asked the Minister of Civil Aviation what applications he has received from private companies to operate air services to Cyprus; and what decision he has made about them.

The opportunities available to independent companies to operate services to Cyprus are necessarily limited by the very good first and tourist class services already provided by British European Airways, British Overseas Airways Corporation and Cyprus Airways. Four applications have been received from independent operators for Colonial Coach services. Two for terminating services have been rejected after consideration by the Air Transport Advisory Council and with the agreement of the Governor of Cyprus; of two for services through Cyprus to other destinations, one application has been withdrawn by the company concerned and the other application is at present under consideration.I approved (subject to certain conditions) an application for an all-freight service to Cyprus and points beyond, but this application has subsequently been withdrawn by the company.

asked the Minister of Civil Aviation what support he has given to the application by Messrs. De Havilland for a provisional United States certificate of airworthiness for the Comet III.

asked the Minister of Civil Aviation the latest position in regard to the licensing of the Comet III in the United States.

asked the Minister of Civil Aviation the nature of the representations made to the United States Government concerning the granting of certificates of airworthiness to the Comet III; and what reply has been received.

Discussions between the Air Registration Board and the United States Civil Aeronautics Administration to review the technical aspects of the Comet HI were begun in January and the progress made was outlined in the reply given to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Air Commodore Harvey) on 11th March. In accordance with normal practice a British certificate of airworthiness cannot be granted to the Comet III until it has flown. The Air Registration Board is, however, continuing to examine with the United States authorities the problems regarding airworthiness requirements for turbine-engined aircraft which need to be settled before those authorities are prepared to recognise British certificates of airworthiness and issue American certificates of airworthiness. It is the hope of Her Majesty's Government that these problems will be resolved during the next few months.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what progress has been made in his discussions with a view to reopening negotiations for a treaty of peace with Austria.

I have nothing to add to my reply to the hon. Member for Enfield, East (Mr. Ernest Davies) on Monday.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what consultations took place with the British Government in regard to the United Nations proposal that Switzerland should be the neutral Power to harbour prisoners in Korea while repatriation problems were dealt with.

We have had continuous discussions with the State Department on questions relating to the resumption of the armistice negotiations, including the selection of a neutral State to look after prisoners-of-war who refuse repatriation.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to make a further statement on the progress of the Korean truce talks.

Plenary meetings of the armistice negotiations were resumed at Panmunjom on 26th April, when the Communists rejected the United Nations Command's nomination of Switzerland as the neutral State to take custody of prisoners who are not immediately repatriated. Meetings have continued daily since then, and after this morning's meeting General Harrison is reported to have said that some progress was made. The Communists are also reported to have stated at today's meeting that they are prepared to nominate an Asian neutral without specifying which.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a further statement on the Icelandic fishing dispute.

On 20th January I communicated to the Icelandic Minister a proposal that, in order to secure an early decision on a clear-cut and straightforward issue, Her Majesty's Government and the Icelandic Government should agree to refer to the International Court of Justice the question of the base-line drawn across the Faxa Bay. Her Majesty's Government, however, retained their point of view with regard to the other limits, as set out in Notes addressed to the Icelandic Government last year.The Icelandic Government have now replied that they are prepared to refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, and that they are prepared to enter into discussions with Her Majesty's Government as to how the matter may be referred, only on condition that the landing ban be lifted as soon as agreement has been reached on the terms of reference to the Court. It has already been made clear to the Icelandic Government that Her Majesty's Government were in no position to give any guarantee about the lifting of the ban. The Icelandic Note is being studied and I hope to make a further statement very shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the policy of Her Majesty's Government regarding the United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees; and when it is intended to ratify this convention.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has given consideration to the resolution submitted to him by the Standing Committee on the Economic and Social Work of the United Nations urging the Government to ratify the United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees; and what action he proposes to take in the matter.

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply given on 27th April to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Sorensen).

asked the Minister of Food to give an estimate of the number of staff whose services would become redundant when circumstances enable him to deration sugar; and what is the present cost of administering the rationing of this commodity.

