asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he proposes to take to prevent a repetition of the destruction of nesting nightingales, wild duck and other birds, in the razing by fire of 100 acres of heath and gorse land in Sussex recently; if he will reprimand the agricultural executive committee officials responsible; and if he will now instruct his rabbit squads that no areas of countryside are to be deliberately fired in future.

:The clearance of scrub on common land is not undertaken by county agricultural executive committees without the Ministry's consent. The East Sussex A.E.C. was recently authorised to burn eighteen acres of scrub on The Hide, Arlington, and scrub was also burnt on a further thirty-two acres of that area owned by the Forestry Commission in order to clear rabbits which would have become a serious source of re-infestation of neighbouring farms. Where, as in this case other measures are impossible, burning is necessary; but instructions have now been given to A.E.C.s that burning should not be done during the nesting season.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the causes of port delays which were responsible for increasing the cost of operating the inter-island service of the s.s. "West Indian" in the Caribbean above the estimate; and what steps are being taken to overcome these delays.

The increase of the operating costs of the "West Indian" over the estimate is only partly attributable to port delays. Where these have occurred they have been due in some cases to lack of facilities for alongside berthing, necessitating the use of boats and lighters for loading and discharging cargo; and in others to the fact that traffic has outgrown handling capacity. These difficulties are well understood by the West Indian Governments concerned and at several ports extensions and modernisation are planned. I understand that the company operating the "West Indian" was invited in February to make suggestions for improvement of turn-round, and any suggestions submitted will be considered by the Governments.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in the interests of health and prevention of fire, he will make regulations to prevent smoking in all cinemas and theatres during performances.

I have power to make regulations affecting safety in cinemas, but no power to make regulations regarding theatres. The danger of serious fires being started as a result of smoking in the auditoriums of cinemas is not sufficient to justify the making of a regulation to prohibit it.

asked the Minister of Labour if, in view of the concern felt by the Tyne Branch of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives at the prospect of unemployment in the building trades, he will make a statement; and also to give the numbers of unemployed in the building trade in the Tyneside district on a quarterly basis for 1955 and the number unemployed for the first quarter of 1956.

Recent national figures of unemployment in the building and civil engineering industries compare favourably with those of a year ago. In the Tyneside area the quarterly figures of wholly unemployed males were: March, 1955: 709; June, 375; September, 337; December, 476; March, 1956. 578.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons now signing the unemployed register at Washington, Birtley and Chester-le-Street Ministry of Labour and National Service local offices, showing the number of men, number of married women, the number of unmarried women, separately, and also the number of unfilled vacant jobs in each area.

The following table gives the information desired.

asked the Postmaster-General how many residential and business applicants, respectively are still awaiting the installation of telephone service at East Kilbride.

Six hundred and sixty residential and forty-three business applicants. It is expected that about 600 of these will be given service during the next twelve months.

asked the Postmaster-General how many post offices, sub-post offices, letter boxes and public telephone booths there are now at East Kilbride; and how many more of each he proposes to provide in the next twelve months to meet the needs of a fast-growing population for which houses are being built at the rate of one thousand per year.

There are now three suboffices, fourteen letter boxes, and twentytwo telephone kiosks at East Kilbride. I cannot yet say precisely how many more of each will be provided during the next twelve months, but we are maintaining close contact with the development corporation to ensure that the provision of these facilities keeps pace with the development of the town

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the total cost of building and equipping Duncanrigg School, East Kilbride; and the size

This senior secondary school has not yet been completed. The final costs for the erection and equipping of the school are therefore not known, but the tenders to date total £328,650 exclusive of professional fees and contingencies, which cannot be ascertained until final costs are known. Provision was made in the painter work tender for mural work. The cost of the mural is understood to be £550 inclusive of the cost of the preparation of the wall. The actual length of the mural is 98 feet and the height in the centre is 24 feet tapering to 19 feet at the ends.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury to state, for the latest convenient date, the number of hon. Members who are not drawing their full salary and/or sessional allowance; and how these figures compare with the position one month after the introduction of the sessional allowance scheme.

The following table gives the information asked for.