asked the Minister of Supply if he will give in tabular form the price charged in 1932 and June, 1937, the prices, as fixed by the Steel Federation in July, 1937, and at present, for Cleveland No. 3, East Coast Hæmatite, North-East Coast Basic, pig iron, billets soft basic, angles, rails, ship plates, tinplate bars and the prices in relation to other commodities in 1934, 1936, 1939 and 1945; and the percentage excess of iron and steel over other commodities.

The information asked for is given in the Tables below, particulars for 1951 being added in Table 2.

The manufacturers' list prices on 1st July in each of the years 1936, 1940, 1942 and 1945 for typical sizes of copper tubes used in the engineering industry and the prices of electrolytic copper are shown below. The cost of conversion varies according to length of run, size of tube and kind of plant.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances prisoners convicted in the Channel Islands are imprisoned in English gaols.

Prisons in the Channel Islands are unsuitable by modern standards for detention for long periods. In appropriate cases therefore, at the request of the Channel Islands authorities, I authorise the transfer of prisoners to England, under the provisions of section 61 (2) of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948. Transfers are normally confined to persons sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or longer or to Borstal training.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what are the wage figures for Kent, comparing the latest convenient date with July, 1945, of those employed in the mining industry taking the lowest paid grades, the highest paid miners, and the rough average.

I would refer the hon. Member to the National Coal Board's Quarterly Statistical Statement for 1950 and the corresponding statement published by the Ministry of Fuel and Power for 1945, which give the average

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether a decision has now been reached regarding the removal of the prohibition of coffee growing by African farmers in scheduled districts of Kenya.

In the scheduled districts of Kenya, the growing of coffee by African farmers is freely permitted and encouraged, subject to the close supervision of farming operations and the establishment of nurseries and a satisfactory site for a pulping station—conditions which are essential in the interests of the farmers themselves.Outside the scheduled districts, any individual African may have his particular farm scheduled provided that he can satisfy the agricultural department that he has adequate suitable land and the requisite skill and the resources to plant, develop and maintain the plantation of coffee and to make satisfactory provision for its preparation for the market. This will mean that no individual African need be prevented from growing coffee, simply because he is in a non-scheduled area.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what is the annual running cost of the Building Research Station, located at Bucknalls, Garston, near Watford.

About £300,000.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware of the recent outbreak of fowl pest in Dominica; and what measures have been taken to deal with it.

I am aware that there has been an outbreak of disease among poultry in the south of Dominica. This has been diagnosed as fowl cholera. Poultry owners have been given information on the measures necessary to prevent the spread of the disease, and vaccine has been imported. The disease has now abated. For the present, the export of fowls and eggs from Dominica has been prohibited in order to prevent the spread of the disease to neighbouring territories.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any further information to give concerning the default by the Polish Government in payment of the first instalment of £400,000, due under the Anglo-Polish Trade Agreement of January, 1949.

I have nothing to add to the answer given to the hon. Member for Wembley, South (Mr. Russell), on 25th July.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what instructions he has sent to the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Germany with regard to the treatment of those German coal companies listed in Schedule C of Allied High Commission Law No. 27, which have declined to be includec in reorganisation plans.

Law 27 lists certain German coal and steel companies in Schedule "C" which are to be included in reorganisation of the coal and steel industries only if certain alternative conditions are fulfilled. Among these are the consent of the owners to inclusion in reorganisation, and a determination by the Allied High Commission that inclusion "is essential" to accomplish the purposes of the Law."A number of these Schedule "C" companies were included in the reorganisation plan for the coal industry and were therefore asked as a first step whether they consented to inclusion. Only five of them, however, were willing to be included without conditions and the question therefore arose whether the inclusion of the non-assenting Schedule "C" companies were essential to accomplish the purposes of the Law.This question was discussed by the Council of the Allied High Commission in Germany on 12th July. The United Kingdom High Commissioner was instructed to argue in favour of the inclusion of the non-assenting Schedule "C" companies on the grounds that their exclusion would seriously reduce the scope of reorganisation; that the reorganisation plan including the Schedule "C" companies had been drawn up by a body of German experts who had urged that it should be accepted in its entirety; and that the German Trade Unions, whose support for Allied deconcentration measures was important, had pressed strongly for the inclusion of these companies.The American and French High Commissioners were, however, unable to accept these arguments and urged that no case had been made out for inclusion on deconcentration grounds and that, moreover, the Federal Chancellor had expressed the view that compulsory inclusion would not be legitimate. A majority decision was, therefore, taken against the compulsory inclusion of Schedule "C" companies in reorganisation against which there is no ground for appeal under the terms of the Tripartite Control's Agreement.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what instructions he has sent to the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Germany with regard to the transfer to private ownership of shares in companies formed under Allied High Commission Law No. 27.

