asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the figures of unemployment in the counties of Caernarvon, Anglesey, and Merioneth, on convenient dates in January and June in the years 1946, 1951, and 1956, respectively, as percentages of the insured population in each county; and if he will

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will give an assurance that the Factory Inspectorate is sufficiently manned to enable factory inspectors to make a periodic thorough inspection of all workplaces.

Yes. All factories are thoroughly inspected from time to time, but the period between visits naturally varies according to circumstances.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will take steps to make more widely known the fact that all concerned in industry, at the works and area levels, can seek information and advice on industrial accident prevention from the district inspectors of factories, and that, at the national level, industry can do so through the Chief Inspector of Factories.

I am sure this fact is already well known in industry, and the recent

The following are the numbers of persons registered as unemployed in Caernarvonshire, Anglesey and Merionethshire at January and June of 1946, 1951 and 1956, expressed as percentages of the estimated total numbers of insured employees, with comparable figures for Wales and Great Britain:Report of the Industrial Safety Sub-Committee of the National Joint Advisory Council, which has received wide publicity, will make it better known. A standing Safety Sub-Committee of the Council has now been appointed. In considering how to make further progress in accident prevention, I have no doubt the Sub-Committee will look carefully at all aspects of public relations.

asked the Minister of Labour what steps he is taking to give effect to the recommendations in the Report of the Industrial Safety Sub-Committee of the National Joint Advisory Council on Industrial Accident Prevention.

The recommendations in the Report call for action by employers and workers, their organisations, education authorities, my own Ministry and others. The Report has had a wide sale. This augurs well for its recommendations being seriously considered and, I hope, followed by all concerned with industrial accident prevention. A standing Safety Sub-Committee of the National Joint Advisory Council has been set up. The Committee will review progress in this field and consider what further action is necessary.

asked the Minister of Labour when the term "dilutees" was first officially used to describe a particular type of workman in the engineering industry; and what this description was intended to imply.

I cannot say precisely when the term was first used, but the word "dilution", in its industrial meaning, was in common use as early as the First World War. The term "dilutees" was used in certain Relaxation of Customs Agreements in the engineering industry dated 1940 to describe and identify workers who were introduced under these agreements to supplement the skilled manpower in the industry.

asked the Minister of Labour why the Cardiff Medical Tribunal revised the medical grade of a Cardiff youth, whose name has been supplied to him, from grade I to grade IV without a second medical examination; and whether he will make a statement.

The man to whom the hon. Member refers refused to submit to a medical re-examination on 30th April, 1956, and failed to attend another examination arranged for 6th June, The medical board therefore revised the grading on the medical evidence of the man's own doctor, which was not available at the first examination because the man had failed to disclose that he had been under treatment for a condition which would render him unfit for service.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when it is intended to bring into operation those sections of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act, 1949, dealing with legal aid in criminal matters, legal aid in matters not involving litigation, and legal advice.

I am not in a position to say when it will be possible for these extensions of the Legal Aid Scheme to be made.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has yet given a decision to Glasgow Corporation regarding the acquisition of 500 acres of ground in the Summerston area for the purpose of building 5,000 houses.

The National Coal Board has applied to Glasgow Corporation for permission to work coal under the area in question and has not yet received a decision from the Corporation. As an appeal may be made to me by the Coal Board in the event of the Corporation refusing, or attaching conditions to their permission, I cannot intervene at this stage, and I have so informed the Corporation.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional new towns he now proposes to designate to provide for Glasgow's overspill.

I do not at present propose to designate any further new towns.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he proposes to introduce a Town Development Act to deal with Glasgow's overspill; and if he will now indicate the percentage grant that will be given to receiving authorities.

I hope to introduce legislation to facilitate the reception of overspill next Session. I cannot indicate what the detailed provisions will be until I have had discussions with the local authority associations, which I hope to arrange shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will introduce legislation to provide that home accidents shall be notifiable as are road accidents.

