asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what progress has been made in the experiments to produce a vaccine to cure the common cold; and in what form the experiments are taking place.

Investigations by Medical Research Council workers at the Harvard Hospital, Salisbury, resulted last year in the successful cultivation of a common cold virus in tissue culture. It has not been possible to repeat cultivation on a large scale and it is not at present practicable to consider the development of vaccines.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, what progress has been made in the experimental trials of quick-freezing fish.

Equipment for quick-freezing fish at sea has been designed by the Torry Research Station of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and a small unit has been tested on the Department's own trawler at sea. A commercial model of this equipment has been developed and tested on shore.Arrangements are well advanced for full-scale trials to be made at sea on a commercial trawler, and the first trip should take place early in the New Year. The trials are being undertaken jointly by the White Fish Authority and the distant water trawler owners, with the advice of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.