asked the Minister of Food if he has yet had sufficient correspondence giving evidence of the shortage of sweets and chocolates in wholesale warehouses; and what action he intends to take to ease the shortage.

We have received very few complaints and these by no means justify the suggestion that there is a general shortage.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware of the grievance of established manufacturers of soft drinks, many of whom enjoy a substantial export trade, about his decision to reduce the sugar quota of all manufacturers so as to enable the limited amount of sugar now available to be distributed over a larger number of firms, including new firms; and if he can indicate precisely what his policy is in this connection.

My policy in this matter was stated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, North (Mr. C. I. Orr-Ewing) on 15th July, 1952. The scheme to which my hon. Friend refers, and which is at present under discussion with the industry, includes a small deduction from the sugar allocated to the larger firms to provide a limited supply for those who have not hitherto received an allocation and those who wish to enter the industry which has virtually been closed to newcomers for 13 years. The deduction is, however, almost wholly offset by the increase which the industry received last month. The existing arrangements to encourage the export trade are not affected.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence if he will now state what estimate he has formed of the additional cost of maintaining British Forces in Germany after next July in the event of the Bonn Treaties being ratified.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the right hon. Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay) on 2nd March.

asked the Undersecretary of State for Air why information about the shooting down of the Lincoln bomber by Soviet fighters which was readily supplied to British correspondents in Berlin and West Germany by the United States Air Force was refused by the Royal Air Force headquarters at Bad Eilsen.

In view of the political implications of this incident, and the fact that the aircraft was based in this country, it was thought best that all authoritative statements should be made in London.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many licences have been issued in Kenya, to Africans, for growing coffee, in 1950, 1951 and 1952.

The number of Africans licensed to grow coffee at 30th June in each year were:

1950	…	…	…	…	5,231
1951	…	…	…	…	7,088
1952	…	…	…	…	10,699

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies when it is intended to introduce legislation for the reorganisation of the coffee industry in Uganda.

The committee of the Legislative Council which has been considering the Government's proposals is expected to report within a month. If their report is accepted, legislation to give effect to their recommendations will then be introduced.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what use it is proposed to put the former United States Air Force Hospital, at Beane Field, St. Lucia, which has been purchased by the Government.

Various proposals for using this hospital have been considered by the St. Lucia Government, but no decisions have yet been reached.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what efforts are being made to resuscitate the cocoa industry in Grenada.

Under a long-term scheme to improve production, which started in 1946, grants amounting to £120,000 have been made from Colonial Development and Welfare funds for the propagation of higher yielding strains. These are being distributed to producers, who themselves contribute over £5,000 a year towards the scheme from a cocoa cess. In addition, some £4,000 a year is spent from local funds to combat witches broom disease.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what additional facilities for technical education are being provided in the West Indies.

My adviser on technical education has just returned from a tour in the West Indies. He has made suggestions for the improvement and development of the local facilities in technical education, and his suggestions are being considered by the colonial Governments. In Trinidad, a Government Technical High School is now being built at San Fernando.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many overseas industrialists, who are anxious to establish new industries with Nigerian participation, are now co-operating with the Regional Production Development Boards of Nigeria.

Four. Negotiations are in train with a number of others.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the cost per ton to the Nigeria Groundnut Marketing Board of the long storage of groundnuts through failure of the railways to move the groundnut crop in reasonable quantities.

I cannot give an estimate of the cost of delays in moving the crop, because too many variable factors are involved. That delay still arises is mainly due to the greatly increased crops since 1951, but, as I told the hon. Member in reply to his Question on 18th February, measures to improve the efficiency of the railway have been taken and the rate of railing since this season began last November has been substantially higher than last season.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the only housing available for teachers in Aden has no water supply; and why the sum of £25,000 allocated for the building of houses for teachers has been reduced to £9,000, in view of the need for houses for teachers.

Teachers occupy 26 Government houses in Aden, all supplied with water. Seventy teachers, for whom no Government quarters are available, have made their own arrangements for accommodation. The sum of £25,000 allocated for building houses for teachers has not been reduced.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the terms of the message which has been received by him from the Nyasaland Chiefs' Conference which met on 14th and 15th March, 1953.

The terms of the message received from a meeting of Chiefs at Lilongwe, Nyasaland, on 14th and 15th March, 1953, are as follow:

Please convey to Her Majesty Queen our devoted loyalty and humble greetings. After hearing report by Nyasaland Chiefs Delegation to England. Nyasaland Chiefs Conference held Lilongwe on 14th and 15th March confirmed and endorsed petition submitted to Her Majesty and statements made by that delegation to Her Majesty's Government and British public.

Conference resolved that intimidation by Government continues and evidence available. Deeply disappointed and grieved refusal of audience with our Protector The Queen. Conference resolved imposition of Federation against Africans solid rejection will be resisted at all costs.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what reply he has sent to the Ebenezer Church, Cardiff, concerning the appeal for a re-examination of the question of Central African Federation.

That in my view no useful purpose would be served by such a re-examination.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether he will consider equipping postmen on country rounds, especially those in hilly areas, with small motor attachments to their bicycles and thus ensure a more efficient delivery service.

The use of motor assisted pedal cycles has been considered on several occasions, but it has been concluded that they are not suitable for postal work.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General why trades union officers who urgently require a telephone in connection with their union duties are not accorded the same priority as business applicants.

A high priority is given to a telephone for the offices of a full-time trades union official, but for telephones required at their homes, trades union officials are treated in the same way as other residential applicants.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when he expects to provide a telephone, transferred from their previous office, at the Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, office of the National Union of Vehicle Builders.

