asked the Minister of Education what plans have been made to build a new secondary school in Tonbridge, Kent, where there is at present a shortage of accommodation; and what action is being taken to alleviate the overcrowding which the increase in pupils next year is likely to cause.

My right hon. Friend is now considering, in relation to their other building needs, a proposal by the Kent local education authority to include in their school building programme for 1954 an instalment of a new secondary school at Tonbridge. Meanwhile the

Local Education Authority			Primary		Secondary
			Schools	Places	Schools	Places
Berkshire	…	…	2	560	1	450
Birmingham	…	…	8	2,440	4	2,100
Essex	…	…	12	3,410	7	3,960
Hertfordshire	…	…	9	2,600	5	1,980
London	…	…	6	1,640	5	7,800
Reading	…	…	2	440	—	—
Somerset	…	…	1	120	—	—
Staffordshire	…	…	4	1,120	1	825

asked the Minister of Education the cost of transport per week for schoolchildren at Knockholt, Kent, to go to school at Orpington.

My right hon. Friend understands that the cost of conveying children from Knockholt, Cudham and Pratt's Bottom to secondary schools in Orpington is £25 a week. She regrets that she cannot give a separate figure for the Knockholt children alone.

asked the Minister of Education how much money has been spent by the Kent Education Committee on the purchase of javelins since April, 1950.

Seven hundred and thirty pounds.

asked the Minister of Education how many primary and secondary schools, respectively, were given approval with starting dates during the year 1952 for the Berkshire, Birmingham, Essex, Hertfordshire, London, Reading, Somerset and Staffordshire local education authorities, respectively; and how many primary school places and secondary school places, respectively, these schools will provide in each of the areas.

The following is the information required:

asked the Minister of Education the approximate annual cost involved in her decision not to make a reduction in grants for adult education.

The cost involved by not making a reduction of 10 per cent. would be about £34,000 in a full year.

asked the Minister of Education the names of the primary schools, with the number of pupils in each, in Breconshire and Radnorshire at which children are not given fresh milk; what substitute is being used; and how the meals of children in the rural schools, therefore, compare with those in the urban schools as far as sweets and puddings for the mid-day meals are concerned.

In Brecon, the following schools—

				Number on roll
Crickadarn	…	…	…	6
Elan Village	…	…	…	26
Gwenddwr	…	…	…	32
Llaneglwys	…	…	…	18

use reconstituted national dried milk for drinking and dried skim milk for cooking.In Radnor,

			Number on roll
Canpol School	…	…	27

uses reconstituted national dried milk for drinking and liquid milk or dried milk for cooking. Where a satisfactory supply of fresh milk cannot be arranged I am satisfied that the children in the rural schools concerned get good well-balanced meals which compare favourably with those supplied in urban schools, most of which use some dried milk for cooking.

asked the Minister of Agriculture to give an estimate of the annual loss caused by the warble fly in Britain; and if will ask the Agricultural Research Council and the Agricultural Improvement Council to recommend more effective measures to get rid of this pest as Denmark has done.

The estimated loss resulting from warble damage to hides sold by the Ministry of Food during 1952 was about £414,000. Research on this subject is being conducted at my Department's Veterinary Laboratory and we are also watching closely the progress of research in other countries. My right hon. Friend does not think that any advantage would result from reference to the Agricultural Research Council or the Agricultural Improvement Council.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how arrangements have been made for contingents of railway police to take part in lining routes in London on the occasion of Her Majesty's processions on 3rd, 9th and 12th June; under what statutory powers such arrangements have been made; and why the arrangements were not made under the same statutory powers for the use of railway police on the occasion of Her Majesty's Coronation, in recognition of their valuable public services.

I understand that the railway police have been invited to assist the City of London police on the three dates in question in accordance with informal arrangements following those adopted on similar occasions in the past. At such times no police powers are exercised by the railway police. As I explained in reply to a Question by the hon. and learned Member on 19th March, it was decided with regret that contingents of railway police could not be employed to line the Coronation route which is within the Metropolitan police district.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that door barriers in connection with the Coronation have been erected on the Thames Embankment, and other roads in London, blocking out traffic light signals; that the doors near Charing Cross Station completely conceal the traffic lights from the view of motorists travelling from east to west, thus being dangerous to pedestrians and motorists alike; and whether he will take the necessary action to overcome these dangers to road users.

