asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about future arrangements for the trade in pigmeat with the Irish Republic.

Under the Agreement made with the Irish Republic for supplies of pigmeat in 1951 my Department has been the sole importer of pork and bacon from the Republic. The Agreement expires on the 30th April. 1956, however, and after that date the trade in pigmeat from the Irish Republic will revert to private hands.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the New Hebrides is now included in the United Kingdom Government agreement with British copra producing territories in the South Pacific; what price per ton is paid to New Hebrides planters for copra delivered at Vila or Santo; and what price is paid to planters in neighbouring British territories.

There is no copra agreement between the United Kingdom Government and the New Hebrides. The answer to the second part of the Question is £31 9s. 2d. (sterling equivalent). The sterling equivalents of prices paid to producers in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Fiji and Tonga for different grades are shown below; the grading varies as between the territories.

	£ per ton
B.S.I.P.	49	4	0;	45	12	0;	42	0	0(a)
Fiji	51	12	0;	51	7	0			(b)
Tonga	41	16	0;	37	0	0
(a) Delivered Honiara. Gizo and Yandina.
(b) Subject to special deductions for high moisture content.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement on the progress of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate's five year development plan with special reference to the contribution made thereto from colonial development and welfare funds and any reductions that have been made in the amount of such contribution.

The British Solomon Islands Protectorate's development programme for the five years beginning 1st April, 1955, envisages a total expenditure of about £1,235,000 (sterling). Towards this total, funds are available from the following sources:

	£
Unspent balance of colonial development and welfare funds allocated under the 1945 Act	302,000
C.D. and W. funds allocated under the 1955 Act	230,000
Japanese reparations	376,000
Total	908,000

It is hoped to find the balance from other sources, including some further assistance from central allocations of C.D. and W. funds.£157,800 is being devoted to the completion of C.D. and W. schemes started before April, 1955; and since that date new schemes to a total of £157,200 have been approved, including £44,800 for a teacher training and technical college, £18,700 for roads and bridges and £16,026 for forestry. In addition, a contract has been placed for the construction, not at the expense of C.D. and W. funds, of a Government vessel to provide a regular inter-island shipping service.Actual disbursements since April, 1955, have been approximately as follows:

C.D. and W. funds	£120,500
Other funds	£47,500

There has been no reduction in the scale of C.D. and W. assistance promised to the Protectorate.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he is aware that the cuts in capital expenditure recently imposed by him have resulted in the stoppage of work on the £15 million hydroelectricity scheme at Blaenau Ffestiniog; and whether he will restore a sufficient proportion of the cut to enable the work to be resumed.

The amount available to the electricity supply industry for capital development during the current year has been determined in the light of our present economic circumstances and cannot be increased. The decision in the case of individual projects such as that to which the hon. Member refers must rest with the Central Electricity Authority.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many tons of coal he estimates are being saved per annum by producing electricity by water-power methods.

About 650 thousand tons in 1955, when the summer was very dry, and nearly a million in 1954.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the number of convictions recorded in England and Wales in each of the past ten years in respect of offences committed in connection with illegal bookmaking transactions.

I have had a special analysis made of the statistical returns to ascertain the number of persons summarily convicted in 1954 of offences under Section 1 of the Street Betting Act, 1906. It totalled 6,942. The information for the previous four years could only be ascertained by further inquiry which would take a great amount of time and labour. The cards for years earlier than 1950 have been destroyed.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government why approval of a burial ground at Beddgelert, Caernarvonshire, has been delayed; what was the date of the public inquiry held to consider the matter; what was recommended as a result of that inquiry; why he considers that another public inquiry is now necessary; and whether, in view of the seriousness of the position in Beddgelert and widespread concern about the delay in approving facilities, he will expedite a settlement.

