asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been taken to prepare a development plan for the island of Antigua; and whether, in the light of increasing poverty and unemployment on the island, he will give this matter immediate attention.

A development plan for the period up to 1956 was finally approved in August, 1952, after revision to take account of the damage caused by the 1950 hurricanes. It includes provision for new housing, school building and teacher training, improvement of water and electricity supplies, land settlement, and the establishment of secondary industries. Most of these projects are already under way.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why he permitted the outright sale of the bauxite deposits in Jamaica; and why only 1s. per ton royalty is being paid in this territory, whereas in other Caribbean territories higher royalties are being secured.

The bauxite deposits in Jamaica have not been sold outright: they are leased to the operating companies for 25 years. Royalty at the rate of 1s. a ton was fixed in 1947. Under the Mining Regulations there is provision for the revision of royalties every five years, and such a revision is now being considered.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he will make arrangements for the telephones in the House of Commons to be disinfected at regular intervals.

All telephones in the House of Commons are cleaned regularly—in particular, those in Post Office call boxes are wiped every day with a cloth damped with disinfectant. I am informed, however, by my medical advisers that, strictly speaking, disinfection is not necessary on telephone instruments.

is aware of the inconvenience caused to the people living in the Fairwater Housing Estate, Cardiff, due to the absence of adequate telephone facilities; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy the matter.

Yes. I hope that an extra public kiosk will be erected and in service within six weeks. New plant is needed to meet most of the outstanding applications for the telephone in the Fairwater Estate, and this will be provided as soon as our limited resources will allow.

.asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the extent of the damage to telephone communications in Scotland, particularly the North-East, as a result of the hurricane on 31st January; how much has been repaired; and what yet remains to be done.

Storm damage to telephones in Scotland was particularly severe. No less than 180 telephone exchanges and 10,000 subscribers were isolated. Two hundred and forty workmen were brought into this area from other parts of Scotland, from Northern Ireland, from Wales and from those parts of England not affected by the floods. Twenty-seven men were borrowed from the Army. Extensive temporary repair work has been done. By 17th February, all exchanges were working again. The number of subscribers still without service is now less than 700. They should be connected up again within the next week. Permanent repairs may keep up to 300 men occupied for about six months. I must warn the House that this extensive repair work may affect the telephone development programme for 1953.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when the next meeting of the Sports Television Advisory Committee is to be held.

This is a matter for the Chairman of the Committee, to whom the hon. Member should address his inquiry.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether he is aware of the interference which is being caused to listeners on the Welsh Regional Station; and what steps have been taken to remove it.

Following our representations, measures are being taken to remove the trouble, and it is hoped that they will be completed soon.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he is aware of the unsatisfactory position of Norfolk and Suffolk and other parts of East Anglia in relation to radio facilities in general, including poor reception, especially at night time, and frequent jamming or interference by foreign stations; and what steps are being taken to provide the people of this part of England with radio facilities at least up to the average of the standards enjoyed by other parts of the country.

I understand from the B.B.C. that reception of the Light Programme on the long wavelength and of the Third Programme should be generally satisfactory. The London Home Service Programme should be generally well received in the day time, as should the Midland Home Service in the area served by the transmitter at Norwich. After dark there is fading on the North and North-East coasts of East Anglia. There is serious interference with the London Home Service from a station at Dresden in the Soviet Zone of Germany. We have protested repeatedly, but without success. The B.B.C. is making tests with a view to improving Home Service local reception by means of a low-power station at Cromer.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether, in view of the fact that a booster television station is being provided for Brighton and Hove, which already have so many amenities, he will now be able to announce at an early date the provision of a similar station for the county of Norfolk, so that persons engaged in the task of food production, and whose amenities are limited, may no longer feel that they are being neglected as compared with the centres which happen to have greater density of population.

I regret that I cannot yet add to the general statement on television which I made on 8th December.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General why parcels posted at country post offices after noon on Saturday are not despatched until Monday; and if he will take steps to give the public better service.

In order to economise in the use of manpower the final collection from many country sub-post offices on Saturdays is made between about noon and 1 p.m. Parcels which are accepted after this collection may have to be held over until Monday, although in many cases arrangements are made to collect and despatch them on Sunday: I am hoping to increase the number of these cases. Meantime, I shall be pleased to look specially into any particular instance my hon. Friend may have in mind.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he can now state when the 1s. 3d. stamp will be issued.

The 1s. 3d. Coronation stamp, together with the proposed 2½d., 4d. and 1s. 6d. issues, will be put on sale on Wednesday, 3rd June. The date of issue of the I s. 3d. stamp in the permanent series has not yet been fixed, but it will not be before the Coronation.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many aircraft carriers have been built since the war: and in how many cases it was decided not to proceed after building work had started.

No aircraft carrier has been laid down since VJ-Day. One fleet carrier and five light fleet carriers laid down during the war have since been completed and one fleet carrier and five light fleet carriers are in process of completion. One fleet carrier laid down in 1944 was cancelled at the end of 1945; very little work was done on this ship and the materials were used for other building. Three light fleet carriers laid down during the war were completed to the towing stage: one is now being finished for the Royal Canadian Navy and the other two hulls are being preserved.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what instructions have been given to the effect that in recruiting civilian personnel for Admiralty establishments previous service in the fighting Services will always be taken into account.

Recruitment to established non-industrial posts is a matter for the Civil Service Commission. In so far as the Admiralty control recruitment, they give preference, other things being equal, to ex-Regulars and, in the Dockyards and other industrial establishments, equal preference to workmen with previous Admiralty service.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if he will arrange for a public exhibition of photographs taken during operation "Floodlight."

I hope that it will be possible to arrange an exhibition of this kind during March.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what progress is being made with the payment of the pension increase granted to Royal Air Force personnel in 1952; and how many pensioners have still not received the additional pension that is due to them.

