asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what part of his working time Lord Reith proposes to devote to the affairs of the Colonial Development Corporation.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the right hon. Member for West Bromwich (Mr. Dugdale) and the hon. Member for Tradeston (Mr. Rankin) on 10th June, and invite his particular attention to my reply on that occasion to the supplementary question by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Llanelly (Mr. J. Griffiths).

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how far British Colonial Territories are included in the list of 24 countries reported by the International Labour Organisation's committee as still having a system of forced labour.

I assume from his Question on 1st July that the hon. Member has now seen the report. The Committee found no evidence of the existence of systems of forced labour in any of the Territories for whose international relations Her Majesty's Government is responsible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why the m.v. "New Susana" was detained fully loaded in Singapore from 3rd to 8th June, 1953.

This vessel was not detained. Application for port clearance was made on 5th June and quoted 8th June as the intended date of departure. As the vessel was under-manned permission to sail was required, and this was given on 8th June.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that shop assistants in Malaya are called upon to work 15 hours a day and many have to sleep among the merchandise of their shops; and if he will take steps to see that the Working Hours Act and the provisions in the labour code are carried out and that more frequent inspections by the health officers are made.

I am not aware that hours of work are as suggested in the Question. Some assistants do sleep in their shops to save renting rooms. There is no Working Hours Act and the labour code does not apply to shop assistants. The Legislative Council is, however, alive to the problem, and passed an Ordinance giving powers for inquiries into hours and working conditions, including those of shop assistants, to see what new legislation is called for.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he will place before his commercial television controlling body the need for banning programmes which advertise contraceptives.

The hon. Member will agree, I am sure, that matters of detail like this could be more appropriately dealt with when the Government's White Paper is considered by the House in the autumn.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how much capital expenditure has been permitted to the British Broadcasting Corporation in each of the years since the war; how much is forecast for the present financial year as a result of last week's Government announcement; and what percentage has been spent in each year on the British Broadcasting Corporation's television service.

In the present financial year, 1953–54, total capital expenditure, including initial expenditure on the developments announced last week, is expected as a rough forecast, to be of the order of £2 million, but much depends upon how quickly the Corporation can proceed with the work.The following table shows the total capital expenditure of the B.B.C. excluding the external services from 1948–49 to 1952–53 together with the percentage thereof devoted to television.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General by what date programmes transmitted by very high frequency will begin to be available in those areas in which sound radio reception is at present unsatisfactory.

The B.B.C. cannot make any firm plans for V.H.F. sound broadcasting, nor can the radio industry produce the transmitters or the special receiving equipment which will be required, until the form of modulation for V.H.F. has been decided. This question is before the Television Advisory Committee which expects to make its report in the autumn.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether, in the interests of a speedy improvement to the sound services in South-East England, he will arrange with the British Broadcasting Corporation to put in very high frequency transmitters at some of their existing television or radio stations in accordance with the policy successfully adopted for very high frequency broadcasting in Western Germany.

The B.B.C.'s intention is to use existing stations wherever appropriate and their post-war permanent television stations have been designed so that very high frequency sound transmitters can readily be added. Detailed plans for a v.h.f. scheme cannot, however, be settled until my noble Friend has had the advice of the Television Advisory Committee.

asked the Minister of Food if his attention has been drawn to the protests made by meat traders against the imposition of a condition of sale upon the trade in the instance of unwanted and unsaleable frozen mutton; and if he will make a statement.

As long as rationing lasts I must arrange for the even distribution amongst butchers of the less popular as well as the most popular types of meat, on the basis of fair shares for all.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will make a statement on his dispute with the butchers about the supplies of poor quality mutton.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will withdraw his instructions to butchers that they must accept an allocation of ewe mutton or be deprived of their allocation of other meat.

I have met the butchers' representatives, and I am aware of their difficulties; but so long as rationing lasts I must distribute supplies evenly. The proportion of ewe mutton is not likely to exceed 3½ per cent., and some of the allegations about its quality have been grossly exaggerated.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will reduce the price of ewe mutton.

I hope to make a statement on this subject within the next 24 hours.

asked the Minister of Food what effect the withdrawal of the surcharge of 2d. on wholesale purchases by butchers has upon their profit margins for 1953–1954.

None. The adjustment is subject to review when more precise information about the level of trade becomes available.

asked the Minister of Food what expenses have so far been incurred in connection with the storage of 500,000 gallons of adulterated orange juice concentrate purchased in error by his Department.

About £70,000. It is not correct to describe the vendor's failure to comply with conditions of contract as a Departmental error.

asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that owing to the shortage of supplies of sweets at least one confectioner in Lincoln has had to reduce the number of hours his shop is open; and what steps he is taking to alleviate this shortage.

I am informed that one retailer in Lincoln has complained to the hon. Member that owing to a shortage of supplies he had decided to close on some weekdays at 8.30 p.m. instead of 9.30 p.m. and on Sundays at 5 p.m. instead of 9.30 p.m. The circumstances of this case are clearly exceptional and do not indicate any general shortage in Lincoln.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will reduce the top grade for fat cattle to the existing standard of "A" plus sign, in order to quicken the turnover of fat cattle and reduce the loss with over-fat animals.

No. We want to encourage the production of the best beef and the present system of grading helps towards that end.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the most recent statistics concerning the number of clubs registered in the country since the abrogation of Defence Order No. 55c; what were the numbers in existence at the time of the abrogation; and what were the figures for London and Wales, respectively.

The only available statistics are for the Metropolitan Police district. Defence Regulation 55c lapsed on 10th December, 1952, and the nearest date for which there are statistics is 30th November, 1952. Twenty-eight clubs were registered between that date and 30th June, 1953. The number of existing clubs on the 30th November, 1952, was 2,967.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give the complete list of all licensing districts in which an extension of permitted hours to 10.30 p.m. has been granted on weekdays, either for the whole year or lesser period, indicating where such extensions were newly granted at the last annual licensing meeting.

I am sending my hon. Friend the information for which he asks.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local education authorities have introduced school road crossing patrols.

Outside London the provision of school crossing patrols is now a matter for county and county borough councils. 107 county and county borough councils in England and Wales have indicated that they are running or will introduce patrols and a number of other councils have the matter under active consideration; the Commissioner of Police is responsible for patrols in the Metropolitan Police district.