asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total amount of Exchequer grants for road improvements during the past financial year.

Expenditure from the Exchequer in 1955–56 on trunk and classified roads amounted to £8¾ million for new construction and major improvement, and £33½ million for maintenance and minor improvement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total receipts from Road Fund licences during the last financial year.

About £87 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total amount of Purchase Tax received from the sale of pressure cookers during the last financial year.

I regret that this information is not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much is now required to purchase at the latest prices the same goods and services as could in 1951 be purchased for 20s.; and, of the changes, how much is due, respectively, to increases in import prices, to changes in taxes and subsidies, and to home costs.

As will be seen from the Appendix to The Economic Implications of Full Employment (Cmd. 9725), the price index of final output, for consumption, investment and exports, rose between 1951 and 1955 by 11 per cent.; 11 per cent. of 20s. is 2s. 2d. The same appendix shows that the rise in home costs per unit of output between 1951 and 1955 was 17 per cent. and was thus more than sufficient to account for the whole increase in the prices of final output.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide those who receive small pensions and superannuation allowances on retiring from the public services with cards enabling them to receive the benefit of the same reduced charges which old-age pensioners enjoy in regard to tobacco, entertainments, hairdressing, boot-repairing, etc.

No. Even if cards of identity were provided for public service pensioners, these would not necessarily enable them to benefit from concessions available for old-age pensioners.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that highly qualified but elderly persons are finding difficulty in securing employment in the public service owing to the high medical standards required for inclusion in superannuation schemes; and if he will lower these standards.

It is not clear which branch of the public service the hon. Member has in mind. So far as the Civil Service is concerned, I am not aware of difficulty of this kind.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will arrange to publish in future issues of the White Paper, "United Kingdom Balance of Payments", additional figures showing the United Kingdom's balance with the rest of the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth's balance with the rest of the world.

If there were no technical impediments I would like to adopt my hon. Friend's suggestion, but I am writing to him to explain their nature.

asked the Minister of Labour by how much he estimates the cost of living will rise due to the increase in freight charges.

I am unable to make such an estimate.

asked the Minister of Labour by how much he estimates the cost of living will rise due to the recently announced increases in postal and telephone charges.

I estimate that the direct effect will be equivalent to a rise of less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. in the Index of Retail Prices.

asked the Minister of Labour how many graduate scientists and technologists of equivalent standing are now employed in civilian industry.

Reliable information is not available at present, but my Department is now engaged on a survey of the numbers and distribution of scientists and engineers employed in industry and in other fields of work.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will now make a statement on the immediate consequences following from the taking over by him from the Minister of Transport on 1st April, 1956, of responsibility for all Scottish roads, bridges, and ferries.

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply I gave to the right hon. Member for Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire (Mr. Woodburn) on 27th March.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the fact that fish is now being sent by freight aircraft from Britain to Canada, whether he will consult with the British Transport Commission to devise arrangements whereby fish may similarly be sent by freight aircraft from Aberdeen to London.

While fish is occasionally sent by air from Scotland to Canada and the Continent, I have no evidence that the advantages of air transport in this country would generally compensate for the cost. It is open however to the interests concerned to make such arrangements if they wish.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps are being taken to increase the accommodation at Dundee Technical College for the session 1956–57.

It is not expected that the building of the second section of the new art college will have made enough progress to free further rooms for day classes in the technical college before July, 1957. The governors will, if necessary, rent additional accommodation outside the college for evening classes.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware that nomination papers nominating certain candidates for election in the forthcoming municipal elections in Scotland were disallowed and rejected by the town clerk depute because the nominated candidates were described as Scottish; that this disallowance and rejection were made under the Representation of the People Acts; and if he will take steps so to amend the law as to make it accord with the facts.

The Representation of the People Act, 1949, requires a candidate at a municipal election to declare that he is a British subject or citizen of the Republic of Ireland; and I understand that the town clerk depute rejected certain nomination papers in which the word "British" had been altered to "Scottish." All but one of the candidates concerned have since lodged unaltered nomination papers, which have been accepted. As regards the last part of the Question, no amendment of the law is contemplated.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many full-time students enrolled at the Scottish universities and other institutes of higher education in the term ending December, 1955; and how many of these students were in receipt of a local authority grant.

