asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the increase in the stealing of domestic cats consequent upon the reduced supply of rabbit skins for fur-making purposes; and what action he proposes to take to check this growing evil.

14 cases involving the stealing of domestic cats have been brought to the notice of the Metropolitan Police since the beginning of this year. This total is not such as to suggest that additional measures on the part of the police are called for. The Metropolitan Police are not aware of any evidence to indicate that the animals were stolen to obtain skins for the purpose of fur making.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that the police have no powers to request the closing of shebeens even when many fines have been imposed; and, in view of the increasing difficulties in controlling the incidence of these places, if he will consider introducing legislation to give the powers needed.

Shebeens are by definition unlawful in themselves. I have no reason to suppose that the existing penalties for selling intoxicating liquor without a licence are insufficient.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, when considering the whole question of pensions, he will give special consideration to the position of police widows who, in many cases, are in receipt of a lower range of pension than is allowed by the 1948 pension regulations; and whether he will now consider applying a uniform scale to all police widows' pensions.

The position of police widows whose husbands died before 5th July, 1948, has already been examined carefully and sympathetically on a number of occasions; and it would not be right of me to hold out any prospect that in any further review it will be possible to treat them more favourably than others whose husbands died before the introduction of the National Insurance Scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men in the Metropolitan Police force have resigned before completing full service since 1950.

A police officer may resign on a pension of one-half of his salary on completing 25 years' service, and on a pension of two-thirds of his salary on completing 30 years' service. During the period from 1st January, 1951, to 31st October, 1954, 1,684 men resigned voluntarily from the Metropolitan Police force before completing 25 years' service. 1,857 resigned after completing 25 years' service but before completing 30 years' service.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many officers above the rank of inspector there were in A Division of the Metropolitan Police in 1946; and how many other ranks;(2) how many officers above the rank of inspector there are now in A Division of the Metropolitan Police; and how many other ranks.

On 4th November, 1946, there were 14 officers in A Division of the Metropolitan police force above the rank of inspector; the inspectors and other ranks totalled 543 (including 11 women officers). The corresponding figures on 14th November, 1954, were, respectively, 15 and 639 (including 20 women officers).

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of his staff devote themselves entirely to assisting him in his capacity as Minister for Welsh Affairs; and how many of these have a knowledge of the Welsh language.

The functions of the Minister for Welsh Affairs, which were defined by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in a statement in Parliament on 13th November, 1951, are not of an executive character, and it is not necessary for any member of my staff to devote all his time to Welsh Affairs. At least three members of my staff can speak and read Welsh and are available to help me when required.

asked the Minister of Education (1) what action he proposes to take, in view of the report made to him by the County Councils Association, to improve standards and conditions in rural schools;(2) what proposals he has to improve recruitment of teachers for rural schools.

I am considering this report and other representations about the needs of the rural areas, but I am not yet in a position to make a statement about them.

asked the Minister of Education (1) how many classes there are in Eton Wick Church of England School; which of the age groups from 5 years to 11 years are included in each class; and how many teachers there are for these seven age groups;(2) how many children from Eton Wick Church of England School have been entered for scholarships to secondary schools during the last five years; and how many of them have secured scholarships.

At this school there are 142 pupils organised in five classes and taught by five teachers. Eighty different children from the school have been entered for the local education authority's selection examinations in the years 1950–54. Of these, three were selected for grammar school education. I will send the hon. Member the details of the age-groups contained in each class.

asked the Minister of Education what steps he is taking to encourage the recruitment of university graduates for the school teaching profession.

There is no shortage of graduate teachers with degrees in arts subjects. But there is cause for anxiety about the supply of graduate teachers with degrees in mathematics and science. I will make a statement about this as soon as I can.

asked the Minister of Education to what extent there is a shortage of teachers in the city of Birmingham; and what suggestions he has received or is considering to improve the position.

As a result of the great increase in the number of children, the shortage of teachers in Birmingham continues to cause concern. The local authority have made energetic efforts to deal with it. The size of classes has been reduced during the last three years. I shall do what I can to assist this and other hard pressed authorities.

asked the Minister of Education how many courses in mines management are available in England and Wales in technical colleges maintained by local authority education departments or in universities.

There are at least 21 courses in technical colleges providing education up to under-manager standard, of which eight proceed to manager standard. There are many other courses which give exemption from parts of the statutory examinations for mine manager. In addition, seven universities provide courses leading to degrees in mining which give a large measure of exemption.

asked the Minister of Education to publish a list showing the authorities employing chief education officers at salaries in excess of £2,000 per annum, with the salary paid in each case.

