asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in how many cases licences have been refused by licensing tribunals in Scotland for insulated vans for the transport of meat.

I am informed that during the last 12 months no such applications have been refused.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation why he has made the decision to discontinue the use of the troopship "Empire Pride,"having regard to the fact that this vessel is only 13 years old, and has given and is able to give better service than some of the older troopships; and if he will reconsider his decision.

The "Empire Pride"has been taken out of the trooping service because the accommodation fell far short of present-day trooping standards. The ship was originally designed as a cargo ship and, owing to her construction, it would be difficult and very costly to modernise her with satisfactory results. I regret, therefore, that I am unable to reconsider my decision to release her from this service.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation when he will authorise the reconstruction of the Angel Road Bridge, Edmonton, which is a bottleneck on the North Circular Road.

I regret that I cannot say when it will be possible to authorise this expensive scheme.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether, in view of the congestion of traffic on the South Wales road, A48, at Chepstow and its approaches, he will consider the construction of a road from Day House Farm, Tidenham, to Hayes Gate and over the Wye at Beachley.

:I know that traffic conditions at Chepstow are difficult, but the construction of a new road from Tidenham to Beachley and that portion of the proposed Severn Bridge approach which extends from Beachley over the Wye to Haysgate would involve expenditure which cannot be undertaken at the present time. The construction of the Ross Spur, to which my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary and Minister for Welsh Affairs referred on 8thDecember last, will, we hope, help to reduce the amount of through traffic which now uses the Newport—Gloucester Road.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to make a statement on the present position of the peace talks in Korea, indicating upon what points agreement has and has not been reached.

With regard to the present position I have nothing to add to my reply to the hon. and learned Member for West Ham, South (Mr. Elwyn Jones) on 8th February. The principal points still at issue are the voting procedure, the status of the Soviet Union as a participant in the conference and the identity and functions of neutral nations who should attend it.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a statement on the progress of the Anglo-Iranian oil talks.

I have nothing to add to my answer to the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt) on 25th January, except to say that, as the House is no doubt aware, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company have resumed their talks with other oil companies able to make a positive contribution to a solution of the Persian oil problem, and a joint survey mission is about to visit the oil installations in Southern Persia.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will suspend the supply of arms to Egypt until the negotiations reach a satisfactory conclusion or until the anti-British acts of violence cease.

The supply of arms to Egypt from the United Kingdom has been suspended for a considerable time.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the nature of the replies which the Egyptian Government have made to his recent protests about the 283 outrages in the Suez Canal Zone in the last 13 months in which 14 British subjects were killed and 30 wounded.

:The protests to which my hon. Friend refers concern the incidents which took place last month. The Egyptian Foreign Minister replied that he took these representations with the utmost seriousness, and that the incidents would be carefully investigated. Meanwhile, he protested in turn about an incident in which an Egyptian lorry, containing members of the Egyptian Air Force, failed to stop when challenged by one of our anti-cable cutting patrols. The patrol opened fire and two Egyptians were wounded and have since died.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the desirability of international action to ensure that all existing facilities are avail able for all ships passing through the Suez Canal.

It will be recalled that Her Majesty's Government, together with the Governments of France and the United States, took the initiative in bringing this question of the Egyptian blockade of Israel before the Security Council in August, 1951. The Israel Government have now raised the matter again in the Security Council and it is being debated at the present time.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has consulted the Secretary of State for the Home Department with a view to ensuring that immigration officials are made familiar with the organisation and protocol essentials of the United Nations organisation, with a view to preventing the harassing of distinguished visitors connected with the specialised agencies on their visits to this country.

Lloyd: Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will propose at the Berlin Conference that the Governments there represented should bind themselves not to enter into military alliance for a period of five years with a central German Government based on free elections.

No. An all-German Government should be free, both before and after the conclusion of a peace treaty, to enter into associations compatible with the principles and purposes of the United Nations.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a statement upon the progress of the Berlin Conference.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will take steps to raise at the Berlin Conference methods of improving and in creasing East-West trade.

:The Berlin Conference is not primarily concerned with trade matters and there are of course already fully adequate channels for handling questions of Anglo-Soviet trade. My right hon. Friend is, however, well aware of the importance of this matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affaire if he will propose to the Powers establishing the European Defence Community that all European Governments which have not been declared to be aggressors by the United Nations be invited to join.

:No. The European Defence Community Treaty already provides that any European State may ask to accede to it.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will take steps to secure that the United Nations establishes an Economic Commission for the Middle East.