As sugar is one of the six rationed foods covered by registration and allocation the present cost of administering this one ration in isolation, and the effect in food offices of derationing cannot be estimated precisely. The staff saving will be at least 300 and may be as much as 600, and the saving in salaries between £100,000 and £200,000.

asked the Minister of Food whether, in view of the stock position, he will now increase the meat ration.

The ration will be increased from 1s. 9d. to 2s. 0d. on 17th May.

asked the Minister of Food why the price of wholemeal bread has been increased by about 40 per cent. in some cases since the beginning of April.

The price of the subsidised loaf, whether made of wholemeal or 80 per cent. extraction flour, has not changed. Removal of the flour subsidy has affected proprietary brands of bread which are not subsidised, but even there I think the increase is less than the hon. Member suggests.

asked the Minister of Food what amount of non-agenised flour is now being milled.

Precise information is not available.

asked the Minister of Food, now that he has not joined the International Wheat Agreement, whether he will make a statement on his future policy for the procurement of our wheat supplies.

As already announced, the importation of wheat will be reverting to private traders. My right hon. and gallant Friend has no reason to think that they will be unable to procure sufficient wheat to meet our needs.

asked the Minister of Food if, when the allocation of sugar to sweet manufacturers is increased by one-fifth on 17th May, he will be able to increase, similarly, the allocation of other scarce materials, so that they can make more chocolate and other good quality sweets and enable village shops as well as the larger town shops to provide what their customers prefer.

(1)	(2)		(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Year			Number of outbreaks of swine fever	Number of pigs which died of swine fever	Number of pigs slaughtered (for diagnostic purposes)	Compensation paid
						£
1952	Great Britain	…	891	12,274	595	2,150
	Wales	…	15	260	9	56
1953 (to 29th April).	Great Britain	…	975	2,674	365	1,286
	Wales	…	37	152	6	17
Notes
a) No figures are available of the total number of pigs involved in outbreaks. Available statistics relate only to pigs which died of swine fever.
(b) As pigs are not slaughtered as a control measure, compensation is paid only for pigs slaughtered for diagnosis.
(c) The figures for 1953 in column 4 do not include cases where restrictions are still in force, as this information is not yet available.

Supplies of other ingredients have already been increased, and these, together with the extra sugar, will enable production to be increased substantially. I have no doubt that the manufacturers will do their best to get fair distribution.

asked the Minister of Food if he will give further consideration to allowing harvest rations to be drawn by means of individual ration cards to the workers concerned, as well as by bulk issue to the employer.

Arrangements for permanent farm workers to buy these allowances individually were introduced on 1st March in Scotland and 1st April in England and Wales. It would be impracticable to extend these facilities to casual workers.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many cases of swine fever occurred in Great Britain and Wales, separately, last year; how many animals were involved; what was the total compensation granted; and what were the corresponding figures to the latest known date this year.

The answer is given in the following table:

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that in certain areas, particularly in Kent, there is still a large number of calves to be certified for the calf subsidy; and if he will take action to clear off these arrears.

Yes, but I am satisfied that the action I have taken will ensure that the arrears in Kent will be cleared reasonably quickly.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will consider extending the research into the prevention of bird damage to fruit tree buds, to cover damage to fruit on the tree.

A programme of research into problems arising from bird pests of agriculture and horticulture is being developed and the particular problem mentioned by my hon. Friend will be considered for inclusion in that programme.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will take steps to increase the efforts of research workers engaged in connection with fowl pest and other poultry diseases, in order to reduce the losses from disease in this industry, which is producing food to the value of almost £200,000,000 annually.

The Agricultural Research Council and my Department are at present reviewing the possibility of increasing the amount of research into poultry diseases, in particular, respiratory diseases. A good deal of work has already been done on fowl pest, which has given us a sound knowledge of the nature of the disease, including a reliable method of diagnosis. This has enabled us to devise methods of control designed to prevent the disease becoming endemic, depending on the slaughter of affected and contact birds. In addition, a vaccine has been developed and its use studied in the field in case it should be necessary to adopt this method of control.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he has been notified of any case in this country of myxamatosis which is at present killing off thousands of rabbits in France.