Where high barriers are erected near traffic signals, warning notices are displayed. I have no evidence to suggest that these precautions are insufficient.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he has any statement to make about the recent riot at Elmina in the Gold Coast.

For some months there have been disputes in the Edina/ Eguafo Local Council area over the level of rates imposed by the local council which was elected last year. On the night of 8th May a large number of people collected to resist execution by the local council police of warrants issued by the native court for the arrest of certain persons who had failed to answer summonses of the court concerning non-payment of rates. Gold Coast Colony police were summoned from Elmina and were compelled to use tear smoke to disperse the crowd.At about 7.15 a.m. on 9th May a crowd from nearby villages, estimated at about 2,000, approached Elmina Castle where the Colony police reserve is quartered. The Superintendent of Police, Major Edgar Brookes, sent a police sergeant-major to tell the crowd to disperse. As the order was ignored, Superintendent Brookes, with two constables unarmed like himself, approached the crowd and ordered it to disperse. While he was speaking he and one of the constables were shot and killed.The crowd seemed intent on proceeding to Elmina either to intimidate the local council or to regain a drum which the local council police had seized the previous night. Some of the crowd which had reached the town of Elmina threatened the council with firearms. Police reinforcements soon arrived from the Castle, some with firearms, and dispersed the crowd. Four other policemen were injured, one dangerously, and 18 fatal casualties have been reported amongst the rioters.A curfew has been enforced in the area, further police have been moved in and the situation is now reported quiet. Local chiefs and the local Member of the Legislative Assembly are actively co-operating with the authorities in maintaining calm. A number of persons have been detained of whom 33 have so far been identified as having taken part in the disturbances. On 13th May the Gold Coast Prime Minister made a broadcast condemning in the strongest terms this resort to violence.I should like to express the deep sympathy of my right hon. Friend and myself with the relatives of Superintendent Brookes and of the dead constable, Akurugu Frafra.

asked the Minister of Food what advice has been given by his veterinary experts as to the danger to the public from the consumption of milk from a cow infected by brucella abortus; and what steps he is taking to prevent animals so infected from being sold as milking cows in the open market.

I am advised that if milk is infected with the organism of brucella abortus there is a risk of the consumer contracting undulant fever, but that an infected cow will not ordinarily give milk containing this organism in large numbers except for a short period after calving. It is an offence under the Food and Drugs Acts to sell for human consumption the milk of any cow which is known to be suffering from an infection of the udder or teats likely to convey disease, and medical officers of health are authorised under the Milk and Dairies Regulations to stop the sale or require the heat treatment of milk if they have evidence satisfying them that it is infected with a disease communicable to man. I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture that the Epizootic Abortion Order of 1922 prohibits the exposure in a market of a cow which has calved prematurely within the preceding two months.

asked the Minister of Food how much of the 6,746,000 tons of the 1952 main crop of potatoes in Great Britain is surplus to human requirements and is being offered to farmers for stock feeling; and if he will give an estimate of the cost likely to fall on his Department.

It is not yet possible to estimate with any accuracy either the surplus or the cost of its disposal.

asked the Minister of Food what number of calories per penny the British consumer will obtain from the recent purchase of 600,000 tons of Cuban sugar, assuming such sugar to be untaxed and unsubsidised.

The recent purchase of sugar from Cuba was 1 million tons to be taken during 1953 and 1954. This is, of course, only part of the total supply required to meet unrationed consumption and the unsubsidised price must take into account all other supplies for consumption in the United Kingdom. If this special purchase of Cuban sugar were to be sold separately to the British consumer at an unsubsidised and untaxed price I calculate that he would obtain 344 calories per penny.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, in order to relieve the rating position in the Burgh of Inverness in view of the disproportionate burden carried by the burgh in increased county education costs, he will consider making a grant to the county education authority under Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1946.

The payment of special grant from the Education (Scotland) Fund to meet the needs of Highland education authorities with a comparatively low rateable value was discontinued when the equalisation grant, which was designed to bring up to the national average the rating resources of those authorities, came into operation, and the revival of the special grant to the county would not be an appropriate way of dealing with the situation in the burgh. An investigation into the working of the present equalisation grant arrangements is now proceeding and the representations made by the Town Council of Inverness are being kept in mind.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the percentage of telephone kiosks, respectively, of the population of England, Scotland and Wales.

In England there is one public call office to every 827 of the population: in Scotland and Wales the figures are 1 to 853 and 1 to 536.