asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) the nominal value of known overseas holdings of Government securities at October, 1951, June, 1952, and the latest convenient date, respectively;(2) the amount by which Government securities known to be held overseas have increased in capital value since June, 1952.

I regret that the information available is so very incomplete that I cannot give any worth-while figures.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring up to date the table published in November, 1953, showing how the purchasing value of the £ sterling has varied month by month since October, 1951, taking that month's value at 20 shillings.

Taking October, 1951, as 20s. the figures for the months since October, 1953, based on the Ministry of Labour's Interim Index of Retail Prices are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) how many Africans are members of African Affairs sub-committees of municipal councils, and in which municipalities;

I am consulting the Governments concerned and shall write to the right hon. Member when I have their replies.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the numbers in Scotland of non-contributory old-age pensioners and the numbers of such pensioners in receipt of regular supplementary allowances at December, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 and at September, 1954.

The approximate numbers are:

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what proportion of the average regular supplementary allowance of 12s. 11d., estimated at 4th November, 1953, as being paid to retirement pensioners and noncontributory old-age pensioners in Scotland, was estimated as allowance in respect of rent.

The National Assistance Board is unable to express allowance for rent as a proportion of an average assistance grant; in some cases the grant after deducting available resources is less than the amount that has been allowed in the assessment for rent.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many public telephone kiosks have been provided in each of the neighbourhood units of the new building areas of the new town of East Kilbride; and when he expects to be able to provide enough for the minimum requirements of health and safety from fire.

The particulars are as follows:

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General the number of outstanding applications for telephone service at East Kilbride from residential and business applicants, respectively.

Twenty-four business and 247 residential. Fifteen business applications are in course of being met or are under inquiry. During the past 12 months, 119 telephones were connected, including 51 for business applicants.

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General how many applications for telephones are outstanding in the county of Caernarvon; how many of these are from farmers; and how many have been outstanding for two years or more.

One thousand and thirty-five applications are outstanding, including 138 from farmers. 287 applications are over two years old. During the past 12 months 856 telephones were connected and a further 207 are now in course of provision.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in order to double check the assignment of newly-born babies to the right mothers, he will attach a linen tape bearing the mother's name to each wrist at the baby's birth instead of on only one.

I am arranging for this suggestion to be considered, together with others I have received.

asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that there is so much bacon on the market at the present time that the English curers are accumulating larger stocks every day and that this in turn necessitates the cutting down of slaughterings by English curers and the leaving of more pigs on the farm; and whether he will consider the possibility of putting a certain proportion of imported surplus bacon into cold store so as to enable English curers to dispose more rapidly of their own stock.

I am not aware that English curers are accumulating large stocks of bacon; they are taking all the suitable pigs offered to them. The last part of the Question does not, therefore, arise.