asked the President of the Board of Trade what official arrangements exist for explaining to workers whether or not the work they are engaged on contributes to the dollar export drive.

Circumstances vary so much from factory to factory that explanations of this kind can only be given by the individual managements. It is the settled policy of the Government, to encourage managements to give such explanations to their employees, and make clear why their work is of national importance.

asked the President of the Board of Trade for what industries 1,330,000 cubic feet of birch timber was imported into this country during the first eight months of 1949 at a cost of £602,404; from what countries it was mainly imported; what were the main sizes; and why home grown birch cannot be substituted.

Imports of birch were, in the main, special requirements for the manufacture of textile spools and bobbins and for sewing machines, all of which are of importance to our export trade. In addition, long lengths of birch were imported for the construction of certain vehicles. Birch is mainly imported from Canada, Finland, the United States of America and Sweden. There is not enough high quality home-grown birch to meet all these needs, largely because of the war-time drain on our reserves of standing timber.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the average price per cubic foot for birch timber imported into this country in 1949; and what is the maximum controlled price of home grown birch.

The average landed value of imports of birch of all kinds as recorded in the Trade and Navigation Accounts during the first nine months of 1949 was 9s. per cubic foot.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give an assurance that in any negotiations for a Peace Treaty with Japan His Majesty's Government will press for the insertion of specific provisions designed to prevent the Japanese textile industry from again flooding British markets with goods produced by cheap sweated labour.

In any negotiations for a Peace Treaty with Japan, His Majesty's Government will endeavour to ensure that Japan undertakes to conform to the provisions of international conventions such as the Havana Charter for an International Trade Organisation, which provide a common standard of international commercial conduct, and to abstain from dumping and the kind of unfair practices familiar before the war.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will reconsider the case, details of which have been submitted to him, of a research teacher of London University, King's College, living at Epping, who has been refused petrol for his journey to London, although the public transport provided entails a loss daily of some two hours of time, to the serious detriment of the college, which has officially supported his application without success.

Further consideration has been given to this case and as a result the regional petroleum officer is making an allowance of petrol to the research teacher concerned for the journey between his residence and Epping railway station. In view of the adequate public transport facilities between Epping and London a petrol allowance for this journey to be made by car would not be justified.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many applications he has had for the three-day oil firing courses to be held on 29th and 30th November, 1st December, and 17th, 18th and 19th January; and what is the total accommodation available.

At present 29 applications have been received for the former course and eight for the latter and further applications are expected. Each course is designed to cater for a maximum of 35 students.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what is the amount of deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank at the latest convenient date.

£1,961,156,000 at 31st October, 1949.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what changes have taken place in the investments made by the Post Office Savings Bank since 31st December, 1948.

In accordance with long-established practice I am not prepared to anticipate the next statutory account of investments in the Post Office Savings Bank Fund, which will be laid before Parliament in due course.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he will consider having the series of oil paintings by Mr. Norman Wilkinson, depicting the recent war at sea which are now being exhibited at the Imperial War Museum, reproduced in the form of postcards for purchase by the public at the museum and elsewhere.

These pictures have not yet been selected for reproduction, but I have no doubt that the trustees of the institutions concerned will be glad to reconsider the matter if there appears to be a public demand for them.

asked the Minister of Food what is the total estimated expenditure in dollars on the import of food other than grain, flour and animal feedingstuffs imported into this country from the United States of America during the first nine months of this year.

Approximately 63 million United States dollars.

asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that supplies of certain types of low-grade chocolate-coated sweets are being manufactured and offered to the public free from points; how much sugar or other sweetening material is made available to any such manufacturers for this purpose; and if he will take action to stop this form of trading.

These products are made from materials which can be purchased freely and no allocations of sugar or other sweetening material are made by my Department for their manufacture. The whole matter is under review in consultation with the trade, and I cannot say at the moment what action is appropriate or practicable.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what was the total egg production in the United Kingdom in 1938 and what was the production in 1946 and 1948, respectively; and what was the total head of poultry for the same period.

Production of hen eggs in 1938–9, 1946–7 and 1948–9 is estimated to have been approximately 5,000 million, 4,120 million and 4,830 million respectively. The number of fowls in the same years were approximately 86 million, 80 million and 103 million, of which adult fowls were 42 million, 45 million and 51 million respectively. These figures include estimates relating to poultry on holdings of one acre and less and to domestic poultry but exclude production of eggs by ducks, geese and turkeys and the numbers of these birds.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the total contribution so far made by His Majesty's Government to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; and what information he has regarding the future of the Fund.

His Majesty's Government made one contribution of £100,000 to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in 1948. The Fund also received over £350,000 from voluntary subscriptions raised by the Lord Mayor's United Nations Appeal for Children in this country, and will eventually receive some £42,000 from the proceeds of voluntary appeals in certain Colonial territories. In addition, the Fund received £1,650,000 from His Majesty's Government's contribution to U.N.R.R.A.The Children's Fund was created by the United Nations to deal with the immediate post-war problems of children and it was not intended that it should continue indefinitely. A Working Party consisting of representatives of the United Nations, the Children's Fund, F.A.O., I.L.O., I.R.O., U.N.E.S.C.O. and W.H.O. has been set up to consider the continuing needs of children, including the orderly completion of any U.N.I.C.E.F. programmes which might remain unfinished when it was decided to terminate the work of the Fund as such. The report of this Working Party has not yet been received.

asked the Minister of Health in view of the present high costs of municipal housing work, what efforts are being made, or investigations carried out, to get these costs reduced.

I do not accept the implication in the first part of the Question, but my officers assist individual local authorities in securing the maximum economy in costs consistent with proper standards of construction and accommodation. The Girdwood Committee are continuing their review.

asked the Minister of Works if he is aware that a large number of village hall committees are unable to obtain a licence to build a village hall; and, in view of the need for community centres in rural areas, if he will now grant licences for this purpose.

I regret that, in view of the restrictions on capital investment recently announced, it will for the time being be impossible for me to grant further licences for the building of new village halls.