asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is now in a position to make a statement on the provision of new industries in the new town of Peterlee.

Two applications for Government-financed factories in Peterlee are at present under consideration.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he will take to promote the import of tobacco from British Commonwealth territories, in order to restrict dollar expenditure on tobacco.

The import of dollar tobacco is severely restricted on account of our balance of payments. This is a strong inducement to manufacturers to increase their use of tobacco from Commonwealth countries in the sterling area. United Kingdom manufacturers have bought increasing quantities of tobacco from the sterling area and my right hon. Friend expects this trend to continue.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the separate totals of Treasury receipts of Canadian dollars arising out of export sales and Canadian investment income for each annual accounting period since the end of the war.

It is not the practice to publish details of United Kingdom estimates of the balance of payments with single countries. The yearly figures published by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics as to Canadian payments to the United Kingdom on account of imports and interest and dividends are, however, as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what transfers he has authorised of capital from this country for the purpose of investment in industry in Japan within the past year.

Only one transfer is recorded as having been authorised for investment in Japan within the last 12 months. It is not, however, the practice to give details of individual transactions between firms or persons and Exchange Control.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the reasons why he refused authority for a loan to be floated in this country in connection with the construction of a bridge at Auckland, New Zealand.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the hon. Member for Middlesborough. West (Mr. Simon) on 12th March.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many local authorities have obtained by local Acts powers to establish insurance funds; how many of these local authorities have in fact established them; and if he will arrange to supply information as to the financial condition of these funds.

Central records of powers to establish insurance funds do not go back earlier than 1925; but since that date 401 local authorities have obtained these powers. Figures of rural authorities are not available, but at March, 1952, 83 county and urban authorities possessed insurance funds. The figures showing the position of each of these funds at that date are as follows:

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he has reached a decision on the application of the Tees Valley Water Board for grant under Section 3 of the Distribution of Industry Act. 1945.

No

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he is aware of the continuing nuisance suffered by the inhabitants of Caerphilly Road, Cardiff, and its neighbourhood, as a result of vibration of machinery and damp produced by cooling towers owned by the British Oxygen Co. Ltd.; that representations made by the local authority have not had the effect of terminating the nuisance which is damaging the property and health of many citizens of Cardiff; and what action he proposes to take.

No, but if my hon. Friend will supply me with particulars I will have inquiries made.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many new sewage schemes, or extensions of existing sewage schemes, have been approved by his Department during the past 12 months; what is the capital expenditure involved; how many such schemes have been submitted, but are still awaiting approval; and what capital expenditure is involved.

Five hundred and seventy-eight schemes were authorised to start during the twelve months ending on 31st May, 1953, at a total capital cost of £173/4 million. I regret that the information asked for in the second part of the Question is not readily available.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is aware that from 1930 to March 1953, the county borough of West Ham had a loss of rates, due to derating, of £2,395,602; and how soon he anticipates being able to introduce legislation to remove that burden on war-damaged boroughs.

I cannot accept the figures, and in any event the derating loss was taken into account in the block grant and the equalisation grant. On the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Leicester, Northwest (Mr. Janner) on 17th March.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many local authorities have indicated that they can comply with the recommendations of the Working Party on Requisitioned Houses and complete their derequisitioning by 10th December, 1953.

All but 27 of the 585 local authorities concerned have given my right hon. Friend an assurance to this effect.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will extend by six months the terminal date for the derequisitioning of houses in the case of the borough of Stockton-on-Tees.

No, for the reasons which my right hon. Friend has already explained to the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will give an estimate of the saving in the cost of house building which could be made if softwood were made freely available for all purposes.

At present prices of softwood it is estimated there would be no saving.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is aware of the practice of some landlords and house agents to require from prospective tenants advance deposits of rent, payments for furniture and other financial conditions; if he will make an investigation into these practices; and what action he proposes to take to deal with this matter.

To demand a premium or an excessive payment for furniture is already illegal under Section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant (Rent Control) Act, 1949, and my right hon. Friend has not received many representations on this point. Last year he received a number of representations about demands of rent in advance for long periods. He made inquiries and found that most of the cases came from bogus letting agencies. The activities of these bodies have been greatly curtailed by the prosecutions the police undertook, and will be still further restricted by the Accommodation Agencies Act. It is to be hoped that this particular abuse will come to an end with them.If the hon. Gentleman will send me details of the cases he has in mind, I will look into them.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will make a further statement on the total number of houses in respect of which local authorities have since 1919 given guarantees to building societies to cover part of the advance, and the total charge that has fallen on the Exchequer in consequence.