While I sympathise with the purpose which the hon. Lady has in view, I am afraid the objections to her proposal outweigh its advantages.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, as an example of wage restraint, similar to that which has recently been imposed on Members of Parliament, he will refuse to grant any increases in the pay or allowances of civil servants until the economic situation is more favourable, and further make the necessary arrangements to ensure that civil servants shall be placed on the same basis as Members of Parliament so that they will have to meet the cost of their postage, telegrams, stationery, telephones, travel, living away from home expenses, secretarial expenses and all other expenses necessarily incurred by them in carrying out their duties to the State from their State or Civil Service pay.

I am well aware of the hon. Gentleman's feeling, but I do not think that his suggestion would be an appropriate way of remedying the difficulty.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the reason for the fall in the index of industrial production in May by more than 3 per cent. compared with the same month last year; and why in the first five months of this year, production is less than 1 per cent. up, whereas in the first five months of 1955 production increased by 6 per cent. compared with 1954.

I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I made to the hon. Member for Stechford (Mr. Roy Jenkins) on 12th June.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will state the number of pensioned civil servants of the administrative and executive grades who were excluded from benefiting under the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1956, because they were under 60 years of age.

It would not be possible to give the exact number without disproportionate expenditure of time and labour. It must be small, because civil servants cannot normally retire before they are 60, and the majority of pensioners under 60 are ill-health pensioners whose age does not affect their eligibility for pensions increase.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the contribution of Her Majesty's Government to the Lord Mayor's National Flood and Tempest Distress Fund.

Yes. I am informed by the authorities of the Fund that all claims upon it have now been met and a sum set aside for the Princess Victoria Distress Fund and grants to dependants, and that the objects for which this Fund was set up have thus been entirely discharged. The total disbursed by the Fund was £7,270,000 of which Her Majesty's Government subscribed £2,105,000.The House will recall that in February, 1953, Her Majesty's Government undertook to pay £1 for every £1 of private donations to the Fund. Had the Fund required for the full discharge of its purposes the rest of the amount which the Government undertook to pay, an additional £3 million would have been drawn from the Exchequer. This sum will not now be required for the relief of the victims of the disasters of 1953, and the Fund has no other function on which this money may be spent. I have considered very carefully what arrangements should be made in these circumstances. Several of the needs which the disasters of 1953 brought into prominence, e.g., strengthening the sea defences on the East Coast and elsewhere, were not the responsibility of the Fund, but were dealt with under existing statutory provisions.I do not think it would be appropriate to devote the money undrawn by the Fund to the relief of expenditure on these purposes, which should continue to be dealt with under the statutes. I recall the spirit in which the money was originally offered, and I am sure that the House would prefer that I should give an assurance, as I now do, that if storm, flood or tempest again overwhelms a large part of the country as did the floods of 1953, Her Majesty's Government, bearing in mind that £3 million of the money promised on this occasion remained unused, will the more readily ask Parliament to vote an appropriate contribution towards relief of the sufferers, and the money can be used in the way we all intended in 1953.The administration of the Lord Mayor's Fund has been a remarkable example of voluntary co-operative effort; the Fund's own central organisation, comprising the Advisory Council, the Appeals Committee and Distribution Committee—in all of which Sir Rupert De la Bère has played a central part—was assisted by the Local Flood Relief and Agricultural Relief Committees and by the Princess Victoria Distress Fund Committee and by many charitable organisations, professional institutions, the Bank of England and Government Departments, notably the War Damage Commission. I am sure the House would wish me to pay a warm tribute to the devoted labours of all those who helped in this great work of charity.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money has been granted directly by this country to Malta since the war; and what approximate additional sum has been spent in Malta since the war in the form of defence expenditure.

I have been asked to reply. Direct grants by Her Majesty's Government to the Maltese Government since the beginning of the financial year 1946–47 total £27,540,130. This includes expenditure of £14,324,000 from the £20 million granted under the Malta (Reconstruction) Act, 1947, but excludes expenditure of £6,720,397 since 1946–47 from a grant of £10 million made in 1943. With regard to that part of the Question which relates to defence expenditure, I understand that information is not readily available. I will pursue the matter and arrange for a letter to be sent to the hon. Member.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what progress has now been made in the survey of the distribution of bungalows for pensioners; and when a report will be published.