Figures for the term ending December, 1955, are not available. In session 1954–55 the number of full-time students enrolled at Scottish universities, central institutions and training colleges was 21,874. Of these, 10,037 were in receipt of grants from Scottish education authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the average annual value, at December, 1955, of a local authority grant awarded under the current regulations to a full-time student enrolled at a university or other institute of higher education; and what proportion of that grant covered academic fees, books, and instruments.

Figures for December, 1955, of the average annual value of local authority bursaries awarded to full-time students at the Scottish universities, central institutions and training colleges are not available. In session 1954–55, the average value was £118, but it is not possible to say what proportion of this figure related to academic fees, books, and instruments.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) why Gairloch has not been scheduled as an A port, in view of the large-scale landings which have taken place at that port both during and since the war years;(2) why Ullapool has not been scheduled as an A port under the proposed Herring Industry Board Scheme, in view of the fact that the Government is spending a considerable amount of money in extending the pier at that port, due to the extension of the fishing.

Gairloch and Ullapool were put in category B because of the high cost of sending surplus herring from them to the reduction factories and the need to make the oil and meal scheme solvent as soon as possible. The higher prices available at category A ports can be got by boats fishing the North Minch which land their surplus catch at Stornoway.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what comprehensive survey of Scottish local government, including its finance and relations with the national Government, he has in mind; and the terms of reference and composition of the body responsible for making it.

As already stated in the House, the Government are considering all aspects of local government finance in both Scotland and England and Wales. It is intended to discuss the matter with the local authority associations as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he takes, by financial assistance or otherwise, to induce local authorities to build where possible on rocky and difficult sites rather than take agricultural land for house and school building.

The attention of local authorities has been drawn by circular to the importance of preventing the use of good agricultural land for other forms of development, and the existing procedure for preparing development plans and selecting sites ensures that the agricultural value of potential sites is taken fully into account. There is no special provision for financial assistance of the kind which my hon. and gallant Friend has in mind but advice on the development of difficult sites will be included in the next edition of the Scottish Housing Handbook to be issued shortly to local authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement concerning the most recent proposals put forward by the Scottish division of the National Coal Board on the question of estimated needs for houses in Glenrothes for incoming miners.

The National Coal Board has not submitted any further proposals affecting the Glenrothes area since those of June of last year.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why permission to build ninety houses in Hill of Beath was refused to the Fife County Council; and whether he will now reconsider his decision.

I am sending the hon. Member a copy of a letter dated 29th March which was sent to Fife County Council from my Department. In it the considerations affecting the county council's proposal to build ninety houses at Hill of Beath are fully set out. The county council has been asked to consider them and I am awaiting its reply.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, in view of the unfavourable Report of the panel of experts on the suggested underwater road crossing of the Firth of Forth, he will now proceed with the plans for the high-level bridge and make an early statement on the matter.

I cannot yet add to the replies which I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Berwick and East Lothian (Major Anstruther-Gray) and to the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. J. Taylor) on 12th April.

asked the Minister of Works whether he is satisfied that his Department has sufficient draughtsmen to carry out the necessary preparatory technical work at the Spadeadam site for guided weapon testing; and if he will make a statement.

The precise requirements of staff for the Spadeadam scheme cannot yet be determined. Few draughtsmen will be needed at the site itself; elsewhere the Ministry's drawing office staff will have to be supplemented, and I am confident that this can be arranged.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will arrange for an independent investigation of complaints made by villagers of Phrenaros against the behaviour of British troops.

Police and military investigations are being made.

asked the Secretary of State for War what steps he has taken, and is now taking, to provide alternative and better accommodation for troops than the London Assembly Centre in Goodge Street deep shelter, London, since the hon. and learned Member for Aberdeen, North, drew his attention to its unsuitability for these purposes.

We were well aware of this problem before the hon and learned Member brought it to our attention, and arrangements had already been made to transfer pay and other administrative functions, casual meals, etc., to fresh accommodation in the summer. Unfortunately, as I explained in answer to Questions by the hon. and learned Member on 10th April, there is great difficulty in arranging suitable alternative accommodation but we are doing everything we can.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many of the 82 air compressor machines sold at an auction sale at Manchester on 31st January, 1956, were purchased since the end of World War II; what were the purchases, and the purposes for which they were bought; in how many cases were they never used; and the total purchase price, together with the total amount at this sale.

