asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if he has any information yet as to how far his recent rain-making experiments have produced hailstones of unusually large size.

No hail of any kind has been observed either during or immediately after these experiments.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power (1) how many opencast coal-mining projects are being delayed or have been abandoned because of objections against the development of the sites; the grounds for objection in each case; and what steps he is taking to have the objections removed;(2) what estimate he has made of the increase in annual output which would be obtained over the next five years on the basis that all the opencast mining projects now subject to objections were developed.

Most of the National Coal Board's proposals for working sites have been approved but there are forty-one fully prospected sites and certain partially proved areas estimated to contain at least 8 million tons of coal which have not been worked for amenity or agricultural reasons.

asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that the invalid chair ultimately delivered to Miss Pridmore, Church Street, Wilbarston, Northamptonshire, proved to be faulty and not of the right measurements; and whether he will now take steps to secure the delivery of a suitable chair with the minimum delay and to prevent the recurrence of delay and errors in future deliveries of such chairs.

My information is that the chair was not faulty and conformed to the specification. To overcome the patient's fear of falling, however, a further modification has been made to the seat, and I understand that the chair is being returned to Miss Pridmore today.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the total number of taxi-cabs licensed in London; and how many new cabs have been licensed in the present financial year to date.

The total number of taxi-cabs licensed in London on 30th November, 1955, was 5,563. From 1st January to 30th November, 1,276 new cabs were licensed (404 between 1st January and 31st March, and 872 between 1st April and 30th November).

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government when he proposes to make a statement regarding the introduction of legislation to amend the Housing Act, 1936, in so far as it relates to compensation for unfit houses.

I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the statement I made on this subject on 13th December.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what acreage is to be lost to food production by the London County Council's plan to build 700 houses at Edenbridge, Kent; and what steps have been taken to find an alternative site which would not entail using good agricultural land.

Of the 170 acres to which the application related, permission was given to build on 95 acres of land of mediocre agricultural value; for the rest of the area, where the land was better, permission was refused.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the approximate total value of electrical goods exported to China for the first nine months of this year.

United Kingdom exports to China of electric machinery, apparatus and appliances in the first nine months of 1955 totalled £41,334.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will remove the 30-miles-per-hour speed limit from the Kincardine bridge over the River Forth, in view of the fact that it is neither observed nor enforced there.

I will look into this question, and write to the hon. Member when I have done so.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what steps he is taking to regulate traffic on the public approaches to Tower Bridge in order to eliminate present congestion.

I am discussing with the Commissioner of Police the possibility of instituting one-way working on certain roads at the northern approaches to Tower Bridge.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to what extent all the combustible material used in passenger-carrying aircraft is required under his regulations to be fireproof, as is required for all material used in tall buildings over a certain height.

Materials used in the construction of modern civil aircraft are required to conform to British Civil Airworthiness Requirements which specify that sources of fire (e.g. engine nacelles) shall be isolated from the main structure and the cabin by fire walls; that material used in the construction of fire walls and in the fire zones themselves shall be fire proof to the extent that it is resistant to the application of a hot flame for a prescribed period and that material used in other parts of the aircraft (e.g. cabin furnishings) shall be flame proof to the extent that it is not easily ignited and will not propagate combustion.In addition, all such materials are required to conform to specifications approved by the Air Registration Board, resistance to fire being one of the properties specified.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many officers or civilians above the rank or equivalent of staff officer Grade III were employed in the War Office in 1938, 1948 and today.

504, 1,427 and 1,255 respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many officers and civilians of equivalent status are employed today in the War Office; how many were employed in 1938–39; and how the strength of the Army compares now with 1938–39.

2,490 and 970 respectively. The strength of the Army is about 415,000 now compared with about 200,000 in 1938.