On 12th April the Council of the Allied High Commission decided that as soon as the new unit companies are set up under the plans for the reorganisation of the German coal, iron and steel industries, shares will be distributed to stockholders who are not disqualified under the provisions of Law 27. This was not, however, a unanimous decision.The United Kingdom High Commissioner was instructed to argue that Law 27 obliged the Federal German Government to take a general decision on the form of ownership of these industries before any shares in the new companies passed from the hands of Allied trustees and were distributed to stockholders. His Majesty's Government considered that the proposal to transfer the shares to private owners now would prejudice such a decision and would run counter to a resolution passed by the Federal German Parliament in November, 1950, requesting the Federal Government and Allied High Commission to do nothing in the course of reorganisation which would influence this decision.The United Kingdom High Comissioner was outvoted on this question and gave notice of an appeal to Governments. His Majesty's Government then invited the French and United States Governments to reconsider this question and suggested that before any action under the majority decision was taken, the Federal Government should be asked to consult the Federal Parliament as to whether this decision would constitute prejudice to the ownership issue under the terms of its resolution of November 1950. The United States and French Governments were, however, unwilling to agree to this and, in terms of the Agreement on Tripartite Controls, the majority decision took effect 30 days after the appeal.His Majesty's Government remain of the view that this decision was unfortunate and that it would have been preferable to maintain the Trusteeship System until the Federal Government had decided the future pattern of ownership of the German coal and steel industries.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the number, dates and duration of the power cuts which occurred in each of the months of April, May and June of the years 1949. 1950 and 1951. respectively.

The dates, and the number of days, on which load shedding occurred are given below:

—	Dates of Load Shedding	Days
1949
April	6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 26	6
May	17, 18, 19	3
June	1	1
1950
April	3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.	14
May	2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25.	16
June	5, 12, 13, 14, 26, 27, 28	7
1951
April	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30.	22
May	1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.	23
June	1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.	20

I regret that information about the duration of these power cuts is not readily available, and, as the duration varies from one district to another, it could not be obtained without an unjustifiable expenditure of time and labour.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give any information about the payment of pensions by the Argentine Government to the British railway pensioners.

The following is the text of a letter addressed on 23rd April to my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on the part of the Argentine Government. His Majesty's Ambassador at Buenos Aires has since maintained close contact with the competent Argentine authorities in order to bring about an early solution of such administrative difficulties as are still preventing the former British railway employees from receiving their pensions.Your Excellency,We have the honour to address Your Excellency in order to inform you that, in accordance with the wishes expressed by the British Delegation in the course of the recent negotiations, the Argentine Government has resolved

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many persons are employed at His Majesty's embassies in Washington and Moscow, respectively.

The total staffs employed at His Majesty's Embassies at Washington and Moscow are respectively 490 and 134.

asked the Minister of Agriculture what progress has now been made in regulating the transit of horses from Eire to this country.

Substantial agreement about the terms of the draft Order has been reached with representatives of the Government of the Irish Republic. I am still awaiting the final observations of the shipping interests, but these have been promised within the next few days.

asked the Minister of Agriculture to what extent rations of feeding-stuffs for poultry are modified where killing takes place during the period for which the rations are issued.

The Feeding Stuffs (Rationing) Order, 1949, provides that where any person has ceased to keep any class of livestock for which coupons have been issued he shall forthwith return such coupons to the authority which issued them, but for practical reasons, where stocks has been merely reduced in number during the period it is not the practice to ask for the return of any coupons.

asked the Minister of Education how many men teachers paid superannuation contributions in the year 1950; what was the total paid by them and how many women teachers paid similar contributions in the same year and what was the total paid by them; and what were the comparable figures for the years 1945 to 1949 inclusive.

Complete returns have not yet been received and analysed for all the years referred to. It is estimated that, on the average, there were about 82,500 contributing men teachers in grant-aided schools and establishments during each of the five years 1945–46 to 1949–50 and that their total contributions over the period amounted to about £10.6 million. The corresponding figures for contributing women teachers are about 145,000 and £13.4 million. For the year 1950–51, it is estimated that about 97,250 men teachers will have contributed about £2.6 million and about 150,000 women teachers about £2.8 million.

asked the Minister of Works how much building has been licensed for Government purposes, including subsidised housing, in the city of Edinburgh between 1945 and 1950; and how much has been licensed for other building requirements.

Figures are not available from 1945, but in the three years to December, 1950, the total value of work sanctioned in the city of Edinburgh amounted to about £17 million, of which £7 million was for house-building by the local authority and £800,000 for new Government buildings.

asked the Minister of Labour what industries are on double-shift working; and what proportion of the total industrial labour force is involved.

I regret this information could only be obtained by instituting a special inquiry.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the strength of the Civil Defence Corps and of the Auxiliary Fire Service in England and Wales on 30th June.

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 26th July, 1951; Vol. 490, c. 2304], circulated the following:

CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS
Region	Increase during June, 1951	Total Strength at 30th June, 1951	Strength per thousand of Population
Eastern	676	17,406	5·68
Southern	520	14,369	5·42
South Western	785	15,658	5·20
South Eastern	242	11,307	4·42
Northern	348	10,758	3·42
Midland	485	13,621	3·08
Wales	246	7,771	2·99
North-Western	311	18,312	2·87
North-Midland	204	9,620	2·79
London	276	20,016	2·38
North-Eastern	178	8,626	2·10
	4,271	147,464	Average for England and Wales 3·36

AUXILIARY FIRE SERVICE
Increase during June, 1951	Total at 30th June, 1951
265	10,337