No. In view of the past history of this suggestion, Her Majesty's Government feel that the initiative for further action should come from the Governments in the region concerned.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the annual loan granted to the Government of Jordan contains an allocation for the development of irrigation of some part of the Yarmuk River.

:Yes. The funds lent to Jordan for development purposes since 1951 have included a sum of £75,000 towards the cost of a technical survey of the irrigation prospects of the Yarmuk River. The survey is in progress and the result is expected in a few months.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will state the nature of his explanation to the French Government of the circumstances in which M. Cassin was detained and questioned at Victoria Station on 22nd January.

No. As soon as this matter was brought to my attention, I sent through the French Ambassador, an expression of my deep regret to M. Cassin, which I later repeated. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary wrote personally to M. Cassin in the same sense. I received yesterday a letter fromthe French Ambassador stating that in the circumstances his Government regarded the incident as closed.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many Korean nationals, who were sentenced by British and allied tribunals as Japanese war criminals are still imprisoned in Japan; and to what extent their cases are subject to periodic review by the allied military authorities.

No Korean nationals were sentenced by British military tribunals as war criminals. Her Majesty's Government have no information whether Korean nationals were sentenced by the military tribunals of other Powers. Eleven Japanese nationals who are natives of Korea, who were convicted by British military tribunals, are still serving their sentences in Sugamo prison, Tokyo. The cases of these eleven are subject to review on the same terms as those of other Japanese class "B" and "C" war criminals, as announced in my hon. Friend's reply on l·8th December, 1952, to my hon. Friend the Member for Hertfordshire, South-West (Mr. G. Longden).

asked the Minister of Food what price his Department pays per hundredweight for home-produced bacon, and for bacon received from Holland and Denmark.

:The present estimated cost of home-produced bacon is about 380s. per cwt. ex factory. The cost is dependent among other things upon the prices paid for pigs which now vary with changes in the cost of feedingstuffs.

asked the Minister of Food if he will instruct the Inter-departmental Committee on Slaughterhouses (England and Wales), before submitting their final report, to base their consideration of the siting of slaughterhouses on the assumption that slaughtering will be done in the producing areas, and that meat will be sent to consuming areas in carcase form.

:The Committee have been asked to make recommendations on the general principles of the siting of slaughterhouses, and this is one of the issues they will have to consider in the light of the evidence they receive.

asked the Minister of Food if, following the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Committee on Slaughterhouses, he will circularise local authorities immediately asking them to consult representatives of the local farmers and traders and make clear to them what action they propose to take in regard to slaughtering facilities.

I hope shortly to announce the Government's decisions on the Committee's recommendations and I shall then arrange for consultations with representatives of the local authorities and other interests concerned.

asked the Minister of Food if he will accept the proposals of the High Wycombe Borough Council and neighbouring authorities for the establishment of a public abattoir in High Wycombe.

This scheme cannot be approved until it is known whether the final approved plan for a moderate concentration of slaughterhouses throughout the country will provide for the siting of a new slaughterhouse in the district of High Wycombe.

asked the Minister of Food what steps he is taking to increase the number of hygienic-insulated vans in use for the transport of meat.

Most of the vehicles used for the transport of meat are insulated and those which are not are used only for short distances. I am considering generally possible means of providing for more hygienic handling of meat.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will reinstitute Government bulk purchasing of tea.

:I see no reason for questioning the wisdom of the late Government when it decided, in 1950, that private traders buy tea more efficiently than Government Departments.

asked the Minister of Food how many people in his Department engaged in the negotiation of bulk purchases have become redundant by the operation of private buyers.

The headquarters'staff of the Department has been reduced by more than 1,000 over the past two years, but I cannot precisely allocate the reductions due to a changeover to private buying.

asked the Minister of Food how much meat has been purchased by private buyers since 1952 from Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

:No carcase meat has been imported by private buyers, but in the two years 1952 and 1953 they imported 250 tons, 82,000 tons and 16,800 tons of canned and open-pack meat products from Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

asked the Minister of Food the estimate for the subsidy on eggs for 1953–54.

The subsidy on eggs for the financial year ending 31st March, 1954, is now estimated at £26·7 million.

asked the Minister of Food the amount of full price fresh milk consumed during December, 1953.

The provisional total for the United Kingdom is 107·9 million gallons.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what protests he has received from Kenya against the subversive activities of elements of the Indian community there; and if he will make a statement.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) if he will make a statement on the ceremonies practised by Mau Mau, both on initiation and subsequently in progress to the seventh grade, in view of the evidence of such ceremonies now available;(2) if he will publish the evidence showing the methods by which ceremonies of initiation to, and promotion in Mau Mau, are designed to prevent, through the ceremonial and personal degradation involved, any return by the native concerned to normal tribal life.

