asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what percentage of the average wage paid in industry in 1946 was represented by the retirement pension of 26s.; and what was the comparable percentage for the present retirement pension of 32s. 6d., in relation to the current average wage paid in industry.

Taking the Ministry of Labour figures of earnings of men manual workers as a basis the percentages are about 21 and 17, respectively.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of women, other than widows, who are in receipt of a retirement pension on the qualification of their husbands' stamps.

About 750,000.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the amount spent in Cardiff by the National Assistance Board in 1951, 1952 and the anticipated expenditure for 1953.

Information about the amount of National Assistance paid in particular localities is not available.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the present purchasing value of the 55s. a week war pension for total disablement compared with the 45s. a week pension paid in February, 1946; and to what extent further increases are contemplated.

As regards the first part of the Question: about 38s. 6d. My right hon. Friend is not in a position to make a statement as to the second part of the Question.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the present purchasing value of the supplementary allowance of 35s. a week paid to 22,000 war pensioners who are unemployable by reason of severe disablement, as compared with its value when first awarded in June 1951.

About 31s. 6d.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of persons in receipt of retirement pensions in Scotland drawing incremented pensions owing to delay in retirement.

The number is estimated at about 21,000.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will make a statement on the results of the experiments in generating power by wind.

Yes. Electricity is being produced by the 100 kilowatt windmill in Orkney, and the two machines working on the Andreau principle are being erected for test at St. Albans and at Cranfield, respectively.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if loans are available to industrialists who, to save fuel, change from coal to oil burning.

Yes, provided the fuel savings are worthwhile.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware of the terms of a motion passed at the last session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe with regard to the establishment of a European television network; and whether he will consult with his noble Friend the Postmaster-General with a view to ensuring effective British support for the industry in its efforts to bring such a network into being at an early date.

I am aware of the recommendations to which my hon. Friend refers. I am informed that a number of European broadcasting authorities, including the B.B.C., are planning an interchange of television programmes over an international network to be set up temporarily in the middle of next year; further progress must await the outcome of this experiment.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware of the concern which has followed the announcement of the curtailment of the United Kingdom monetary contribution to the technical assistance programmes of the United Nations; and if he will review this decision at an early date.

:No such announcement has been made by, or on behalf of, Her Majesty's Government. I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply given on 11th November to the hon. Member for Blackburn, East (Mrs. Castle).

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to publish details of all lectures, delegations, and overseas visits, involving Members of Parliament, which have been arranged by his Department or for whose detail or membership his Department is responsible since 1945, the composition of such delegations, etc., and the countries to which such visits were arranged.

I understand that all the information readily available was supplied to the hon. Member by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary in a letter of 30th April, 1952. I am collecting more recent particulars and will write to the hon. Member.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of his decision not to publish the Report of the Drogheda Committee on the Overseas Information Services, he will make available a White Paper containing those sections which are not confidential together with the Government's intended action in regard to its recommendations.

I do not exclude the possibility of publishing such a White Paper when Her Majesty's Government have completed their consideration of the Report.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many British delegates and British officials took part in the Dumbarton Oaks and San Francisco conferences in respect of the United Nations Charter.

The United Kingdom was represented at the Dumbarton Oaks conversations by a delegation composed of nine delegates and advisers. The United Kingdom delegation to the San Francisco Conference included four delegates, five assistant delegates and 37 advisers. The names of the delegation at San Francisco may be found in the Appendix to Command 6666 of 1945.

asked the Minister of Food when the regulations concerning the sterilisation of condemned meat are to come into force.

:I hope to introduce the new conditions of sale in time for the next auctions in December.

asked the Minister of Food why he now expects to receive this year from Argentina 63,000 tons of carcase meat and offals less than he estimated.

:Argentina has apparently been unable to find sufficient meat to ship to this country.

asked the Minister of Food how much carcase meat he expects to receive from Australia this year.

About 194,000 tons.

asked the Minister of Food the retail prices of all subsidised foodstuffs at 1st November, 1951, and 1st November, 1953, respectively.

The following is the information:

asked the Minister of Supply if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which top secret information concerning the Avro Vulcan bomber, the release of which in this country is forbidden under the Official Secrets Act, has been revealed in a United States magazine, details of which have been supplied to him by the hon. Member for Dartford.

:Some of the information in the magazine in question is of a kind which would not have been published in the British Press, for whose discretion in such matters this country has cause to be grateful. The writer of the article claims in it that the particulars he has given are deductions from previously published information. It would be contrary to the public interest for me to comment on the accuracy or otherwise of these statements.

asked the Minister of Supply, in the new organisation recently set up under Sir Edwin Plowden, what arrangements have been made to promote the medical interests as well as the industrial; how far the medical interests will be represented on the council; and if he will make a statement.