The delay in the provision of a new burial ground at Beddgelert is due to the parish council's inability to purchase suitable land by agreement, and to difficulties in regard to access to the site which they want to acquire compulsorily. The county council acting on behalf of the parish council, made a compulsory purchase order for the site, and a public inquiry into the order was held on 8th October and 13th November, 1953. This order was not confirmed because the council was not able to establish that the necessary access to the land could be obtained.A second compulsory purchase order relating to the site and to some access land has now been made and, as there are objections which have not been withdrawn, I am obliged by the provisions of the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, to hold either a hearing or a public inquiry.I shall do all I can to expedite the matter.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, in view of the public inquiry on 8th May next into the proposed redevelopment of the St. Thomas's Hospital site, facing the House of Commons, for the purposes of a medical school, he will cause a plan of the proposed building to be placed in the Tea Room.

Only outline plans of the proposed medical school have yet been prepared. I am arranging for copies of these plans to be placed in the Tea Room.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what quantity of paint his Department has purchased from Government surplus stocks offered by the Ministry of Supply or the War Department since 1st January, 1954; on what dates orders were placed; and how many gallons of paint have been purchased by his Department during the same period from other than Government sources.

No paint has been purchased by my Departments from Government surplus stocks offered by the Ministry of Supply or the War Department since 1st January, 1954: approximately 6,000 gallons have been purchased from other sources.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what action is taken in his Department on receiving notification by the Ministry of Supply of public auctions of Government surplus stocks; the extent of purchases made by his Department from these stocks since 1st January, 1954; and the date of the last order to be placed.

Catalogues are examined by the officers concerned with supply in order to determine whether stores may be purchased to advantage. None of my Departments has made any purchase from Government surplus stocks since 1st January, 1954.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how far the sales of canned and deep-freeze vegetables in the last twelve months showed an increase over the previous year; and what was the amount.

The quantity of manufacturers' sales of home production of canned vegetables rose from 384,900 tons in 1954 to 406,300 tons in 1955.No other figures of sales are available, but the figures for home production and retained imports of canned and deepfreeze vegetables are given below

—	1954	1955
	('000 tons)	('000 tons)
Home production:
Canned vegetables	373·6*	429·7*
Deep-freeze vegetables	14·2	not yet available
Retained imports:
Canned vegetables	133·2	124·0
Deep-freeze vegetables	1·8	3·4
* These figures differ from those of sales on account of exports and changes in stocks.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will set up machinery for the co-ordination of the clothing industry, arising from the winding-up of the Clothing Industry Council.

No. As I informed the hon. Member on a previous occasion, the establishment of any such machinery is a question for the clothing industry itself.

asked the President of the Board of Trade to state the balance in hand, following the winding-up of the Clothing Industry Council; and how it is proposed to use this money.

The balance in the Clothing Industry Development Council (Dissolution) Deposit Account is £36,727. Both sides of the clothing industry have been consulted about proposals for the procedure to be adopted in disposing of the money and I am considering the representations that have been made. I hope shortly to inform the industry of my conclusions.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the total amounts of crude oil and refined products imported into the United Kingdom during 1955 from Persia.

Three hundred and twenty-six million gallons of crude petroleum, valued at £.10·2 million and 23 million gallons of refined petroleum, valued at £1·1 million.

asked the President of the Board of Trade when the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission's Report on the supply of sand and gravel in central Scotland will be published; and if he will make a statement about its contents.