I much regret that it is not yet possible to provide a telephone at the new address owing to a shortage of lines, but I have every hope that it will be installed in about four months' time.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to set out, in tabular form, the gross fixed capital formation in manufacturing industry for the last seven years and 1938; and the funds available for investment in the same period.

Following is the answer:

GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
					£ million
1948	…	…	…	…	373
1949	…	…	…	…	420
1950	…	…	…	…	492
1951	…	…	…	…	585
1952	…	…	…	…	625

The figures for 1948–52 are given in table 14 of the Economic Survey for 1953 (Cmd. 8800).Figures for 1938, 1946 and 1947 are not available. Separate figures of sources of finance for investment in manufacturing industry as such are not available but some relevant information is contained in the National Income and Expenditure, 1946–51, published by H.M.S.O. in August, 1952, especially in table 31, in the Economic Survey for 1953, table 18, and in the Preliminary Estimates of National Income and Expenditure. 1948 to 1952 (Cmd. 8803), table 6.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to set out, in tabular form, the gross fixed capital formation by industry in agriculture, coal mining, railways and air transport, for 1938, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952.

Following is the answer:

GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION £ million
—	1938	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952
Agriculture	—	84	82	84	89	81
Coalmining	—	24	31	27	30	41
Railways	30	63	62	58	60	60
Air transport	1	18	31	16	14	17

1. Figures for 1948–51 are given in National Income and Expenditure, 1946–1951, published by H.M.S.O. in August, 1952. The figures for coalmining include ancillary activities other than coke-ovens.2. No figures are available for agriculture or coalmining in 1938.3. Figures for 1952 are provisional.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury the gross fixed investment as a percentage of the national income for 1938, and for each post-war year, the gross real fixed invest- ment by sectors and the fixed investment as a percentage of gross product for the main industries and services.

Estimates of gross fixed investment as a percentage of gross national product are as follow:

1938	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952
11·4	10·4	12·7	13·6	14·0	14·2	14·4	13·9

The figures for 1946 to 1951 are derived from tables 1 and 30 of National Income and Expenditure, 1946–1951 published by H.M.S.O. in August, 1952; and that for 1938 mainly from table 283 of the Annual Abstract of Statistics, No. 89, 1952. The figure for 1952 is approximate and is derived from the Preliminary Estimates of National Income and Expenditure 1948–1952 (Cmd. 8803).Figures of gross real fixed investment by sectors are not available, but estimates by type of asset are given in table 13 of the Economic Survey for 1952 (Cmd. 8509).Estimates of gross fixed investment at factor cost in the main industries and services, as a percentage of their respective contributions to the gross domestic product (at factor cost and including stock appreciation), are as follow: —

—	1948	1949	1950	1951
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	14	13	13	13
Mining and quarrying	8	9	8	8
Manufacturing	9	10	10	11
Gas, electricity and water	66	74	79	80
Transport and communication	29	31	28	22

Corresponding figures for other years are not available.The figures shown for 1948 to 1951 are derived from tables 9 and 35 of National Income and Expenditure 1946-1951, after eliminating indirect taxes from the figures in table 35.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to set out, in tabular form, an estimate of the value of depreciation of fixed capital at current replacement costs and on a number of convenient dates so that reasonable comparisons may be made.

I regret that no reliable estimates are at present available.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the total amounts paid in Income Tax each year by those engaged in the manufacturing industries who receive £500 a year and less for 1935, 1938 and for each post-war year.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to give, in 1945 and 1953, values of our pre-war stock of national wealth, the present figures, the amounts liquidated during the last war, the value of lost shipping, physical destruction of land, and the amount paid in compensation for foreign assets that were taken over by the Government, in what countries and in which year.

No official estimate has been made of the national wealth since pre-war years. The pre-war figure was roughly estimated at £30,000 million (at 1945 prices) in Statistical Material presented during the Washington Negotiations (Cmd. 6707 of 1945, page 14).In the same Command paper, estimates were given (page 14) of the losses of national wealth during the war, as follow:

	£'000 million.
Physical destruction—on land	1.5
Physical destruction—shipping (including cargoes)	0.7
Internal disinvestment	0.9
External disinvestment	4.2

These figures omitted any estimate of private (i.e. non-industrial) disinvestment —deterioration of dwellings, reduction of household inventories, etc.—for which no estimate could be given. On the other hand, it also allowed no correction for any possible post-war value of war-time capital work undertaken by the Government. But the total of £7,300 million was regarded as being of the right order.Compensation by H.M. Government for securities vested during the late war was paid out of the Exchange Equalisation Account, the transactions of which are not made public. But the figure of external disinvestment given above (£4,200 million) included £1,118 million for the proceeds of sale or repatriation of overseas investments during the war.Further details of the various figures were given in the Command Paper. The details included (on pages 9 and 11) geographical analyses of the external disinvestment and (on page 12) estimates of the changes in each year of the war.

asked the Secretary of State for War on what date Mr. T. H. Garner, 40, Lumley Crescent, Skeg-ness, ceased to be in War Office employ; and why no decision has yet been reached in regard to his claim for three weeks' pay for outstanding leave, seeing that payment was authorised by the North Midland District and appeared in orders in October, 1952.

Major Garner's employment as Adjutant/Quartermaster in the Home Guard ceased on 20th August, 1952. He has no entitlement to privilege leave but, since I am convinced that his misapprehension was genuine, he will receive the three weeks' pay which he was led to expect.