:In June last year my right hon. Friend made available in the Library certain information regarding the rites attending the earlier degrees of Mau Mau oath. More up-to-date information is now available and he has placed this in the Library together with an appreciation of the significance and effect of these oaths and the ritual with which they are enforced.The terms of the oaths themselves have become increasingly more violent and bloodthirsty while the ceremonies in which they are administered have become correspondingly more bestial. Women now take part in some of the most obscene rites and others demand human remains for their performance.It is clear that the intention behind the revolting and bestial character of these ceremonies is utterly to degrade and debase the initiate in order to make him feel a complete social outcast. In this way his tribal loyalties are no longer binding, his sole allegiance is to Mau Mau and he is made to feel that there is no way back to sanity and civilisation. The brutal mentality thereby induced is reflected in the atrocities committed by the terrorists.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what action he has taken to ensure that Kikuyu independent schools are no longer used as recruiting grounds for Mau Mau.

These schools, to the number of 136, were closed at the beginning of the emergency and have not been permitted to reopen except under mission or district education board management. Fifty-eight of them were declared redundant and, of the balance, 46 have so far reopened on the terms laid down.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been drawn to the system of rewards instituted by Mau Mau for the killing of Europeans and African loyalists, and of the custom of holding prize-giving ceremonies following upon raids and killings by Mau Mau terrorists; and what information he has to show how long this system of rewards by Mau Mau in respect of victims killed has been in existence.

:Yes. There is evidence that such a system of monetary rewards was in existence as far back as October, 1952. Statements from captured gang members have confirmed that prize giving parades have been held after successful Mau Mau raids on villages and Home Guard posts, the rewards varying according to the status of the victims.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he has now given consideration to the possibilities of holding an inquiry into the conduct of the Kenya Home Guard and police; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend is considering this matter, and will inform the House of his decision in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that his proposal for separating Lagos from the Western Region, in Nigeria, is unacceptable to Nigerians; and whether he will reconsider this suggestion.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will arrange for the verbatim report of the proceedings in connection with the inquiry into alleged corruption in the Gold Coast to be published in this country in view of the fact that persons resident in the United Kingdom and United Kingdom companies have been mentioned.

:The report of the commission of inquiry will be published in the Gold Coast and available here. The Gold Coast Government have not yet decided whether to publish a verbatim record of proceedings.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what reply has been sent to the letter, forwarded to him from the three Uganda rulers, referring to their difficulties under the new constitutional arrangements in their territories.

My right hon. Friend is considering this letter in consultation with the Governor.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to acts of vandalism on the estate of Mrs. Sutherland, Five Islands, Antigua; whether those responsible have been apprehended and brought to trial; and what steps have been taken to prevent repetition of such conduct.

I am informed by the Governor that damage has been done on Mrs. Sutherland's estate. Despite every effort those responsible have not yet been traced. I am awaiting a further report.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give the average total number of unemployed in Jamaica for each of the years 1949, 1950 1951, 1952 and 1953.

I regret that the statistics my hon. Friend asks for are not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the total amount of gifts made or promised by the British taxpayer to Malta since the end of the war; and what is the annual grant at present to meet the island's recurrent administrative expenditure.

The total amount of financial aid given or promised to Malta since the war (including £20 million for war damage and reconstruction) is £25,547,000. The annual grants at present being made in respect of certain administrative expenditure are (a) grant to cover the net cost of the Imperial side of the Dyarchy; (b) grant to cover the cost of civil defence and stockpiling measures; and (c) grant for four years from 1953–54 of two-thirds of the cost of an agreed emigration programme, up to a maximum of £200,000 in any year.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty how many workers have been dismissed from Rosyth Dockyard, Fife, and other naval establishments in Scotland for political reasons in each of the last four years; and how many juveniles have been refused work at any such establishment in the last two years on the grounds that one or both of their parents were known Communists.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to discharges made in accordance with the statement made by the then Prime Minister in the House of Commons on 15th March, 1948. Only one such discharge has taken place from naval establishments in Scotland, and that was in 1950. It would be contrary to policy to disclose the reasons why individuals are rejected for employment, but no juvenile applicant for employment has been rejected on account of the Communist associations of his parents.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the present amount of the ration allowance granted to Royal Marines; and the circumstances in which it is granted.

:4s. 4d. a day in the United Kingdom and varying rates abroad according to the retail cost of foodstuffs; these rates are, of course, common to all three Services. Broadly speaking, ration allowance is granted to a man when he cannot be fed by the Service or, in the case of a married man serving on shore, when he lives out with his family.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty what means are employed in the Royal Navy to ensure that junior officers are closely acquainted with the domestic difficulties of their men.