This information is not available in my Department.

asked the Minister of Education if, since his Department recommends to local education authorities a minimum qualification below which no boy should be granted a county major university award, he will also recommend a minimum qualification above which no boy should be refused a county major award.

I do not think it desirable further to limit the discretion of local education authorities in the way proposed.

asked the Minister of Education why he has vetoed the request of the Warwickshire County Council to permit temporary school building of a mobile kind which could be transferred according to the fluctuation of school population in the various areas.

No such request has yet reached me.

asked the Minister of Education what progress has been made with the reorganisation of all-age schools in the years 1952–53 and 1953–54, respectively.

Steady progress has been made, as is shown by the figures, which are as follows:

asked the Minister of Education what steps he is taking to ensure that adequate attention is paid to the teaching of food hygiene in schools.

Direct instruction in the importance of food hygiene is commonly given as part of the teaching of housecraft and related subjects in schools and in training colleges, especially the domestic science colleges. The Ministry's handbook on health education includes a chapter on "The hygiene of food and drink."

asked the Minister of Education what information he has about the cost of heating different types of postwar school buildings.

My Department has recently carried out a survey of fuel consumption in a number of post-war schools. The results are now being analysed and I hope to issue a report as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Education the increase in the number of children in the school population between January, 1946, and January, 1954, and the number of additional school places provided by new 'building in the same period.

The number of pupils on the registers of maintained and assisted primary and secondary schools (other than nursery and special schools) rose by 1,371,604 between January, 1946, and January, 1954. During the same period 1,158,175 school places were provided by new building.

asked the Minister of Education how long the schools of Monmouthshire have been without a supply of milk; what is the cause; and what action he is taking to see that the children are not allowed to suffer.

Schools in Monmouthshire have been without milk since 1st October, owing to a dispute about supply below retail prices. The local education authority are still in negotiation with the local dairy trade, and in the meantime my Department are considering with the authority whether any substitute for fresh milk can be provided.

asked the Minister of Education whether he will examine the general question of State-aided scholarships and, particularly, the means test, which is proving a hardship to parents of children who have secured such a scholarship, who, because of financial and personal circumstances, are often unable to accept it; and whether he will consider abolishing the means test.

I am reviewing the rates of grant for university students and the arrangements under which the amounts payable to the holders of State scholarships are assessed. However, if I am to comply with the Education Acts, it is not open to me to make awards regardless of parents' circumstances.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations the results of the water survey in Bechuanaland, including that made in the Western Kalahari area; and what order of priority is envisaged for spending the grant promised for water development in the territory.

Development with assistance from Colonial Development and Welfare Funds has, in the last few years, opened up additional grazing capacity for 100,000 head of cattle in the eastern areas of the African Reserves. The survey of the Ngamiland water ways has recently been completed, but the results have not yet been reported to me. Survey in the Kalahari area has been concentrated on finding water for the export route from Ghanzi; results have been disappointing, but drilling is continuing. It is planned to complete development of water supplies in the eastern parts of the Reserves and on the export route and then to develop the more sparsely populated areas in the west of the Reserves.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations why it has been decided that in future all exports of live cattle from Bechuanaland should cease; and why it has been decided to divert this trade from the hands of normal traders and away from existing markets in the Union of South Africa and the Rhodesias to the Colonial Development Corporation's newly-built Lobatsi abattoir.

The abattoir at Lobatsi has been established to assist the development of the Protectorate's economy. The decision to proceed was taken in 1950 after full consultation with the European and African Advisory Councils which recognised that economic operation of the abattoir would require the processing through it of all but a very small proportion of the Protectorate's cattle exports. Exports of live cattle from certain remote areas in the North will continue.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what expenditure has been undertaken by the Colonial Development Corporation on the construction and maintenance of the abattoir at Lobatsi and upon ranching operations in the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

Figures for expenditure on the abattoir at Lobatsi and on ranching operations up to the end of 1953 are given in the corporation's annual report for that year. For more recent information I would invite my hon. Friend to refer to the corporation.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations if he will make a statement upon the building progress of Lobatsi abattoir in Bechuanaland.

Reconstruction of the Lobatsi abattoir is complete and the plant was officially opened on 11th October.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations when the report on economic development in the High Commission Territories is to be published.

Mr. A. C. B. Symon, an Assistant Under-Secretary of the Commonwealth Relations Office, visited the High Commission Territories in April and May to provide my noble Friend with an up-to-date and comprehensive review of economic development, so that funds available can be used to the best possible advantage. His report was confidential and not for publication. I will however consider placing in the Library in due course an account of what has been achieved and is projected in respect of economic development in the Territories.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury when the hon. Member for Clapham will receive a reply to his letter of 22nd October, concerning a disputed Income Tax charge to a constituent and a reference of this dispute to the Commissioners.

