asked the Minister of Labour how many men and women, respectively, were gainfully employed in 1935; their average weekly working hours; and the comparable figures today.

:I regret these figures are not available, but I will write to my hon. Friend and give him such information as I have.

asked the Minister of Labour the average number of males employed in Scotland in each 12-month period since 1945.

Figures for Scotland are available only for one date about the middle of each year, and the earliest year for which figures on the present basis can be supplied is 1948, when the comprehensiveNational Insurance Scheme came into operation. The estimated total numbers of male employees in employment in all industries and services in Scotland at the middle of the years 1948 to 1954 were as follows:

asked the Prime Minister whether he will institute an inquiry into the methods whereby information is given to the foreign Press by Government Departments, in view of the present practice of giving to foreign correspondents information which is denied to the British Press; and what steps he has taken to satisfy himself that there has been no leakage of such information.

I am assured that there is no practice in any Department of giving information to foreign correspondents which is denied to the British Press. The steps I have taken have been to ask questions of responsible people and weigh their answers.

asked the Minister of Works if he will arrange the publication of a document to give to the general public the most up-to-date information on the peaceful and warlike uses of atomic energy.

Iwould refer the hon. Member to the White Paper on Nuclear Power (Cmd. 9389) and the Statement on Defence, 1955 (Cmd. 9391).

asked the Minister of Works how many of the United States publications relating to atomic energy, listedin the official document sent to him by the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme, are available in his Department.

:Copies of all the more important items among the U.S. publications referred to are available in the libraries of the Atomic Energy Authority.

asked the Minister of Works how many established civil servants now working for the Atomic Energy Authority have been offered contracts with the Authority; and how many have so far accepted.

:At the end of February, 3,455 established non-industrial civil servants had been offered employment with the Atomic Energy Authority and, of these, 738 had by then accepted. The offers remain open until January, 1956.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works, as representing the Lord President of the Council, whether he will make a statement on the progress being made in the building of a new testing tank for the shipbuilding industry; and when this work will be completed.

:Work was started last week on the new ship-testing tank for the National Physical Laboratory at Feltham. It is hoped to complete it in 1958.

asked the Secretary of State for War to make a further statement on the reasons why Gunner Francis Jinks was kept in custody for five months before being tried by court-martial at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, on 22nd February, 1955.

This was a very complicated case of stealing soldiers' mail which involved collecting 51 statements and tracing a large number of postal orders. Another soldier was implicated, and proceedings against him had first to be completedas he was an essential witness in the case of Gunner Jinks. Nevertheless, even under these exceptional circumstances this period seems much too long and I am making a detailed inquiry into the causes of this delay and into the existing machinery for the avoidance of such delays.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the parents of the late Private Laffin, Manchester Regiment, were prevented from viewing the body brought home from Germany in a casket and not a coffin; and what steps he takes to enable parents to be assured that bodies delivered to them are those of their relatives.

Private Laffin's body was sealed in a zinc-lined coffin, to conform with health regulations, beforedispatch from abroad. We did not prevent his parents from viewing the body, but I understand that they dropped their request to do so when told by the undertaker at Salford that the coffin was sealed. Current instructions in the British Army of the Rhineand elsewhere ensure that members of the unit in which a deceased soldier was serving identify his body before the coffin is sealed.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether an inquest or postmortem was held after the death of the late 23036498 Private William Laffin, Manchester Regiment.

A post-mortem examination was made. This showed that death was due to natural causes.

asked the Secretary of State for War in the light of thefact that 626 (Liverpool Irish) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, Territorial Army, represents the good will of 250,000 Irish men and women residing on Merseyside, if he will ensure that, in the reorganisation of anti-aircraft units now in progress, the unit shall retain its authorised dress and traditional pipe band.

:Now that the future of Territorial Army anti-aircraft regiments has been decided we are considering the problems of dress and bands for the new units which are being formed. It is too early to give an undertaking in respect of any particular regiment but I can assure the hon. Member that all claims to retain traditional bands and distinctive dress will be sympathetically considered.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will consult the interests concerned, with a view to ensuring that the large potash deposits in North Yorkshire are not abandoned.

The interests mainly concerned with the commercial development of these deposits are already in touch with my Department.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what conditions are laid down for the protection of industry and the public when making a grant annually to the British Standards Institution.

My right hon. Friend is confident that no action on his part is required to ensure that the British Standards Institution shall have full regard to the interests of industry and of the public. I would remind my hon. Friend that only one-third of the Institution's funds comes from public sources, and that its accounts are open to inspection by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how much apple juice

asked the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of the value of exports was earned by exporting woollen textiles in 1954.

:The value of exports of products of the wool textile industry including wool tops and blankets, as set out on page 406 of the Board of Trade Journal of 19th February, 1955, was £122·4 million in 1954, representing 4·6 per cent.of the total value of exports of United Kingdom produce and manufactures.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of Income Tax payable at present rates by a married couple where the wife earns £900 per annum and the husband £450 per annum; and the tax payable when the husband earns £900 and the wife £450 per annum.

£206 and £188 respectively.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the visit of a representative of the Bank of England who went to Brazil on his behalf. or cider was imported into Great Britain during 1952, 1953, and 1954.

It is not possible to distinguish apple from pear juice, sweetened, nor are figures available for unsweetened apple juice. Imports into Great Britain only are not recorded, but imports into the United Kingdom were:

I would refer my hon. Friend to the Economic Secretary's reply of 3rd February and to the reply which my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade gave to the hon. and gallant Member for Horncastle (Commander Maitland) on 15th February.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total sums borrowed by Scottish local authorities from the Public Works Loan Board in 1954.