Wherever possible, this increase was given automatically to Royal Air Force pensioners. Where this could not be done, pensioners were sent a pamphlet which explained fully the conditions under which they might be eligible for the increase, and how to apply for it. The number of claims actually submitted which are still under consideration is 57, or less than 3 per cent. of those eligible to be considered.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what questions between the contending parties in Korea have been settled; what questions are still outstanding; and what is being done to resolve the outstanding questions.

Agreement has been reached on all the articles of the draft armistice agreement with the sole exception of the provisions for the repatriation of prisoners of war. As regards this issue, I have nothing to add to the reply given to the hon. and learned Gentleman on 23rd February.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to give an assurance that Her Majesty's Government will not directly or indirectly make any advances to any persons concerned with a view to inducing the Sudanese people to enter the British Commonwealth.

It is the view of Her Majesty's Government that the Sudanese people should be free to express their wishes about their future status in accordance with the terms of the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why, in Article 4 of the draft agreement relating to the Sudan, there is a reference to one "citizen of the United Kingdom" and not to a British subject."

Under Section I of the British Nationality Act of 1948 the term "British subject" includes citizens of the other Commonwealth countries as well as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. The intention of Article 4 of the Agreement was one of the members of the Governor-General's Commission should be a British subject who had derived his British nationality from a close connection with the United Kingdom rather than with any other Commonwealth country or any of the Colonies. The expression "citizen of the United Kingdom" was purposely used in order to convey this meaning.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the draft Agreement, in relation to the Sudan, in its preamble purports to be made by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and in Article 2 of Annex IV, is described as an agreement with Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and why, in the preamble, the United Kingdom precedes the Egyptian Government, and in Annex IV the Egyptian Government precedes the United Kingdom.

Annex IV of the Agreement contains a list of amendments to be made to a separate instrument, namely the draft Self-Government Statute for the Sudan, which is not an intergovernmental agreement but an Order made by the Governor-General in the exercise of his powers under Article 66 of the 1948 Sudan Ordinance. There is therefore no reason why the nomenclature and precedence employed in the Statute should be exactly the same as that employed in the Annex, or why the language of the Statute should be in conformity with normal treaty practice.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give any information on the aid to be furnished by the United States Government to the United Kingdom under the Benton and Moody Amendments to the United States Mutual Security Acts.

Yes. A White Paper is being laid before the House giving the text of an exchange of Notes between myself and the United States Ambassador. I am happy to say that the United Kingdom is to receive $9 million from the Aid available under the United States legislation referred to in the Question. As the White Paper explains, it is a condition of the grant of this Aid that the sterling counterpart should be spent on a number of purposes intended to encourage a healthy and expanding economy by promoting the productivity of industry and by stimulating competition. I am confident that the programme of expenditure described in the exchange of Notes will make a valuable contribution to the efficiency of industry.

asked the Minister of Food if he is yet able to make a statement regarding production and sale of cream,

asked the Minister of Food whether he is now in a position to state what arrangements he is making this year for the preparation and sale of cream, especially for visitors to seaside resorts.

asked the Minister of Food if he will now make a statement as to the possibility of cream being made available for sale in West Cornwall in time for the holiday season.

asked the Minister of Food if he will now state the date on which the sale and manufacture of cream will be permitted.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will authorise the sale of Devonshire cream during the coming summer.

Yes. The prospect of good milk production this spring enables me to allow the manufacture and sale of fresh and sterilised cream. This will be permitted from 1st April until the end of July. There will be no price control. Arrangements will be made for imports of fresh and canned cream during the period when home sales are permitted from the sterling area, and also for limited quantities from the Continent.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what progress is being made in establishing an oil refinery at Aden; and what markets this refinery is intended to serve.

Constructional work at Aden has started and is progressing satisfactorily. I understand that the products from this refinery will be marketed over a wide area East of Suez. Aden itself is an important bunkering station and much of the fuel oil output will be sold there.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what agency services his Department has in Northern Ireland; what is the purpose of such services; and what is the annual cost to his Department.

Control over the distribution and retail prices of coal in Northern Ireland is exercised by the Ministry of Commerce on an agency basis, their powers in this respect being derived from Defence Regulations and delegated to them by my Department. The full cost of the service is accordingly borne on the Department's Vote and is now about £17.000 per annum.

asked the Minister of Education if she is aware of the precarious position of the school dental service; that there are only 923 dentists to look after 6 million children; that there is an urgent need for at least another 2,000 dentists in this service; and what action she is taking to rectify this position.

No. I cannot accept the figures quoted in the Question, although I agree that many more school dentists are needed. There was an increase equivalent to 114 full-time officers in the school dental service between January and October, 1952, and I hope that a steady improvement will be maintained.

asked the Minister of Education to which bodies her recent decision to impose a 10 per cent. reduction in direct grant for adult education will apply; what is the annual amount of the present grant; what will be the annual amount of the reduced grant, in the case of each; and from what dates, in the case of each, the new annual amounts will run.

My proposals relate to my grants to the responsible bodies which provide classes in liberal adult education, that is to say the extra-mural departments of universities, the various districts of the W.E.A., and one or two other bodies. For the amounts of my grants in the present year I would refer the hon. Member to my answer of 19th February to the hon. Member for Stockton-on-Tees (Mr. Chetwynd). As I am still in discussion with the organisations concerned about the precise amount of the grants to be paid for next year, I am not yet able to answer the last two parts of the Question.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has considered the practicability of using coal and chemical refuse dumps for rebuilding sea walls and for land reclamation.

Yes. This material has previously been used for local drainage embankments in some inland areas, and I am considering how far it is practicable and economic to use it for sea walls.