects. Clifford Andrew was engaged by Chute Forest School as a clerk and physical training instructor on 16th October, 1943, shortly after completing 12 years' Army service. He applied for the post of physical training instructor at Norton School on 27th December, 1944, and was appointed to that school by a letter dated 11th January, 1945, his engagement to start on 1st March, 1945. At this time Andrew was a member of the staff of the Chute Forest School and had not given notice of resignation. Before the appointment was made the Norton School headmaster consulted the headmaster of Chute Forest School and was told that Andrew was not diligent as a clerk and was regarded as a mischief-maker among the staff.On 20th January, 1945, Andrew sent to an hon. Member a number of charges against the administration of Chute Forest School. On 26th January the school managers gave notice to Andrew that his appointment would terminate at 28th February, the grounds for this being that he had shown lack of diligence as a clerk and was regarded as a mischief-maker among the staff. An inquiry into Andrew's charges against the administration of Chute Forest School held on 27th March, 1945, by a former Metropolitan Police Magistrate appointed by the then Secretary of State showed that all except one of the charges were unfounded. There was no suggestion that, while at the Chute Forest School, Andrew had been dishonest or had corrupted the boys, nor was it ever proposed that an inquiry should be held into the circumstances in which his services there had been terminated.The appointment of approved school staffs, other than headmasters, is the responsibility of the school managers and such appointments do not require confirmation by the Home Office. In this case no objection on the grounds of the finally proved unsuitability of the man could have been made at the time of his appointment, but I am considering whether any improvement of the machinery can be devised to ensure that persons of proved unsuitability shall not be appointed to the staff of these schools.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what classes of prisoners it is intended to send to the Verne, Portland, now and ultimately; in what numbers; to what extent the prisoners will be employed outside the Verne; and on what work;(2) if he will make a statement on the reasons why the Verne, Portland, has been acquired by the Prison Commission; what reconstruction work is now proceeding there; and how soon it is intended to use it as a prison.

The Verne has been acquired to assist in relieving the general overcrowding of prisons and in providing the additional accommodation which will be required to meet the requirements of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948. No reconstruction work is now proceeding and little will be required. It is intended initially to use the prison as a training centre for selected prisoners from prisons in the South West, and a small pioneer party will arrive on 1st February. As soon as possible some 100 men of the star class from prisons in the area will be sent there, and the ultimate population of the training centre will be about 300. At a later stage the Verne may be used for some other purpose, but no decision on this has yet been taken. No arrangements for prisoners to work outside the Verne have yet been considered.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how long His Majesty's Government intend to continue in force the United States (Visiting Forces) Act, 1942.

In view of the number of members of the United States Forces who are in this country His Majesty's Government do not think that the time is appropriate for the repeal of this Act.

asked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware that the card clothing required by the cotton spinning industry alone at present amounts to no less than 1,000 sets per quarter for current replacements and that not more than 900 sets per quarter are now being supplied; and whether, in view of the importance of reclothing carding engines in the cotton and waste spinning industries and that this reclothing is in many cases much overdue, he will take steps to ensure that more effective priority is given to supplying these requirements.

Deliveries in 1948 were on a rising scale and in the last quarter reached a value equivalent to 972 sets. Everything possible is being done to increase total supplies, and a measure of preference is being given to supplies for replacement purposes.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how much timber has been allocated to manufacturers for making pig and poultry appliances for export during 1949.

Thirty-three standards have been licensed for the first quarter of 1949. The question of any licences for later quarters of the year will be considered shortly before the beginning of each quarter.

asked the Secretary of State for War why it was necessary recently to parade 32 Ukrainians en route for Germany handcuffed with their hands behind their backs.

Before their departure some of these Ukrainians threatened violence to themselves or their escort, and said that they would forcibly resist removal. In order to avoid bodily harm either to the men themselves, or to their escort, it was considered necessary to handcuff them.

asked the Minister of Transport how, in view of the United States Government intention of shipping 50 per cent. of goods supplied under E.R.P. in United States vessels, he proposes to carry out the objectives stated in paragraph 67 of Command Paper No. 7572 on European Co-operation.