The Report was published today. The Commission finds that the conditions defined in Section 3 of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices (Inquiry and Control) Act, 1948, prevail, as the members of the Washed Sand and Gravel Association (the West Association) and the members of the Mid-Scotland Washed Sand and Gravel Association together supply more than one-third of the sand and gravel (measured either by weight or value) supplied in the reference area, and restrict competition in certain ways.Each Association covers a merchanting area. Within, and part of, each merchanting area is a scheduled area. For the various grades of washed sand and gravel, each Association prescribes minimum ex-pit prices applicable to all member pits within its merchanting area. Each also prescribes minimum delivered prices throughout its scheduled area and minimum haulage rates to places in its merchanting area but outside its scheduled area. The Commission finds that, as a result of this system, the general level of ex-pit delivery prices for washed sand and gravel is higher than it might be expected to be under price competition, and it is unable to find any justification for the artificial maintenance of these prices. It concludes that the system operates against the public interest and should be discontinued.All members' sales of washed sand and gravel, whether ordered directly by a consumer or ordered by a merchant, are normally invoiced centrally through the secretaries of one or other of the Associations, who receive the money and pay the producers. The Commission is satisfied that the most important effect of central invoicing is to ensure the observance of the minimum price system and consider that, even in the absence this system, central invoicing might tend to make for the observance of common prices. It concludes, therefore, that central invoicing is against the public interest and should be discontinued.The West Association has a rule that its members may not quote for screened unwashed concrete sand. This Association also has an arrangement under which public and local authority schedules for the supply of washed sand and gravel are submitted through the Association secretaries. The Commission considers that both these rules are against the public interest and should be discontinued.The Associations have stop lists which cover persons who fail to pay for supplies. The Commission finds that these stop lists, the fixed water content allow ances given in the West Association Areas and the methods of weighing prescribed by the Associations are not in themselves against the public interest and, in the absence of the common minimum price and haulage rate system, it would not expect them to operate against the public interest.Association merchants bind themselves to purchase all their supplies of washed sand and gravel for delivery in the combined Merchanting Areas from Association members. They agree to observe the Association minimum prices, to conform to other arrangements of the selling scheme, and not to sell screened unwashed concrete sand in the Association areas. In return, they receive a fixed discount on their sales and, unlike other merchants, are allowed by the Associations to buy washed sand and gravel at ex-pit prices. The Commission considers that these arrangements operate against the public interest and should be discontinued.In the absence of the common minimum price and haulage rate system, however, they would see no objection to the maintenance by the Associations of a selected list of merchants, who would accept responsibility for settlement of customers' accounts and make a deposit as a guarantee of financial stability in return for a special discount, always provided that producers were free to give to other merchants what discounts they chose.So far as action on the report is concerned, as indicated during the Second Reading Debate on the Restrictive Trade Practices Bill, the Government do not propose to take action on matters which will be subject to the jurisdiction of the proposed Restrictive Practices Court.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement about the rates of interest chargeable to local authorities borrowing from the Local Loans Fund.

A Treasury Minute made today provides that loans advanced to local authorities from the Local Loans Fund on and after 24th March, 1956, until further notice, shall carry the following rates of interest:

	Per cent.
Loans for not more than five years	5⅝
Loans for more than five years but not more than fifteen years	5½
Loans for more than fifteen years	5½

asked the Secretary of State for Air what action is taken by his Department on receiving notification by the Ministry of Supply of public auctions of Government surplus stocks; the extent of purchases made by his Department from these surplus stocks since 1st January, 1954; and the date of the last order to be placed.

No purchases have been made from Ministry of Supply surplus stocks advertised for auction since January, 1954. Information in regard to surplus stocks which might be of interest to another Department is normally exchanged before they are advertised for auction.

asked the Secretary of State for War what action is taken in his Department on receiving notification by the Ministry of Supply of public auctions of Government surplus stocks; the extent of purchases made by his Department from these stocks since 1st January, 1954; and the date of the last order to be placed.

The catalogues of these auctions are examined to check whether any items offered would be of use to the War Department. We do not keep separate records of resultant purchases, which have in any case been negligible.

asked the Secretary of State for War the numbers of civilian clerks in the War Department, Mauritius, who are to be retrenched on 30th March and October; whether they will be paid gratuities in accordance with the recommendations of the Ramage Report; and what plans the Government of Mauritius have for absorbing them in civil life.

Sixteen between 31st March and 30th April and five between 1st May and 30th October. Their entitlement to gratuities will depend upon the United Kingdom Superannuation Acts and not the recommendations of the Ramage Report. They are being advised to register with the Mauritius Labour Department for employment.

asked the Minister of Labour what record is still kept by his Department of the conditions upon which it trained unemployed or unemployable young men, before the late war, for employment as civilian aircraft mechanics; and how far it was made clear to these people that, even after 16 years of employment in their new trades, they would be dilutees and liable to dismissal on a priority basis, in order to leave their jobs open to a younger generation of post-war apprentices.

The general conditions on which unemployed men were offered Ministry of Labour Vocational Training courses before the war are known to my Department. It would have been made perfectly clear to the men in question that they would be in competition with apprenticeship-trained craftsmen and that their employment would be subject to whatever terms and conditions might from time to time be agreed between the two sides of the industry.