I have written to the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Agriculture to give an estimate of the cost and time which would be required to exterminate completely rabbits in Great Britain.

I am afraid there are no reliable data on which to make such an estimate.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if the agricultural executive committees have sufficient portable gassing appliances to loan to those who are anxious to rid the country of rabbits that have escaped myxomatosis.

Most county agricultural executive committees have hand pumps and 22 of them have portable power gassing machines which are available for hire to farmers; but the normal method for gassing the comparatively small number of rabbits that have survived outbreaks of myxomatosis will be by placing gassing powder inside the entrance to the burrow.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the comparative costs incurred, by acres, for example, in aerial and ground spraying, respectively, against the Colorado beetle, to enable farmers to decide whether the additional cost of aerial spraying is justified by the avoidance of damage inescapable in normal ground spraying.

The charges borne by my Department for both types of spraying against the Colorado beetle have averaged about £2 per acre in recent years. Cost is, however, only one of several considerations which have to be taken into account by my Department in deciding which of the two methods of spraying should be employed in the campaign. Size of fields, type of country, and risk of damage to adjacent crops must also be considered. Every effort is made to avoid damaging the potato crops, and I understand that very few complaints have been made this year. The arrangements for the next year's campaign are under consideration, and the National Farmers' Union will be consulted in due course.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will take steps to provide further facilities for the sale of attested cattle in the markets.

I am anxious to encourage the provision of separate markets or suitable accommodation at existing markets for the sale of attested store and fat cattle, and my Department will do everything it can to facilitate projects for that purpose put forward by local authorities and other owners or occupiers of markets.

asked the Minister of Agriculture how many hares have now been confirmed to have contracted myxomatosis; and what evidence he has that blue hares as well as brown hares are susceptible.

In no case has myxomatosis been confirmed in hares in Great Britain, but I understand that the disease has been confirmed in three brown hares in France. I have no evidence to show whether blue hares are susceptible to the disease.

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether his consultations with the interests concerned on coastal flooding have now been completed; and whether he will make a statement on Exchequer grants towards expenditure on the construction and maintenance of sea defences.

I hope to complete my consultations with the interests concerned on the Report of the Departmental Committee on Coastal Flooding early in the New Year. I cannot make a statement on Exchequer grants towards expenditure on the maintenance of sea defences meanwhile. Exchequer grants are already available for new work and works of improvement.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many people are now drawing retirement pensions and non-contributory old-age pensions; and how many of them are also receiving National Assistance grants.

At the end of September, 1954, there were about 4,400,000 retirement pensioners and 321,000 non-contributory old-age pensioners, of whom 983,000 and 158,000, respectively, were also receiving National Assistance grants, some of which covered the needs of more than one pensioner.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance why unemployment benefit has been and is being refused to a number of workers in the ship-repairing industry whose services were terminated by their employers in September, who lodged their insurance cards at their employment exchange and who have since September applied for and made themselves available for work.

I assume the hon. Member has in mind certain cases which have arisen in the Thames Estuary involving a possible trade dispute disqualification. I understand that the statutory authorities hope to dispose of these shortly.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air why the Royal Air Force authorities refused to allow Royal Air Force aeroplanes to co-operate in the recent Colchester Civil Defence exercises.

My noble Friend is anxious that the Royal Air Force should achieve real co-operation with local authorities in matters of Civil Defence, but it was not thought right to divert aircraft from essential training to fly low over the centre of Colchester in the hope that this might add realism to an exercise being held on the ground.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will make a statement as to the domestic coal position in Barry, and in the county of Glamorgan generally.

I am making inquiries and will write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the stocks of coal in Wales at the latest convenient date; and what the figure was a year ago.

On 6tth November, 952,000 tons compared with 901,000 last year.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether, in view of the fact that the latest proposals for a trunk road through Beverley would involve the destruction of 70 houses, he will produce an alternative plan which would avoid the town of Beverley and have greater regard to road safety.

Several alternative lines are under consideration for the by-pass of the trunk road at Beverley, and I have not yet reached any final conclusions. In doing so, I shall have due regard to road safety and to the desirability of avoiding demolition so far as may be compatible with an effective scheme.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will now institute the standardisation of the older and safer system of dipping the near side car headlight and cutting out the offside one in the interests of the safety of the general public and the good temper of drivers.