It is the firmly established practice in the Royal Navy that divisional officers are required to keep in close touch with their men and be ready at all times to advise and help them to the best of their ability. This is expressly laid down in Queen's Regulations. Instruction in these important responsibilities is given proper emphasis from the very beginning of the training of all junior officers. Ratings are instructed during their new entry training on the way in which they can look to divisional officers for guidance; while a statement of the divisional officer's responsibilities for personal welfare is included in the Naval Ratings Handbook.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he will make a statement on the damage to the guns of H.M.S. "Eagle."

Minor damage to two saluting guns in H.M.S. "Eagle" was discovered on Friday morning, 5th February. The firing of the salute, to celebrate the second anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty, took place as planned and the ship sailed for Gibraltar on 8th February without interruption to her programme. Admiralty police investigated the incident, but were prevented by the ship's departure from completing their inquiries. The author of the damage has not yet been found. No evidence of any political motive has been discovered.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether he will now make a statement on the new machines for selling 1s. booklets of stamps which have been installed in a number of offices throughout the country.

:About 90 of these machines are now on trial and first reports on their performance are being studied. The machines seem to be giving general satisfaction, but show a tendency to develop certain faults which must be cured before the question of extending their use can be considered.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General why the postage on air mail letters posted to Her Majesty's Forces in Korea is 6d. if posted in Germany by Her Majesty's subjects stationed in Germany, but only 2½d. if posted in Great Britain.

The object of the 2½d. concessionary rate is primarily to enable families in the United Kingdom to exchange correspondence by means of a light-weight Forces air letter with members of those families serving overseas, at the same cost as an inland letter. The case envisaged by my hon. Friend does not fall within this definition.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General if he will make a further statement on the recurrent theft of mail in transit in Post Office vans; and how far the steps to improve the security services have proved effective.

I would ask the hon. Member to await the statement which is to be made by my noble Friend in another place tomorrow.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the total value of the jewellery and other valuables contained in registered packets stolen in transit to Regent Street, London, last week; and how much of the stolen pro perty has been recovered.

:Applications in respect of 11 of the 22 packets stolen have been received so far, and the stated value of their contents is £342 10s. The value of the other packets is not yet known. Three men, among them the driver of the van, have been charged with complicity in this theft and there is, therefore, nothing further which I can say at this juncture.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether he will make a statement about the theft of registered mail at Shipley Bridge, Surrey, on 5th February; and what the value of the stolen mail was.

On the 5th February a van operating under contract and carrying mail from Redhill to Rye was set upon by a gang of masked men in the early hours of the morning. The driver had locked himself in his cabin but the gang broke in on him by smashing the glass in the doors and windscreen, after which they drovethe van into a nearby field, parked it behind a haystack and rifled it. Finally they left the driver bound and gagged in his van and disappeared, taking with them 191 registered packets, of which 27 have since been recovered intact. The value is not yet known.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General what extra security measures have been introduced for the carriage of mail; and how many robberies have taken place since 1st January, 1954.

As regards the first part of the Question, I would ask my hon. Friend to await the statement which is to be made by my noble Friend in another place tomorrow. As regards the second part, information about the total number of mail bag robberies as such is not available, but the number of bags reported missing in January, 1954, was 74 as compared with 90 in the corresponding period last year. There have been three robberies from mail vans since the beginning of the year.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General why letters posted by 6 p.m. at Westminster or Victoria are not delivered at Pheasey Estate, Great Barr, Birmingham, 22a, until the first post the second day after despatch.

Letters posted as stated are due to be delivered in Birmingham by the first post next weekday. If the hon. Member will let me have particulars and, if possible, the envelopes of any letters which have been delayed in delivery, I shall be pleased to look into the matter.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when the new Post Office in Newport will be opened; and what arrangements he is making for the official opening.

We hope to open the new public office early in April. The Mayor of Newport has been invited to perform the opening ceremony.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the area and estimated value of the piece of land belonging to the Crown now occupied by the ruins of a church and rectory on Christ-church Green, Victoria Street, on which it is proposed to erect a telephone exchange.

As regards the area of this land may I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16th December last. The land does not yetbelong to the Crown. It is not customary to disclose the advice received on land values.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when the new telephone system at Newport will be completed; what areas it will serve; and the approximate numbers with whom it will be possible to communicate by its dial system.