Advances by the Public Works Loan Board to local authorities in Scotland during the calendar year 1954 amounted to £30 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the estimated cost of abolishing entertainment tax on all cinema seats up to and including 1s., and imposing a 50 per cent. tax on all seat prices in excess of the first 1s.

:The cost is conjectural, depending on the extent to which admission prices were reduced to take advantage of the reduced rates of duty, but it would probably be in the region of £15 million a year.

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what amount of Entertainments Duty was remitted in 1953–54 under the exemption relating to organisations not conducted for profit and whose aims are partly educational; and how many organisations were concerned.

The information requested is as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much the gold and dollar reserves fell from June to October, 1951, expressed in sterling and in dollars and as a percentage.

By £326 million sterling, 914 million dollars or 23·6 per cent. between 30th June and 31st October. I had the figure of 914 million dollars in mind when replying to a supplementary question by the right hon. Member for Leeds, South (Mr. Gaitskell) after my statement on Thursday, 24th February. I understand that the round figure of 900 million dollars which I then quoted appeared in the Official Report as £900 million sterling, but that this error was corrected by means of an erratum notice in the Official Report of Friday, 25th February.The figure of 600 million dollars, which the right hon. Member quoted in his supplementary question on Tuesday, 1st March, appears to relate to the decline in the gold and dollar reserves of 598 million dollars between 30th June and 30th September, 1951.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has in preparation for modernising the Royal Mint.

In view of the serious congestion in the Royal Mint reconstruction of the Operative Department is necessary, in order to improve its layout and introduce up-to-date machinery and methods of handling. It is, therefore, proposed to carry out a rebuilding plan to be spread over the next 6–8 years. The ultimate cost, which will be borne on the Ministry of Works Vote, is provisionally estimated at £925,000. The work will be carried out in stages so as to cause the minimum interference with production. The existing Regency building housing the administrative offices will not be affected.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government the estimated increase, on an annual basis, of the cost to local authorities which arises from the latest increase in the Bank Rate and from the previous increase.

:The direct effect of any increase in the Bank Rate is confined to bank overdrafts and temporary borrowings from banks. I have no knowledge of the extent to which local authorities have recourse to this and I am, therefore, unable to provide the estimate which the hon. Member requires. With regard to the indirect effect upon local authority housing expenditure, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 8th March to the hon. Member for Accrington (Mr. H. Hynd).

asked the Minister of Food whether he has now received the Report and plan of the inter-Departmental Committee concerning the siting of slaughterhouses in England and Wales; and whether he will now make a statement concerning the representationsto him made by the Morpeth Borough Council in March, 1953.

I have not yet received the Committee's Report. I cannot, therefore, make a statement about the siting of a new slaughterhouse at Morpeth.

asked the Minister of Food to give the details ofthe food subsidy for 1953–54 shown as "Miscellaneous" and amounting to £24 million

Following is the information:

asked the Minister of Agriculture whateffect the rise in the Bank Rate will have on loans advanced by the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation.

The rate of interest on loans already advanced by the Corporation cannot be altered.

asked theSecretary of State for the Colonies the number of cattle killed by Mau Mau for which claims were received by the Kenya Government in January-June, 1953, July-December, 1953, January-June, 1954, and July-December, 1954, respectively.

375, 2,580, 1,570 and 1,784 cattle respectively. During the same periods claims in respect of sheep and goats were 879, 3,317, 1,566 and 1,830.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what schemes of economic and social advancement are contemplated for the Colony of British Somaliland: and what funds of colonial development and welfare have been allocated for this purpose.

The principal schemes of first priority in British Somaliland's provisional development programme for the period 1955–60, and

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number of postage stamps sold by the Crown Agents for the Colonies to dealers in England during1952, 1953 and 1954, and the total amount received from such sales; and the number of postage stamps sold by the Crown Agents through their bureau in Washington to dealers in the United States of America for the same periods, and the total amounts received from such sales.

:The total numbers of postage stamps sold by the Crown Agents to dealers in this country and through their bureau in Washington during 1952, 1953 and 1954 were 17,697,444, 36,673,728 and 19,736,526 respectively. The total for 1953 includes 19,365,198 Coronation stamps.Separate figures are not available to show how many of these were sold to dealers in the United Kingdom or through the bureau in Washington, but the following details of the amounts received distinguish between the proceeds of such sales:

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether, in view of the development of atomic energy for peaceful projects, he will reconsider the siting of the proposed pylons in Gloucestershire in connection with the 275 KV grid scheme.

I regret that Icannot add anything to the reply I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend on 4th November last.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many complaints he has received in the last six months concerning the delay in domestic fuel deliveries in Scotland generally and in Fife particularly.

Twenty-four, including three from Fife.

asked the Minister of Defence the period of compulsory military service, whole or part-time, in Commonwealth countries as at 1st March, 1955.

The following is the information:

asked the Minister of Defence if he will arrange for officers and other ranks of all three Services to be reminded of the desirability of notifying changes of address in connection with the Service voters' roll.

:Administrative instructions are issued by the Service Departments in the summer of each year to bring to the notice of members of the Forces the opportunities they have to register or re-register as a Service voter. My right hon.Friends the Service Ministers are arranging for a reminder on the lines proposed by the hon. Member to be included in these instructions in future.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what renewed applications have been received from African co-operatives since 1950 for leave to grow and market Virginian flue-cured tobacco; whether such applications will continue to be opposed by the Government of Northern Rhodesia; and on what grounds.

:No such application has been received since 1950. The Northern Rhodesia Government is not opposed to such applications and any they receive will be considered on their merits.