:My hon. Friend is under a misapprehension. The new Atomic Energy Corporation has not yet been set up. A Bill defining its constitution and functions will be introduced in due course.

asked the Minister of Supply the approximate number of contracts made between his Department and industry during the last financial year, or the most convenient 12-monthly period; the total value of those contracts; and the number of firms with whom those contracts were made.

During the last financial year the Ministry of Supply placed approximately 250,000 contracts to the value of about £630 million. These were spread among some 10,000 firms. These figures include contracts placed both by the Ministry's Headquarters and its outstations. But they do not include orders placed by the Ministry's Headquarters with the Royal Ordnance Factories and Agency Factories.

asked the Minister of Supply what sites for nuclear energy power stations he has considered in Northern Ireland.

I assume my hon. and gallant Friend is inquiring about the site for the first breeder reactor plant for generating electricity. All parts of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where the necessary facilities exist, have been considered.

asked the Minister of Supply to what extent, and against what risks, he insures commodities for which he is responsible; how such insurances are placed, and with whom; and why the risk is not borne by Her Majesty's Government.

Certain stocks of ferroalloys held for the Ministry by the British Iron and Steel Corporation, Ltd. are insured. The insurance, which covers fire, explosion, flood, storm and tempest, is placed commercially by the Corporation through insurance brokers. It would not be practicable to exclude that part of the stocks which is owned by the Government from the Corporation's general insurance cover.

asked the Minister of Supply the premiums paid in respect of insurances effected by his Department since 1940; and the value of claims received, showing each year separately.

I am having the information collected and shall send it to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will place in the Library a copy of the rules of procedure of the tribunal which has been set up in British Guiana to consider appeals by persons detained under the Emergency Regulations.

My right hon. Friend has asked the Governor for a copy of the rules of procedure for this purpose.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what date police agents in British Guiana reported to the Governor an alleged conspiracy to burn down Government buildings and European premises in Georgetown; and on what date this information was received by his Department in London.

:The reports were made to the Governor on 6th October and the telegram from the Governor was received in the Colonial Office early on 7th October.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, in view of the fact that he has already assisted the Scottish Diatomite Company with road building, he will consider giving further assistance by a grant for the repair of the direct route from Loch Cuither to Uig.

:I have no power to make a grant for the repair of the road in question which is a classified county highway.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many requests for modernisation grants under the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1949, have been received from within the area of the county of Lanark for private landlords, owner-occupiers and owners of tied premises, respectively; and how many have been granted in each category.

Applications for im-improvement grant covering 44 houses had been approved by the county council up to 30th September, 1953. I regret that I have no information about the total number of applications received by local authorities, or the number received from the three categories mentioned.

asked the Minister of Health the average cost per individual per week of members of homeless families admitted to rest centres and welfare institutions, respectively.

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the hon. Member for Woolwich, West, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, if he will arrange to have published in Hansard a table of figures giving the cost of meals, snacks, etc., in the Members' Dining Room and Cafeteria, and Strangers' Dining Room, on 1st April, 1946; and similar figures at the latest convenient stated date.

It is regretted that records of prices charged in the various rooms in 1946 are not available, but given below are comparative figures for May, 1947, and November, 1953.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the limits to the extensions of time for filing evidence or taking other steps in proceedings which may be granted by the Comptroller of the Patent Office to opponents of applications for patents; and what remedy for, or right of appeal, applicants have against delays so caused.

:No limits are prescribed for extensions of time allowed by the Comptroller to either party in proceedings in opposition to the grant of a patent. The Comptroller allows such extensions as seem reasonable in the circumstances of each case, and there is no provision for any appeal against his decision to allow an extension. Although extensions delay the grant of the patent, the applicant is not debarred, once the patent is granted, from recovering damages for infringements which occurred whilst the opposition proceedings were in progress.

asked the Minister of Education (1) the number of children in the area covered by the Whitehaven parliamentary division, who received school meals on the nearest convenient date; and the comparable number for 1951 and 1952;(2) the number of children in the area covered by the Whitehaven parliamentary division, who were in receipt of free school meals on the nearest convenient date; and the comparable number for 1951 and 1952.

I have not got the information required. My information about the number of children taking school meals relates to the whole area of the county of Cumberland Local Education Authority.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many orders have been made by him under Section 74 of the Agriculture Act, 1947.

:One Statutory Instrument was made by my predecessor under this Section.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many persons in Brentford and Chiswick were still on the waiting list for telephones on 1st November; and how this figure compares with 1st November, 1950, 1951 and 1952.

:Brentford and Chiswick are served mainly by the Chiswick Exchange, on which there are 504 applications for telephones outstanding, including 121 in course of being met. The number outstanding on the 1st November, 1950, 1951 and 1952, was 483, 610, and 512. The number of applications met in these years was 2,368.