Twenty-eight, ordered in 1952 and 1953. None of them were used. They were intended for inflating tactical deception equipment. They cost £8,260 and realised £596 at the auction.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will intensify the British propaganda effort in the cold war in order to refute the distortions of unfriendly nations and to counter-attack with the truth.

Her Majesty's Government are well aware of the need to increase the means at their disposal for presenting the British case to the world. Measures to this end have already been taken and others are now under consideration.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, after consultation with the other countries represented on the Disarmament Sub-Committee, he will issue a White Paper giving the full text of the various proposals so far submitted to that Committee during its current series of sittings.

My right hon. Friend intends to publish a White Paper containing these proposals as soon as the Disarmament Sub-Committee has reported to its parent body, the Disarmament Commission.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made by the public inquiry concerned with the proposal by the National Farmers' Union for an egg marketing board; how many meetings have been held; when it is proposed that they shall conclude; and how much it is estimated that the inquiry will cost.

The public inquiry into objections to the proposed British Egg Marketing Scheme was concluded last Friday, 13th April. Sessions were held on thirty-four days. The net charge on public funds will be of the order of £1,100.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what grounds the House of Assembly of the Southern Cameroons has decided to dissolve the Union Politique Cameroniene.

I presume the Question relates to the Union des Populations du Cameroun.The Southern Cameroons House of Assembly has not dissolved or tried to dissolve this organisation. But on 23rd March the House unanimously passed a Motion calling on the Southern Cameroons Government to

asked the Minister of Health whether he is now in a position to make a statement as to the results of the investigation into samples of fog taken during January last.

I have been asked to reply, as representing the Lord President of the Council.Under the aegis of the Fuel Research Station of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, about 3,000 measurements of air pollution were made throughout the day and night during the fog, from 4th to 7th January last, in the areas of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Salford and Sheffield. The results showed great variations in pollution by smoke, sulphur and compounds and carbon monoxide from hour to hour and point to point.In the London area the averages of the results for pollution by smoke and by sulphur dioxide were about three quarters of the averages during the severe fog of December, 1952, and between three and four times the concentrations in normal winter weather. The average concentrations of smoke and sulphur dioxide in the other areas of investigation were about the same as in the London area.The concentrations of carbon monoxide in the several areas were not much greater than in normal winter weather.The observations were made by more than 500 volunteers, including many from the Civil Defence Corps, and I should like to take this opportunity of thanking them for their work.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the continued disquiet felt by many members of the legal profession and the general public over the Timothy Evans case; and whether he will, therefore, move to appoint a Select Committee of hon. and learned Members of this House to re-examine the whole matter.

No. All the relevant facts are on record, and there is no reason to believe that any new information would be forthcoming. In these circumstances I do not consider that a further inquiry into this case would serve any useful purpose.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how soon he expects to give a decision on the development plan submitted by the City of Cardiff.

Officers of my Department will shortly be meeting representatives of the Cardiff City Council to discuss with them certain modifications to the development plan. A further period will then be needed for the preparation of modified maps before my formal decision on the plan can be published.

asked the Minister of Supply the agreed price for the purchase of war surplus Army vehicles to a company, the name of which has been supplied by the hon. Member for Erith and Crayford; and by how much the outstanding balance was reduced by agreement and what was the reason for so doing.

The transaction in question was the disposal in 1946 and 1947 of some vehicles lying in Germany. The original contract price of £454,740 was reduced to £375,778 to compensate for deficiencies in the number of vehicles delivered and shortcomings in their condition.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now make a statement on the negotiations with Czechoslovakia for a trade agreement.

The negotiations are in train and I would not, therefore, wish to make a statement at this stage.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will introduce one-way working in South Molton Street, W.1.

South Molton Street is already a unilateral waiting street. It is of limited value to through traffic, and I doubt whether one-way working would serve much purpose. The street will come under examination in the course of the survey of parking in London, and I will look at my hon. Friend's suggestion again when I know the result of the survey.