I hope to be in a position to make a statement before the Summer Recess.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will take steps to raise the maximum of 30s. a day allowance to councillors to 40s. per day for loss of wages in pursuance of their civic responsibility, in view of the increase in the cost of living.

No.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) how many applications for loan sanction made by local authorities in Wales were refused in 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955 and the first quarter of 1956;(2) how many schemes were passed for loan sanction in Wales for the first quarter of 1956 and for each of the years 1950 to 1955.

Not all of this information is available, but following are the figures of the total loans sanctioned in the first quarter of this year, and in each of the preceding calendar years back to 1950:

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what reductions are proposed in the estimated expenditure on National Parks for the year 1956–57.

Estimated expenditure under the National Parks Act is being reduced by £5,000 in the current financial year.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why he approved the eviction of Mr. James Wood, aged 80 years, by the East Sussex County Council from land which he had farmed for 40 years for the purpose of providing a farm for an agricultural boarding school.

I decided that consent to the operation of the landlord's notice to quit was justified for the purposes of agricultural education. This decision was upheld by the Agricultural Land Tribunal.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will lay before Parliament a report, as required by Section 10 of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1931, upon the operation of all schemes for the time being in force under that Act; and why no such reports have been laid before Parliament since 1937.

I hope to lay before Parliament a report, as required by Section 10 of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1931, before the end of this year. The report will cover the years 1938 to 1955, inclusive. The preparation of these reports was discontinued as an economy measure on the outbreak of war, when all marketing schemes, with the exception of the Hops Marketing Scheme, were suspended.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the basic features taken into account in determining the compensation paid to owners and/or tenants of land compulsorily purchased for opencast coal mining.

Land is not compulsorily purchased for opencast coal mining but is requisitioned for a period of years and then returned to the original owner. Compensation is paid under the Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, as subsequently amended, which lays down a code of compensation for all requisitioned land. Under this code the occupier receives an annual payment equal to the rent that might reasonably be payable by a tenant in occupation of the land (subject to an upper limit of 160 per cent. of the 1939 rental value) together with compensation for tenant right and expenses incurred in surrendering possession. Meanwhile, tenants remain liable to their landlords for rent; the land is restored as far as practicable before derequisition and the owner receives terminal compensation equal to the cost of making good any damage, subject to a ceiling based on the diminution in the value of the land.In addition, the occupiers of agricultural land taken for opencast coal production who continue to farm the remainder of their holdings, receive an extra-statutory supplementary payment equal to the annual rental compensation and twice this in the case of small holdings.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will specify the main administrative economies to be achieved in Class V, Vote 4, of the published Estimates for his Department for 1956–57.

Under Subhead A there is a gross saving of 162 posts (spread over the Department as a whole) as compared with the figures in the published estimates. Owing to transfers of work previously carried out by other Departments, the net saving is reduced to 132.

asked the Minister of Supply how many islands in the Pacific have been devastated and made uninhabitable by British hydrogen and atomic bomb explosions; and how many people have been permanently exiled from their homes.

None.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will make arrangements for the figures of imports of potatoes to be made available on a weekly basis.

No. The amount of work involved could not be justified.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he can now state when he expects to receive the report from the Committee of Inquiry into Inland Waterways which he appointed in February this year.

I understand that the Committee is proceeding as fast as possible but that it is not yet in a position to forecast when it will be able to report.

asked the Minister of Works to state the estimated tonnage of litter left on the ground and the number of prosecutions brought and convictions secured for litter offences in the parks and other properties under his control in each of the last three years.

It is estimated that about 120 tons of litter were left on the ground in the Royal Parks in 1955. I have no comparable figures for previous years or for other properties under my control. Since 1953, eight people have been prosecuted for litter offences in the Royal Parks—seven in 1954 and one in 1955; all were convicted.

asked the Minister of Works how many of his staff employed in the Palace of Westminster have to meet out of their salary the cost of postage, secretarial and other expenses wholly and necessarily incurred in carrying out their duties.

None.