asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will relieve from Purchase Tax gas or electrical appliances which are purchased solely to replace existing appliances which are obsolete and which the gas or electricity board certify cannot be repaired.

No. If the principle were accepted that goods which are worn out can be replaced free of Purchase Tax, the yield of this tax would soon fall to almost nothing.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the rapid increase during recent years in exports of subsidised French sugar, and the damaging effect which that is having upon the export trade in British refined sugar, he will arrange for the matter to be raised by his representatives at the forthcoming meeting in New York of signatorles of the International Sugar Agreement.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to him on Tuesday by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Board of Trade. The Conference on sugar which has just begun in New York should afford an opportunity for my officials to continue with officials of the Government of the French Republic the discussions to which my right hon. Friend referred.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the present stage of the discussions in the Food Standards Committee and its Working Party about standards for fruit squashes and fruit drinks; when he expects to receive a recommendation from them; and if he will make a statement.

This Working Party is consulting manufacturers and public analysts about the interpretation of the results of chemical analyses of fruit squashes and fruit drinks, and hopes to report to the Food Standards Committee shortly. I understand that, before reaching a conclusion on this report, the Food Standards Committee will need to consider it in relation to other aspects of the Food Standards (Soft Drinks) Order which it now has under review. I cannot at present say when it is likely to submit recommendations.

asked the Minister of Education what steps he is taking to direct teachers to acquaint children with the dangers of smoking in relation to carcinoma of the lung.

I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the Answer which I gave to his hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Dr. Stross) on 17th May.

asked the Minister of Education if he is aware of the dearth of swimming pools in the schools under his Department; and if he will state his policy for increasing the number of such pools.

In the normal way schools use public swimming facilities, but, in exceptional circumstances, I am willing to consider proposals for building a swimming bath specially for school children where it can be provided either as part of a new school within the normal cost limits, or in substitution for playing fields.

asked the Minister of Education how many applications for telephones have been made for one- and two-teacher schools in rural districts in Buckinghamshire; when these applications were made; and which of these schools is still without telephones.

Applications have been made since 1946 for a telephone to be installed in 11 one- or two-teacher schools in rural districts in Buckinghamshire. All these applications have been met.

asked the Minister of Education if he is now in a position to approve the project to build a new Catholic school in Church Lane, Wolstanton, in the excepted district of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Not yet. The acquisition of the site is not finally settled and the tender for the building work is too high.

asked the Minister of Education if he will enlarge the 1956–57 school building programme for Staffordshire so as to include the 20 projects which he approved in last year's programme but which were not started in that year.

No; to add the carryover to the 1956–57 programme would produce a total higher than can be started in the circumstances of the present year.

asked the Minister of Education what action he is taking to assist the education authority in the excepted district of Newcastle-under-Lyme to make progress with the proposed Knutton Primary School and Chesterton Secondary School, in view of the urgent need for these projects which were included in the 1955–56 building programme and have not yet been started.

With the help of my Department, the cost of Knutton Primary School has now been reduced to a figure I can approve, and I have informed the Staffordshire Local Education Authority that they may start building immediately. I am ready to help in the same way with the other project.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the continuing shortage of iron and mild steel for rural craftsmen, particularly in Lincolnshire; and what further steps he will take to overcome this shortage and to see that repairs to agricultural machinery are not held up.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that there is still a noticeable shortage of iron and mill steel in small sizes for rural craftsmen, especially in East Anglia, which is causing delay in the repairing of agricultural machinery; and what steps are being taken to deal with this situation.

The production of small sizes of iron and steel has increased in the last six months. However, rural craftsmen are this year using 10 per cent. more steel than last year and there may still be shortages in some rural areas. I understand that the Iron and Steel Board has recently had discussions about the relief of their problems with these craftsmen's representatives.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what representations he has received from the Maltese Government, or from other sources, complaining that the new rates of pay for Maltese service personnel widen the gap between British and Maltese rates for a private from 19s. 3d. to 56s. per week; and if he will take steps to remove these grievances.

My noble Friend discussed the pay of Maltese service personnel with Mr. Mintoff (at Mr. Mintoff's request) during his recent visit to this country. The discussion included points from a memorandum, which had been forwarded by the Maltese Government to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and circulated by him to the Service Ministers. I too, have recently had some talk with Mr. Mintoff in Malta on this subject.As I have already told the hon. Member, the level of pay for Maltese service personnel is based on the prevailing level of local wages. Since this is different from the level of earnings in this country, the resulting pay codes for Maltese and United Kingdom service personnel must also be different. In view of this and of the wide difference in the liability to disturbance, no valid comparison can be made between the two pay codes.My noble Friend will shortly be sending Mr. Mintoff a letter about this matter.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will now announce the names of the Chairman and Members of the Scottish Food Hygiene Council to be set up under Section 25 of the Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act, 1956.

Yes. The Chairman will be Sir William McNair Snadden, Bart., and the other members as follows:

Mr. A. F. Alexander, Secretary of the Scottish Federation of Grocers' and Provision Merchants' Associations.

Mr. J. F. Anderson, Chief Sanitary Inspector, Edinburgh.

