asked the Postmaster-General why an instruction has been issued to telephone managers to the effect that Civil Service pensioners re-employed as temporary male clerical officers must, on reaching the age of 65 years, either leave the service or accept down-grading to the post of clerical assistant; and whether he will reconsider this instruction, in view of the declared policy of the Government to retain in employment as long as possible men over retiring age.

The instruction referred to was issued locally under a misapprehension and is being cancelled.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the declared policy of His Majesty's Government to encourage persons in the older age groups to continue in employment, he will now review the rule hitherto followed in his Department not to re-employ retired post office employees who have passed the age of 60 years.

There is no Post Office rule which prohibits re-employment of retired employees over 60 years of age but if the hon. and learned Member has any particular case in mind, I shall be glad to investigate it.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that fish sales commence on the St. Andrew's Dock, Hull, at 8 a.m., and that in recent weeks postal deliveries have not been completed on the dock before 8.15 a.m.; and whether he will take immediate steps to remedy this state of affairs.

I much regret that a reorganisation of the staffing arrangements at Hull has led to some delay in completing the first delivery in St. Andrew's Dock: the position has improved and I hope that the delivery will soon be completed to schedule.

asked the Postmaster-General what steps are being taken to prevent dislocation of postal traffic which will result from the proposal by the Post Office workers to work to rule following the refusal by him to meet the wage claim of the Union of Post Office Workers.

The hearing of the Union's wage claim by the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal has now been fixed for 16th May. There have been some local difficulties and the Union executive concerned is taking all steps to get the membership to carry out their duties in the normal way. I am hopeful that the efforts of the Union will be supported by the staff who have a long tradition of loyalty and a good sense of responsibility to the public.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement regarding the progress of the anti-bandit campaign in Malaya.

Since I made my last statement on the situation in Malaya, on 27th February, the improvement both in civilian morale and in the amount and quality of information reaching the Security Forces has continued steadily. I regard these two factors in particular as significant. While the number of major incidents remains serious, and the casualties inflicted by the bandits on the Security Forces and the civilian population have been high, bandit casualties—killed, captured and surrendered—have shown a marked increase during the period since November, 1950, compared with the five previous months.Notable progress has been made with the programme of resettlement, which is now almost finished in the priority areas in the south and about half complete in the Federation as a whole. The purpose of this programme is to deny the terrorists support of all kinds, and it is to be hoped that a greater measure of success will attend the operations of the Security Forces as its effects, and those of the complementary programme of labour regrouping on estates, become increasingly felt.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that the Government of Grenada are considering the reduction of the Ten-Year Development Plan owing to lack of local funds; and whether he will consider an increased allocation for the Colony from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund so that social services which are of assistance to the plantation labourers shall not be cut.

I am aware that the Government of Grenada, like several other colonial Governments, have revised their Development Plan, largely owing to the burden of residual recurrent expenditure which the original plan entailed. The question of an increased allocation to any territory from the limited Colonial Development and Welfare Funds available has to be considered against the requirements of Colonial Territories in general.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been taken by the Government of British Guiana to train Guianese doctors in tuberculosis care, in view of the fact that the Best Hospital has only one doctor with 180 beds and no one to take over when the doctor in charge goes on leave.

A medical officer in British Guiana has been chosen for training in the treatment of tuberculosis, and he should be attached shortly to the Best (Tuberculosis) Hospital. Meanwhile, the officer-in-charge of that hospital has volunteered to defer his leave until early in 1952.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent the Co-operative Department of British Guiana has organised co-operatives to enable farmers to share the purchase of agricultural equipment and mills for the milling of surplus corn.

There are a number of agricultural co-operatives in British Guiana, but these are mainly concerned with the production of rice and milk. I am asking the Acting Governor for details which I will communicate to the hon. Member in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the problems of financing the Cameroons Development Corporation, showing particularly, whether it has been possible, or shortly will be possible, to overcome the difficulties which, at the date of the Corporations last report, stood in the way of raising the long-term loan of £750,000 which the report showed to be necessary.

Provision has been made in the loan programme of the Nigerian Government for the current financial requirements of the Cameroons Development Corporation.

asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that a firm in Manchester is receiving repeat orders for canned steak; and whether he will therefore limit the token export scheme of foodstuffs from this country.

The amount of meat which we allocate for the production of meat products for export is already strictly limited.

asked the Minister of Food whether his Department now purchases linseed oil from other sources besides the Argentine; and whether the new Argentine trade agreement contains any terms relating to the purchase of linseed or linseed oil.

Yes, we buy linseed oil from Uruguay and linseed from India and British East Africa. The new Argentine agreement does not deal specifically with purchases of linseed oil, but provides for the continuance of traditional trade at the highest possible level.

asked the Minister of Food what is the world price of groundnuts; and what price he is paying to Gambia.

