asked the Minister of Health if he will name the hospitals in Wales where margarine is used instead of butter for the feeding of patients; and what saving in money is involved.

I am informed that the general practice is to use a variety of fats for cooking, and a mixture of butter and margarine for consumption with bread, biscuits and so on. The saving through the use of margarine for this purpose is estimated to be upwards of £30,000 a year.

asked the Minister of Health in how many hospitals a telecobalt unit has been established to fight cancer; and, in view of the healing qualities of this unit, if he will take speedy steps to establish them at other hospitals.

Seven hospitals already have these units, and several more are in various stages of planning and development.

asked the Minister of Health what arrangements now exist for the treatment of spastic children in North Wales; and what steps he is taking to improve the position.

The full range of hospital services, including, the most commonly required specialities, namely, physiotherapy and orthopaedic treatment, are readily available.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1) if he will give an assurance that when the question of increased contributions to the National Insurance Fund to cover additional commitments is under consideration it will be borne in mind that those not liable to Income Tax are already paying more for social service benefits than those who get tax reliefs on contributions and that no further increases in contributions shall be imposed on the lower income groups;(2) if he is aware that people getting Income Tax reliefs today in respect of insurance contributions are not

In my right hon. Friend's view it is not possible, within the general framework of the existing scheme, to provide for varying National Insurance contributions as suggested by my hon. Friend.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many persons in receipt of old-age pensions at the latest convenient date also received National Assistance allowances; how much money is involved; and the average weekly payment to each pensioner.

At 28th September, 1954, about 1,140,000 regular weekly National Assistance grants, some covering the requirements of a household with more than one pensioner, were being paid to retirement and non-contributory old-age pensioners. On the basis of an average payment of 14s. 11d. a week obtained from a sample examination late in 1953, it is estimated that the annual cost of the supplementary Assistance grants was about £44 million.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will consult the Government concerned with a view to the removal of the necessity for the use of ordinary passports to persons taking day trips to and from the Continent, by issuing special day passes on cross-Channel vessels in order to encourage this traffic.

I would refer to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 16th November to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Teeling). If a favourable decision is reached, an approach will be made to the Governments concerned.

asked the Minister of Food whether his attention has been called to the labels now attached to first-quality Canterbury lamb imported into this country from New Zealand, indicating that the meat has been examined both by ante and post-mortem inspection and has been found free from disease and suitable in every way for human consumption and whether he will arrange to investigate the system under which such certificates are attached to carcases with a view to introducing a similar system in Great Britain.

The certificates to which the hon. Member refers, are attached in conformity with the provisions of the Public Health (Imported Food) Regulations. Local authorities have power to introduce similar meat marking schemes on a voluntary basis in this country.

asked the Minister of Food if, in view of the unprofitable nature of selling milk retail in sparsely populated areas, he will relax registration regulations and all other official restrictions and so encourage local farmers to sell milk direct to their neighbours.

Apart from price control, there are no official restrictions on the retail sale of milk by farmers. In areas that have been specified under the Food and Drugs Act only pasteurised, sterilised or tuberculin-tested milk may be sold, but permission is given for the sale of other milk when such milk is not available.

asked the Minister of Food the total loss recently incurred by his Department over the sales of Californian and Australian raisins.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey) today.

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will make a statement on the results of the conversations between his officials and those of the South African Government on the future of the naval base at Simonstown.

I have nothing to add to the answer that I gave to the right hon. Member on 24th November, 1954.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he can make any statement about the date when the Town and Country Planning Act, 1954, will come into operation.

I have made an Order appointing 1st January, 1955, as the date of commencement of the Act for all purposes. Copies of the Order have been placed in the Library today. I have also made, and have laid before Parliament today, Regulations governing the procedure for applying to the Central Land Board for payments under Part I of the Act, and for claiming from the Minister compensation in respect of planning decisions.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he is aware of the anxiety felt by traders and business interests about the basis of the current revaluation of property; and whether he will make a statement.