On the latest information available, local authorities have guaranteed advances on 31,635 houses. In addition they have given joint guarantees with the Treasury on advances for 21,482 houses. The loss to the Exchequer from the joint guarantees is £1,902.

asked the Minister of Labour what changes have recently taken place in regard to subsistence allowances to transferred workers.

The only recent change is that lodging allowances under the general scheme for transferred workers who have home commitments are now granted only to those placed by my Department in vacancies of exceptional urgency and importance and not, as previously, to those transferred to first preference vacancies in general. Those who were receiving lodging allowances before the change made on 11th May are not affected.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will arrange for travel vouchers to be issued to those registering for work who are sent considerable distances to be interviewed by prospective employers.

A travel voucher for an interview with a prospective employer may be issued in certain circumstances to disabled persons and generally if the employer has given a written undertaking to repay the fare or has deposited the amount of the fare with the Department's local office.

asked the Minister of Labour when he proposes to introduce legislation to give effect to the recommendations contained in the Report of the Committee on Night Baking, Command Paper No. 8378.

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply my right hon. and learned Friend gave to the hon. Members for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey) and Islington, South-West (Mr. A. Evans) on 23rd June, 1953.

asked the Minister of Labour the numbers registering as unemployed at the Prescot local office of his Department for October, 1951, October, 1952 and each month of 1953.

The following table gives the information desired:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will consult the British Electricity Authority to ascertain what proportion of the additional capital approved for rural electrification will be devoted to South-East Scotland; and if he will, after consultation, make a statement in regard to increased supplies for that area.

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply given on 1st July to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Berwick and East Lothian (Major Anstruther-Gray).

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will state the aggregate installed capacity, M.W.I., of all hydro-electric works owned by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board at 1st July, 1953, or latest convenient date; the capital expenditure incurred by the Board to that date; the capital vested in the Board at 1st July, 1953; and what part of it, and the amount, is represented by sums advanced, or otherwise invested, by the National Debt Commissioners.

I am informed by the Board that the total installed capacity at 1st July, 1953, of all hydro-electric works owned by them was 397 megawatts. The capital expenditure incurred at that date including expenditure on assets transferred to the Board on nationalisation, expenditure on distribution and expenditure on works not yet in operation was approximately £88·5 million; and the Board's issued capital was £82 million, of which £57 million of stock was issued to the National Debt Commissioners and £25 million of stock was a public issue. In addition, approximately £8·5 million of compensation stock was issued to the public by the British Electricity Authority in respect of assets vested in the Board, who will be issuing stock of the same value to the authority in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the average load factor of all water-power establishments, excluding thermal and diesel power stations, owned by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, and measured as an average over the first six months of 1953, or nearest comparable period; and what special efforts he is making to raise the relatively low load-factor of such new establishments as those in the Moriston and Breadalbane schemes.

As I indicated in reply to my hon. Friend's Question on 17th February last, the average load factor in 1952 of all hydro-electric works owned by the Board was 27·7 per cent., including Sloy—which was designed as a peak load station—or 36·4 per cent., excluding Sloy. I am informed that the figures for the first six months of this year are approximately the same. The load factor of the demand in the Board's area in 1952 was about 38 per cent., and, as the load factors of the Moriston and Breadalbane Schemes will be about 43½ per cent. and 40 per cent. respectively, I cannot agree that they are relatively low.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why he has rejected Sutherland County Council's scheme to bring water to the crofters in Armadale who are Government tenants, none of whom have piped water and all of whom are dependent on a defective and contaminated supply.

The scheme was not approved for grant because of the disproportionate cost. I have no information about the quality of the present supply and have called for a report on this matter from the county council.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many secondary school places and primary school places, respectively, were completed in 1951 and 1952.

7,790 secondary and 11,435 primary places were completed in 1951. 4,972 secondary and 10,780 primary places were completed in 1952.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many two, three, four and five-apartment houses, respectively were built by local authorities from October, 1952, to March, 1953.

Of 13,268 local authority houses approved during the period in question, 765, or 5·8 per cent., were of one and two apartments: 6,498, or 49 per cent. were of three apartments; 5,581, or 42 per cent., were of four apartments; and 424, or 3·2 per cent., were of five or more apartments.