:We expect to open the new exchange at Newport at the end of this year. It will serve the same area as the present Newport exchange and will enable its own 4,200 subscribers, as well as 1,300 on five other exchanges, to communicate with each other. Further equipment is to be installed to increase the dialling range and by the end of 1955 it should be possible to dial to a further 18,000 subscribers on automatic exchanges within 15 miles of Newport.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many applicants are waiting for telephones in Norfolk, giving the figures separately, for the principal towns and for the rural areas.

The total number of applicants in Norfolk is 2,435. The figures for the principal towns are as follows:

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General what information is available as to the response by motorists and others using electrical appliances likely to cause interference to television reception to the campaign for the fitting of suppressors; and what further measures are contemplated.

:My information is that more suppressors are being fitted voluntarily on cars than previously and, therefore, the Government propose to continue their campaign on the present lines. The response to specific requests to fit suppressors on electrical appliances remains good. My noble Friend has now received reports from the committees appointed to advise him on interference from small electrical motors and refrigerators and hopes shortly to lay regulations before Parliament.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when the faulty television transmission in the Penkridge area of Staffordshire will be remedied.

TheB.B.C. informs me that in this area a strong signal can be received from the television station at Sutton Coldfield, but if the hon. Member will let me have details of local difficulties in reception, I shall be glad to make further inquiry.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General when the Bill providing for commercial television will be available to hon. Members.

Shortly: but I cannot yet name a precise date.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General (1) if Her Majesty's Government have yet taken any decision on the recommendations of the Television Advisory Committee; and if he will make a statement thereon;(2) if Her Majesty's Government has now acceded to the request of the British Broadcasting Corporation for approval for the plan to provide complete national coverage for three sound programmes by means of very high frequency.

My noble Friend has decided to accept the recommendation of the Television Advisory Committee that frequency modulation should be adopted for very high frequency sound broadcasting. B.B.C. proposals for making a start on an initial group of stations are now under discussion with the Corporation, and further developments will be considered in due course.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is satisfied that his requirements for the provision of street lights in newly-developed housing estates are the minimum consistent with security and road safety requirements; and if he will make a statement.

:There are no specific requirements for street lighting on housing estates. Local authorities put forward such proposals as they think fit and when these are considered in my Department the criteria mentioned are, in fact, applied. If my hon. Friend has any particular case in mind, and will let me have details, I will look into it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has now reached agreement with the representatives of Northern Ireland meat producers on the future of meat marketing in Northern Ireland; and what his plans are for implementing his promise of special consideration for the Northern Ireland area when meat is decontrolled.

I hope to make an announcement shortly.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the completion of the Anglo-Argentine Trade Pact, due to end on 30th June next; and to what extent it is proposed that after this date all trade with Argentina will revert to normal competitive channels.

The exchange of Notes of 8th February, to which I think my hon. Friend is referring, provides for trade in certain goods between this country and Argentina until 30th June. The effect of the exchange of Notes is to continue substantially during this period the arrangements which obtained last year under the Protocol of December, 1952.As regards the second part of the Question, all imports from Argentina, except meat, are already in private hands. The trade in Argentine meat will be restored to private hands when deliveries under the present contract have been completed.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the principal countries which provided the total imports of tobacco under the item, "Other Commonwealth Countries and the Irish Republic," on page 44 of the Trade and Navigation Accounts for December, 1953; and the quantity and value from each for the years 1951, 1952 and 1953.

The answer is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will take steps to ensure that adequate supplies of globulin are readily available to doctors with haemophilic patients north of Edinburgh, in view of the lack of adequate transport across the Forth, especially at night.

Supplies are held in Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness as well as in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The objection to any general arrangement for holding supplies locally is that this preparation is not suitable for emergency use without specialist guidance and some prior experience. The best plan to adopt in any particular case has, therefore, to be settled in the light of the individual circumstances.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the areas in the Lanark County Council's development plan which are suggested for accommodation of housing overspill include agricultural land.

The areas in question are almost wholly agricultural land.

asked the Secretary of State for War what arrangements are made to inform the Press, in advance, of courts-martial taking place in Korea in Kenya and in the United' Kingdom, respectively.

My hon. Friend, in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Swingler) on 19th January this year,gave a full account of the arrangements both in this country and overseas.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if he can now make a statement on the future use, and on the name, of the Royal Air Force station known as Bradwell Bay, Essex.

I cannot at the moment add anything to the letter which I sent the hon. Member on 2nd February, 1954.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, on what date, and why, the responsibility for research into weather modification was transferred from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to the Air Ministry.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has never been concerned with the question, of weather modification as such. I understand, however, that the possibilities of weather modification are under examination by the Meteorological Office as a natural extension of their study of weather conditions.