I do not really agree with my hon. Friend's proposal, on which opinions differ as to whether it is conducive to safety. I am grateful to him for the suggestion.

asked the Minister of Health if he will co-operate with the appropriate Departments in obtaining greater security against the danger of bogus doctors, many cases of which have been reported in recent months; and if he will accept as a basis the scheme which has recently been sent to him.

The Medical Register is publicly available, and I do not think that special measures such as those suggested by my hon. Friend are necessary or practicable.

asked the Minister of Health how many persons not medically qualified are in receipt of distinction or merit awards in connection with the National Health Service.

Nine in England and Wales, all of whom hold dental qualifications.

asked the Minister of Health if he will list the developments authorised for each regional hospital board under the Mental Million Scheme for 1954–55, showing the estimated capital cost of each and the amounts expected to be spent in the current financial year.

The following is the information:

asked the Minister of Food what arrangements have been made for the purchase of West Indian sugar in the near future.

The purchase of West Indian sugar is governed by the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement. This runs until 1961 but may be extended annually by agreement for one further year at a time.

asked the Minister of Food if he will start a campaign to encourage the British housewife to buy British bacon.

This is now a matter primarily for the industries concerned.

asked the Attorney-General when the Royal Commission on Divorce is likely to issue its report.

asked the Attorney-General when he expects that the Report of the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce will be available.

I have nothing to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Dodds) on 25th October.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is aware of the anxiety and inconvenience which is being caused by the delay in making known his final decision with regard to the D-Ring road scheme; and when he proposes to make a statement explaining to what extent this road will affect the Ruislip-Northwood area.

A decision on this scheme can only be given as part of a decision on the whole Middlesex Development Plan, which is under active consideration. Meanwhile, however, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation has announced that he does not approve the Ruislip-Northwood section of the D-Ring.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many public telephone kiosks have been allocated to the county of Lanark under his Department's rural allocation scheme; and where and when they will be provided.

We hope to provide two kiosks this year, and they will be erected as soon as the county council say where they would like them.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many shops have been built in the Mains East and Mains West neighbourhoods of East Kilbride, respectively; how many are to be built; by what date he expects the two shopping centres will be complete; and at what sites they are being, or will be, built.

The development corporation has built six shops in the Mains East area, and hopes to provide 15 more in 1955. In the Mains West area, no shops have so far been built, but the corporation have proposals for 11 shops under consideration and expects to build the first four of these by 1956. The new shops will be suitably distributed throughout the two areas and will be built on the sites shown on the corporation's plan.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many shopping centres are to be provided in the Westwood and Murray neighbourhood units of East Kilbride; how many shops have been provided in each; and when he expects the shopping centres will be completed.

The development corporation has built two shops in the Westwood area, and will complete six more early in 1955. In the Murray area, five have already been built and, by 1956, it is hoped that a further 21 shops will be ready for occupation.

asked the Minister of Supply if he will give instructions that on all tenders invited by his Department for the purchase of cotton textile goods, it shall be clearly stated that all such goods shall be spun, woven, and finished in the United Kingdom.

In my view, it is not advisable to make home production a condition of all tenders for cotton textile goods. But, in the case of large tenders for such goods, it is the practice of the Ministry of Supply to ascertain where the various processes of manufacture will be undertaken.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the details of the instances of export subsidies on fruit, which were reported to him by his official observer at last year's Commonwealth Fruits Conference; and if he will make a statement.

Detailed information about export subsidies was placed before a sub-committee of the conference, but was not circulated to the conference as a whole. The Board of Trade observer, therefore, did not receive this information.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that our growers view with alarm the proposed imports of Canadian and United States apples during the month of December, in view of the fact that there is an increased home acreage of apples and a heavy crop this year; and if he will take steps to remedy this situation.

I do not expect the relatively small quantities of North American apples which will be imported in December to affect adversely the market for home grown apples.

asked the President of the President of the Board of Trade if he will review the dates when foreign imports of fruit and horticultural produce are allowed into this country, to ensure they do not spoil the market for our growers by being sold before our home-grown crops are ready.

So far as imports from soft currency sources are concerned, this question does not arise since nearly all types of fresh fruit and other horticultural produce are now on open general licence. As regards imports from dollar sources, the amounts we can afford to allow are necessarily so limited that they cannot affect adversely our own growers. In any case, as I informed my hon. Friend on 16th November, our quota restrictions are imposed to safeguard our balance of payments and not for protective purposes.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what arrangements have been made for the marketing of the next Nigerian cotton crop.

The long-term agreement between the Raw Cotton Commission and the Nigerian Produce Marketing Co., Ltd., for the purchase of Nigerian cotton has been terminated on conditions acceptable to both parties. The marketing of Nigerian cotton will henceforth be the responsibility of the Company.