Mr. Thomas C. Brechin, Director of Brechin Bros. Ltd., Glasgow.

Mr. R. L. Brodie. Member of Lanarkshire County Council and Chairman of the County's Welfare Services Committee

Mr. J. C. Campbell, Factory Manager with Cooper and Company's Stores Ltd., Glasgow.

Mr. E. W. Craig, Scottish Divisional Officer of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers.

Mr. William Crow, Haddington Hotelier, Member of Haddington Town Council and of East Lothian County Council.

Dr. G. Matthew Fyfe, Medical Officer of Health, Fife County Council.

Miss I. S. Gibson, O.B.E., J.P., Principal, Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science.

Mr. E. W. Graham Guest, Joint Managing Director of Macvitties Guest and Co. Ltd.

Mr. G. Jackson, Baker, Hamilton Central Baking Society—President of the Scottish Union of Bakers and Allied Workers.

Mr. J. Little, Chief Shop Steward with W. and M. Duncan, Ltd., Edinburgh.

Mr. John Mains, Member of Glasgow Corporation and Convener of the Health and Welfare Committee.

Mrs. Jean Samuel, J.P., Member of the Scottish Board Co-operative Union.

Dr. John Smith, Director, Regional Laboratory, City Hospital, Aberdeen.

Mrs. C. J. Tudhope, Member of Dundee General Hospitals Board of Management and formerly Depute Town Clerk, Dundee.

Provost R. Wotherspoon. J.P, Solicitor: Provost of Inverness.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is yet in a position to make a further announcement of his plans for the provision of grants and loans at standards appropriate to the present high costs for the building of new and the replacement of old fishing vessels for the Scottish fishing fleets.

I regret I am unable to add to the replies given to the hon. and learned Member on 5th March and to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, South (Lady Tweedsmuir) on 26th January.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement regarding the rain-making experiments of the East African Meteorological Department, Tabora, Tanganyika; and whether any conclusions can yet be formed.

Tabora, which is a railway junction and administrative centre in the Western Province of Tanganyika, is dependent on the Kazima Dam for its water supply. Because of the partial failure of the seasonal rains, the level of the reservoir was dangerously low at the end of March and it was therefore decided to try out a "cloud-seeding" technique which had been evolved by the East African Meteorological Department in conjunction with the Admiralty and the Ministry of Supply. This technique involves the use of 2-inch naval rockets, modified to incorporate particles of sea salt. After the necessary safety precautions had been taken, the experiments were carried out from the 12th April to the 2nd May and 37 rockets were fired during this period. Under the conditions prevailing the best results were achieved when the rockets burst at about 3,000 feet and about 1½ miles downwind of the catchment area of the Kazima Dam.The results are still being studied, but there is definite evidence that under suitable conditions cloud-seeding does produce rain. A significant feature of the experiments was the repeated occurrence of rain over the catchment area some 12 minutes after seeding. At the conclusion of the experiments the level of the reservoir was 2½ inches above the level at the beginning of the experiments, despite a daily consumption of 250,000 gallons and a high loss through evaporation. Rainfall recorded in the catchment area during April was about 1 to 1½ inches more than that measured at stations near to but outside the catchment area.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the technical assistance which Her Majesty's Government propose to give towards economic devclopment in the member countries of the Bagdad Pact.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury announced at the Tehran meeting of the Bagdad Pact Economic Committee that Her Majesty's Government were willing to contribute a sum of £250,000, to be available over a period of five years for technical assistance to approved projects designed to increase the economic wellbeing of the Bagdad Pact area. Her Majesty's Government have also undertaken to contribute equipment and provide a director and other staff for a proposed Atomic Training Centre at Bagdad, and to give initial training in the United Kingdom for teachers for the Centre, at an estimated total cost of £30,000 in the current financial year.Her Majesty's Government therefore propose, subject to the approval of Parliament, to provide for expenditure during the present financial year of a sum of £50,000 for technical assistance and a further £30,000 for the Atomic Training Centre. These amounts will be included in the Supplementary Estimates to be laid before Parliament in July. In anticipation of the Supplementary Estimates advances will be made from the Civil Contingencies Fund.

the Postmaster-General how many television licences have been issued to the nearest convenient date in the towns of Ashington, New-biggin-on-the-Sea, and Morpeth,Northumberland.

Separate figures for each town are not available, but in the Morpeth Head Post Office district, of which these three towns form a part, there were just over 9,000 television licences at the end of April.

asked the Minister of Labour the number of vacancles for employment for men and women at the Feltham and Hounslow employment exchanges at the latest convenient date.

The following table gives the information desired:

asked the Minister of Labour the number of registered unemployed in the radio industry at the latest convenient date.

At 16th April, 1956, the latest date for which figures are available, the total numbers unemployed were 2,014 in the wireless apparatus and gramophones industry and 462 in the wireless valves and electric lamps industry.

asked the Minister of Labour the percentage increase in the average wage rate for all industries since June, 1954.

It is estimated that between 30th June, 1954, and 30th April, 1956, the average level of full-time weekly rates of wages rose by nearly 15 per cent.