asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will institute discussions with the President of the Board of Trade upon the further restrictions of imports of dehydrated vegetables until such time as a long-term policy on this subject can be worked out, which is now causing anxiety to British agriculturists.

I do not consider that restriction of imports of dehydrated vegetables would be justified. Producers have been advised that if they wish to make an application for an increase in the present rate of duty the Board of Trade will examine it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the proposals for constitutional reform which are being prepared by the Gold Coast Government for submission to Her Majesty's Government, he can now make a statement about the future of the public service in the Gold Coast.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made after Questions on 9th July.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he is aware that properties with rateable value exceeding £32 in the village of Newton, Derbyshire, are suffering damage as a result of the working of shallow coal seams; and what provision he makes in such cases of financial hardship.

I am aware that larger dwellinghouses and other properties in mining areas sustain damage from mining subsidence but I have no power under the Coal Mining (Subsidence) Act of 1950, or otherwise, to make funds available in respect of such damage.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the allocations of houses to be built by each housing authority in Northamptonshire last year and this year; and in which cases applications for a larger or further allocation have been refused or any intimation given to the housing authority that no further allocation would be given for the year in question.

I regret that I cannot add to the information given in the published Housing Returns and in the answer my right hon. Friend made to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Donnelly) on 12th May.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is aware of the anxiety felt in the village of Llanuwchllyn, Merioneth, about the future of their water supply, in view of works now actually in progress to lower the level of Bala Lake; and what steps he proposes to take as a matter or urgency to allay this anxiety and to reassure the population of the district about their future supply of water.

My right hon. Friend is aware of this anxiety and has offered a grant to the Penglyn Rural District Council under the Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Acts, 1944 and 1951, in aid of a scheme to supply water to Llanuwchllyn and surrounding areas by means of a bulk supply from the Bala Urban District Council.

asked the Minister of Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the report recently published by the Economic Research Council, a copy of which has been sent to him, on road casualties among children and especially young cyclists; and what action he proposes to take upon its recommendations.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave on 22nd June to my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. J. Rodgers). of which I am sending him a copy.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that the scheme announced by the British Transport Commission for supplementing the pensions of certain retired salaried staff of British Railways is much less favourable than that applied to retired public servants under the Pensions (Increase) Acts, 1944 to 1952: and whether he will ask the British Transport Commission to bring the scheme into line with that approved by Parliament for central and local government pensioners.

I know that the Commission's scheme for supplementing the pensions of certain of their pensioners does not go as far as the increases given by the Pensions (Increase) Acts. As I explained to the House in the course of the debate on the Adjournment on 17th March, 1953, I must have regard to the Commission's statutory duty to make ends meet and I recognise that in present financial conditions the scheme is the most that can reasonably be expected of them.