I have not heard of any cases of myxamatosis in Great Britain other than on islands off the West Coast of Scotland, where small-scale experiments with the virus are being carried out by the North of Scotland College of Agriculture.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty why officers who were on the retired list and have been recalled into the service are not being given the promotion to which they are entitled according to A.R.T. 325.

The Regulation quoted by the hon. Member was adopted to enable the Admiralty, at their discretion and in respect of promotions dependent on service, to treat officers re-employed from the retired and emergency lists under the same rules as those which govern officers whose service on the active list has been continuous. It does not convey entitlement to promotion to any group of re-employed officers without regard to the circumstances of their case.If the hon. Member has branch list officers particularly in mind, he will like to know that earlier this month rules were issued to govern their promotion under the Regulation quoted.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will make a statement on the steps which Her Majesty's Government are taking to install nuclear energy in British submarines; and how far this energy is being installed in, or applied to, other ships in Her Majesty's Navy.

No. It would not be in the public interest to do so but I can assure the hon. and learned Member that the Admiralty are fully alive to the importance to the Royal Navy of developments in the field of nuclear energy for propulsion purposes and much attention is being devoted to it.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make a statement on the practice of the Inland Revenue in regard to Land Tax redemption money when a company sells property charged with Land Tax.

This matter, which depends on the construction of Sections 39 and 40 of the Finance Act, 1949, has recently been considered by the Law Officers. My right hon. Friend is advised that where a property was owned by a corporate or unincorporated body of persons or by the sole trustee of a charitable or public trust on 1st April, 1950, the Land Tax redemption money is, in law, payable by that body or trustee notwithstanding a subsequent sale. I am aware that, on a sale of such property in the past, the purchaser has, in accordance with the view of the law formerly held and published by the Inland Revenue—and generally accepted—been called upon to pay. I do not, however, think that any injustice has, in general, been done, since the liability for the redemption money, which was assumed to be on the purchaser, will have been a factor to be taken into account in fixing the price. The vendor will not, of course, be

Article	1949 price including Purchase Tax ()			1950 price including Purchase Tax ()			1951 price including Purchase Tax ()			1952 price including Purchase Tax ()			1953 price (pre-budget) including Purchase Tax ()
	s.	d.		s.	d.		s.	d.		s.	d.		s.	d.
144 exercise books	30	9	(7/8)	30	9	(7/8)	46	8	(11/8)	5l	4	(12/10)	42	11	(9/11)*
144 jotters	80	1	(20/-)	80	1	(20/-)	119	1	(29/10)	131	-	(32/9)	109	2	(25/-)*
144 pencils	9	11	(utility)†	9	11	(utility)†	25	4	(6/4)	26	0	(6/6)	26	0	(6/6)*
Infant reading book	3	3		3	3		4	0		4	3		4	3
* Purchase Tax has been reduced by 25 per cent. in the current financial year.
† Before 1951 the shortage of graded pencils obliged education authorities to purchase utility pencils.

asked the Attorney-General (1) the number of civil causes in which the Crown was a party in the High Court of Justice for each year since 1947;(2) the number of civil causes in which Government Departments have been parties in the High Court of Justice for each year since 1945.

The number of civil causes of all types to which the

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the average increases in the cost of school text books, exercise books, and pencils, respectively, in 1952; and what were the comparable figures for each of the last six years.

The many different exercise books and text books in use vary considerably in size and, therefore, in price. I do not receive returns of the prices paid by education authorities for such articles, but I have obtained information about the prices paid by one education authority for exercise books, pencils and infant reading books during the five years up to the present time and I have set this out in the following table.Crown was a party which were heard in the High Court during each of the years since 1945 is as follows:

1946	…	…	…	…	170
1947	…	…	…	…	232
1948	…	…	…	…	175
1949	…	…	…	…	250
1950	…	…	…	…	277
1951	…	…	…	…	340
1952	…	…	…	…	413

The figures for 1946 and 1947, before the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, came into force, include cases in which the Crown was standing behind a nominal defendant.