The price negotiated for the 1950–51 season under our long-term contract with the Gambia is £55 per ton for unshelled groundnuts. Only relatively small quantities of groundnuts enter into general world trade, but at present some offers of unshelled nuts are being made at £82 10s. per ton.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that the retail distribution of food, particularly between Huntingdon and South Wales, has recently been impeded by the refusal of British Railways to accept delivery of goods consigned to South Wales; and what steps he is taking to ensure that alternative means of transport are made available to food distributors.

No such difficulty has been reported to me but in any particular case our regional staff, in consultation with the local officers of the British Transport Commission, will be glad to help.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether it is intended to make the Naval Ordnance Inspection Department a uniformed branch of the Service.

The suggestion that the Naval Ordnance Inspection Department should be made a uniformed branch of the Royal Navy was among the subjects on which my noble Friend received representations in February last from a number of hon. Members of the House. He explained that there were grave difficulties in the way of the proposal but undertook to examine the matter carefully. This is now being done.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what naval strength was available in the Persian Gulf at the outbreak of the trouble in the Persian oilfields; and why, in view of the fact that the situation had been threatening for some time, reinforcements were not sent earlier.

Two frigates were in the Persian Gulf. The disposition of His Majesty's Ships has been such as to facilitate the taking of any action that the situation might demand.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty how many cases of suspected sabotage have occurred in the Royal Navy during the past three years; and how many of them have resulted in successful prosecutions.

During the last three years there have been 45 incidents which have been thought to be acts of malicious damage. Many were of a very minor character, and there is no evidence of organised sabotage. In four of them, the culprit was caught and punished.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many divisions of United Kingdom troops had been formed by 31st December, 1950; and how many of these were armoured.

In the Active Army, the equivalent of six and one-third infantry divisions and one and two-thirds armoured divisions had been formed by 31st December, 1950.

asked the Secretary of State for War the number of United Kingdom troops in the Middle East, Malaya and the Far East, respectively; and the total number of United Kingdom troops stationed outside the United Kingdom.

It would not be in the public interest to disclose this information.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will ensure that Class Z reservists who have been prisoners of war for long periods will be exempted from recall if they possess no technical or other special qualifications.

No.

asked the Minister of Pensions what is the amount of the pension available in the case of the widows of officers of lieutenants rank who lose their lives on active service; and whether these pensions will be made immediately available in the case of those officers lost in H.M.S. "Affray."

For lieutenants of the Royal Navy, £150 or £165 a year according to the widow's age and family, and in addition an allowance of £36 a year for each child. As regards the second part of the Question, the pensions will be available to the widows immediately their naval allowances cease.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of making the proposed 4s. old age pension increase come into force at once instead of in October.

The additional cost of introducing the increased rate of retirement pension immediately would be about £13 million. The new rates could not, of course, in any event be brought into operation until the necessary legislation has passed through all its stages.

asked the Minister of Transport if he is aware of the many complaints made by Service men about the food and restrictions aboard the troopship "Empire Orwell," on landing at Southampton; and what steps he has taken to investigate this matter.

I have already made inquiries and have ascertained that the complaints about the messing arrangements which were brought to the notice of the ship's staff during the voyage were dealt with at the time. As regards restrictions, I assume my hon. Friend refers to Service men not being allowed to visit wives and families in their cabins. This is a matter for the Service Departments, but clearly it cannot be permitted where the wife is berthed in a cabin with other women, except where deemed necessary on medical grounds by the medical officer.

asked the Minister of Local Government and Planning whether he is aware that the Blofield and Flegg Rural District Council has not been able to build houses in Rollesby since 1939; and whether he will expedite the provision of a water supply for Rollesby in order that the overcrowding in this village can be alleviated by the construction of houses.

The scheme will be approved as soon as some technical information for which I have asked the council is furnished, and I hope they will soon be able to begin building houses.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many men over 65 years of age are still working at the coalface in the North Celyrcen, Arrael Griffin and Cwmtillery collieries, respectively.

I regret that detailed information of this kind is not collected by my Ministry.

asked the Minister of Works if he will arrange for all the artists who have done murals and other decorations or paintings for the Festival of Britain to be invited on the opening day and to stand in front of their work during the visit of Their Majesties The King and Queen.

I have been asked to reply. Forty-two artists and sculptors who have done works for the South Bank Exhibition have received invitations for the opening day. None of these works will be passed close enough by Their Majesties in the course of their tour to make appropriate the arrangements suggested in the latter part of the Question.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will consider introducing compensation for the loss of pigs from swine fever.

No. The principle embodied in the Diseases of Animals Act is that compensation is payable only in respect of animals slaughtered by order of the Minister; and I do not consider that it would be desirable to alter this policy. It is not the practice to order the slaughter of animals affected, or suspected to be affected with swine fever since it has been found by experience that a slaughter policy is not effective in eradicating this disease. Consequently compensation is not generally payable. A small number of pigs are, however, slaughtered by my veterinary officers for diagnostic purposes and for these compensation is paid on the basis laid down in the Act.