I understand that occupiers of shops and offices are anxious about the possible effect upon them of the revaluation of property, which is now proceeding in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1948, as amended by the Valuation for Rating Act, 1953. This anxiety arises from the fact that shops and offices and other commercial premises are being assessed on present day values, whereas dwelling-houses are being assessed on 1939 values, and industrial property, although assessed on present-day values, is partially de-rated. This may, it is feared, throw an unfair rate burden upon the owners of commercial premises.With regard to the complaint that the partial derating of industrial premises, together with the total derating of agricultural land and buildings, gives an unjustifiable advantage to these types of property, it must be pointed out that these provisions have been operating for a quarter of a century and have not in any way been amended by post-war legislation. The question of revising these arrangements is a much wider problem which raises major issues of national policy.On the other hand, the special treatment accorded to dwellinghouses has its origin in the Local Government Act, 1948. That Act preserved current market value as the basis for the valuation of all classes of property, except dwelling-houses. This exception was made on the grounds that, during and since the war, owing to the acute housing shortage, there had been no normal market in houses, and that it was therefore necessary to go back to the period before the war in order to obtain any reliable indication of true values.The 1948 Act accordingly provided that dwellinghouses, other than those built after 1918, should be assessed by reference to the level of rents in 1939. As regards houses built since 1918, the Act prescribed that they were to be valued on the basis of the "hypothetical 1938 cost of construction." The application of this special formula for the valuation of post-1918 houses proved in practice unworkable, and was therefore abolished by the Act of 1953, which put the valuation of all houses on to the same basis, namely, 1939 market value.Other things being equal, the adoption of this preferential basis for the valuation of house property would doubtless have the effect of reducing the share of the rate burden borne by householders, while increasing it correspondingly for other ratepayers. However, it is by no means certain that in practice the change in the incidence of the rate burden will be as great as might, at first sight, be expected. There are a number of reasons for this.In the first place, it should not be assumed that the assessments of dwelling-houses will not be increased. In 1934, when the existing valuation lists were made, houses were generally assessed by reference to the level of restricted rents, whereas, for the purposes of the forthcoming revaluation, the free market letting value in 1939 is to be taken as the basis. Furthermore it is well-known that, in the past, local authorities adopted widely differing standards for the valuation of various types of property. In some areas, dwellinghouses were deliberately undervalued on grounds of social policy. In others, industrial premises were often assessed on a favoured basis in order to attract industry to the area.Now that all valuations are to be made on a national basis by the Inland Revenue, any bias of this kind in favour of dwellinghouses and industry will be eliminated. This will naturally benefit occupiers of other types of property, such as shops and business premises. Moreover, it must be remembered that almost all occupiers of commercial premises are also themselves householders or tenants and, therefore, benefit directly or indirectly from any reduction in the rates on dwellinghouses. This includes shopkeepers living over their shops, whose domestic apartments will be assessed, like other dwellinghouses, at pre-war values.Apart from the question of how the rate burden can most equitably be distributed among the various types of property, it will, I am sure, be universally agreed that revaluation is long overdue. It is now 20 years since the last valuation was made. When the Act of 1948 was passed, the intention was to secure a new valuation by 1952. However, various technical and practical difficulties, including those dealt with under the 1953 Act, have necessitated successive postponements.If fresh changes in the basis of valuation were now to be made, it would inevitably involve further delay. This would have the effect of prolonging the countless anomalies which exist under the present system and the blatant injustices which they cause. In this con- nection, it should be pointed out that local authorities have the right, in the interval between valuations, to ask for the assessment of individual properties to be revised and brought up to date.The result is that, here and there, assessments are being raised on to a current value basis, while other properties continue to be assessed on the lower basis of pre-war values. If local authorities thought that there was going to be a further postponement of national revaluation, there is little doubt that this practice of piecemeal reassessments would be adopted much more generally, thereby creating fresh inequalities and confusion.A postponement of revaluation would also prolong the present dissatisfaction over the allocation of the Exchequer equalisation grant. This is distributed on the basis of rateable values and these have for the most part been calculated by the local authorities themselves, in accordance with varying principles. It is, therefore, clear that an equitable allocation of the grant will not be achieved until valuation is put on a uniform national footing.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what proportion of the pencils supplied through Her Majesty's Stationery Office are of British manufacture.

With the exception of a very small quantity of special pencils not manufactured in this country, all pencils supplied are of British manufacture.