Paragraph 67 of Command Paper 7572 indicates that the shipping policy of the United Kingdom is directed to the removal of obstacles to the free international circulation of shipping and to promoting the availability of shipping services to the commerce of the world without discrimination. I propose to carry that policy into effect by continuing to do what I can to secure international agreement upon it.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will extend the ban on the import of onions in 1949 from July to the end of December instead of as last year from 15th August to 15th November.

I cannot make any statement on this Question until the size of the home crop can be estimated.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that the use of agene for bleaching flour provided for human consumption has been prohibited in the U.S.A. in accordance with the advice tendered by the Food and Drug administration; and what steps he is taking to prevent the use of agene in this country.

I am aware that the use of nitrogen trichloride is to be discontinued in the U.S.A. on 1st August next. As I informed the House on 13th December a small scientific committee under the chairmanship of Sir Wilson Jameson, Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, has been set up and is at present reviewing the results of experimental work on flour improvers now in progress in the United Kingdom and the data submitted in evidence at Washington.

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the Republic of Ireland Bill, which has now received the signature of the President of Eire, by employing the title "Ireland" instead of "Eire," contravenes the Agreement made in 1938 between the Governments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the one side and the Irish Free State on the other that the new official title should be Eire, and as this title conveys the imputation that the Government of Northern Ireland has repudiated its allegiance to the British Crown, whether His Majesty's Government will now make a formal protest against this change of title.

No. I could not accept the suggestion that the Republic of Ireland Act contravenes any agreement made with Eire in 1938, nor the interpretation which the hon. Member reads into the title of this Act.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations how many former members of the I.C.S. are on the staffs of the High Commissioners for the United Kingdom in India and Pakistan, respectively.

The numbers are as follows: On the staff of the High Commissioner in India, 8; On the staff of the High Commissioner in Pakistan, 10.

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what is the total of development charges paid by industry and by owners of private dwelling-houses, respectively, to the latest available date.

Up to 7th January, 1949, £245,000 had been paid in development charge. Separate figures for industrial and housing development are not readily available at present.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many Chinese have been repatriated to China from Malaya during the past year; where are they sent; and to which authorities are they handed over.

Orders for the repatriation of 846 persons were made by the Federation authorities during 1948. The great majority of these persons were Chinese. Deportees are normally sent to the ports in or nearest to their province of origin, where they become the responsibility of the local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can make a statement about the burning of Lintang, Malaya, witnessed by a number of newspaper correspondents, on 1st December, 1948; how many homes were burnt; how many people were rendered homeless; what accommodation was provided for them; and why was this measure carried out.

I have no information about any such incident on the date mentioned.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the present value of real wages for Malayan workers and how it compares with the value in 1939; and what steps he is contemplating in order to raise the present value.

It is estimated that on an average wage rates are 2½ to 3 times what they were in 1939, and that their real value is at least equivalent to that of the 1939 rates. With regard to the second part of the Question, the Government of the Federation of Malaya is taking all possible steps further to improve the standard of living, particularly by increasing rice production. The cost of living has declined progressively since January, 1947.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware of the restrictions on trade unions carrying out their normal functions at present imposed by the law in Cyprus; and what revision he proposes to make to Cyprus trade union and trade union disputes law.

I understand that a new and comprehensive trade unions law, which will repeal the existing trade unions and trade disputes law of 1941, is about to be enacted substantially in the form of a Bill published in the "Cyprus Gazette" of 28th October, 1948. Certain provisions in the 1941 law, relating to illegal strikes and lock-outs and the prevention of intimidation, analogous to those in the repealed United Kingdom Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act of 1927, are not to be re-enacted.

asked the Attorney-General whether the Departmental Committee appointed to consider matters relating to the control of rents for business premises has yet made a report; and if he will make a statement.

The answer to both parts of the hon. Member's Question is in the negative.