asked the Secretary of State for War when the hon. Member for Clapham will receive a reply to his letter of 11th March, giving him details concerning an order issued by the Commanding Officer of the Queen's Bays at Fallingbostel that Regular soldiers must buy the regimental journal whether they want to or not.

The hon. Member will now have received the reply to his letter.

asked the Secretary of State for War the daily rate of pay and allowances for a National Service man recruited in Singapore, and that of a similar man recruited in this country and serving in Malaya and Singapore.

No comparative figures can be given since (here is no locally enlisted equivalent of the National Service man.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent per week he estimates that small cinema exhibitors, with cinema theatres seating under 400, will benefit from the proposed reduction in entertainment duty.

I estimate that net box office receipts after payment of duty will be increased by about £5 a week on the average for each duty paying cinema in this category.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the number of Post Office employees in Exeter.

1,678 (1,566 full-time and 112 part-time).

asked the Minister of Labour what alternative employment will be offered to the workers of the Imperial Chemical Industries plant at Roslin, Midlothian, which is due to close down shortly.

All the 61 workers at this factory are being offered employment at other factories of the same firm and the normal machinery of the employment exchange will be at the service of those who, for one reason or another, are unable to accept this offer.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will now make a statement about the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Crofting Conditions.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether Her Majesty's Government will adopt the recommendations of the Crofting Commission's Report; and whether he will make a statement.

The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Crofting Conditions is being published today. I welcome this Report both for its thorough and sympathetic analysis of present crofting conditions and for the constructive proposals which it makes. I accept the view of the Commission that the crofting communities ought to be saved from extinction and that conditions of life in these areas can be improved if the proper measures are taken. I also recognise that new measures are necessary if we are to secure the full contribution that crofters can make to home food production.I am, therefore, prepared to accept the recommendation that a Crofters Commission on the general lines advocated in the Report should be set up to promote the interests of the crofting communities, and I will consider the legislation necessary for this purpose. The Commission would deal exclusively with matters relating to crofter holdings and its work would not in any way cut across the functions of the Highland local authorities.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will make a statement concerning his discussions with a deputation from the trade union side of the National Joint Council for Civil Air Transport and, in particular, concerning undertakings given by buyers of Hermes aircraft to continue maintenance at the British Overseas Airways Corporation establishment at Treforest.

On 10th April I met representatives of the trade union side of the National Joint Council for Civil Air Transport, at their request, to discuss the sale of surplus Hermes aircraft by the British Overseas Airways Corporation to independent air transport operators. After a full exchange of views, I made it clear that, while I fully endorsed the Corporation's decision that they could not make it a binding condition of sale that the engines of these aircraft should be overhauled at their Treforest establishment, I would nevertheless welcome any success which the Corporation might have in concluding voluntary agreements with the prospective purchasers for the maintenance of these engines to be continued at Treforest.