asked the Minister of Health how many tenants in England, Wales and Scotland, respectively, have applied for the requisitioning powers under Regulation 51 of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, as read with the Supplies and Services (Extended Purposes) Act, 1947, to be used in protection of their tenancies; and to what extent such protection is still available to shop and other tenants in cases where the public interest is involved.

I have consulted my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade. In England, requisitioning powers have been exercised to retain in occupation 137 tenants of dwellings and in Wales, one. The powers have not been exercised for the protection of tenancies of shops and business premises in England and Wales. As regards the second part of the Question requisitioning powers may still be used in certain cases in England and Wales to protect tenants of unfurnished and furnished dwellings and of shops and business premises As regards Scotland, I have asked my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to send the hon. Member the information for which he asks.

asked the Minister of Health the value of new house-building by local authorities and private enterprise, repair and maintenance of dwellings, conversion work on existing dwellings and war-damage work on residential property authorised in 1949 in England and Wales.

I cannot see my way to add to the statistics giving in the Housing Returns.

asked the Minister of Health what progress has been made in his Department's investigations into the high cost of working-class dwellings, 1920–46; and whether it is proposed to publish the results of these investigations.

I presume the hon. Member is referring to the investigations by the Girdwood Committee. The Committee's first report was published in September, 1948; the second will be published next week.

asked the Minister of Health how many sheep were used at the Lister Institute to furnish the vaccine lymph sent to Scotland during the recent smallpox scare.

The lymph was supplied from normal stocks and no sheep were specially used.

asked the Minister of Health if he will cause investigation to be made to establish whether iodised salt for table use or in cooking or in the preparation of food may cause any reaction in persons sensitive to potassium or sodium iodide.

I am advised that the minute amount of iodine involved appears to make any such investigation unnecessary, but the point will be further considered in connection with other representations on these proposals.

asked the Minister of Health how many hearing aids have been issued by his Department in Wales; and how many applications are still outstanding.

4,979 aids have been issued; 7,326 applications are outstanding.

asked the Minister of Health how many children under 15 years of age were immunised primarily against diphtheria in the years 1947 and 1948; how many of these had the full course of immunisation; and how many children had a re-enforcing dose.

The figures asked for in the first and second parts of the Question cannot be differentiated. They were 589,343 for 1947, and 702,744 for 1948. The numbers of children who received a reinforcing injection were 354,499 and 409,383 respectively.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the River Thames is so polluted at Teddington that sisal rope is rotten if immersed for one month and that steel shafting corrodes within six months; and whether he will state the chemical nature of this pollution and its source.

I am not aware of any pollution in the River Thames at Teddington at present which would cause abnormal damage of this nature. The second part of the Question does not, therefore, arise.

asked the Minister of Works if he will give the number and main categories of requisitioned buildings, residential and non-residential, held by his Department.

My Department held on requisition on 31st March, 1950, 3,310 properties in the following categories:

asked the Minister of Works if he will give the number of square feet of office space together with its estimated value which his Department has been asked to provide as a consequence of recent legislation, indicating the proportions to be provided for each Ministry or authority.

I regret that the information is not available, and I have not the staff to undertake the comprehensive inquiries which would be needed in order to obtain it.

asked the Minister of Works what was the number and square footage of buildings employing pre-stressed concrete construction erected in Great Britain in 1949.

I regret that information is not available in these precise terms, but I understand that this method of construction has been used in about 33 factory and other industrial and commercial buildings, 12 schools and six housing schemes.

asked the Minister of Works the square footage of a film studio at Beaconsfield altered by his Department for the Crown Film Unit; and the cost involved in this operation.

Fifty thousand square feet, and £113,000.

asked the Minister of Works the total number and value of civil building licences issued during the year 1949 in the United Kingdom for cinemas and music halls, hotels, public houses and restaurants, Government offices, banks and non-Governmental offices, shops, and wash houses, industry, schools and universities, hospitals and miscellaneous building, respectively.

It is regretted that the information required cannot be provided without the expenditure of an unjustifiable amount of staff time.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what is the present expenditure on research and development projects concerning coal; and what does this expenditure amount to per ton of coal production.

Just over £1 million a year. This is the equivalent of about 1¼d. per ton of coal production. This figure includes expenditure by my Department and various other organisations as well as by the National Coal Board.The figure does not cover research and development by private firms, whether as makers of machinery for the mining, preparation or utilisation of coal, or as large users of coal; nor does it cover development in the sense that the National Coal Board are constantly engaged in the development of mining techniques and machinery at the collieries. No separate figures for such development are available.