asked the Secretary of State for War, in view of the fact that local leave in Cyprus is almost impracticable owing to the continuous state of emergency, whether he will consider giving home leave to troops who were engaged in the Suez operations and have been returned to Cyprus.

The extent to which local leave in Cyprus can now be granted is limited only by the operational need to keep units at a reasonable strength. It would not be fair to treat troops engaged in the Suez operation better than those concerned with the anti-terrorist campaign.

asked the Secretary of State for War the cost of the diesel-type tug "Crystal II"; whether this tug has now been sold; and at what price.

This tug, which was built in 1932, cost £3,800. It was sold last summer for £1,165. This vessel ceased to be of further use to the Army on the abolition of Anti-Aircraft Command.

asked the Secretary of State for War (1) the cost of the target tower "Sambre"; the cost of its refitting in 1951–52; whether this craft has been sold; and at what price;(2) the cost of the target tower "Bethune"; whether this craft has been sold; and at what price.

"Sambre" and "Bethune" were built during the war at a cost of £25,000 and £36,000 respectively. The former was refitted in 1952 at a cost of £6,419. Following the abolition of coast artillery they were no longer required. As they were highly specialised craft they could not be economically converted and were therefore put up for disposal in the usual way by the Admiralty. I understand that because of their specialised type and the expense of running them, they were not attractive to civilian buyers. "Sambre" realised £485 and "Bethune" £837.

asked the President of Board of Trade what further steps he is taking to encourage the development of new industries in Scotland.

I recognise that in Scotland there is scope for further industrial development, and I shall continue to bring the facilities available to the notice of manufacturers who have suitable projects.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the maximum capacity of turbo-generators the export of which to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Eastern Europe is now permitted.

There has been no change since the Answer given to the hon. Member on 22nd November, 1955. The embargo operates at 60,000 kilowatts and over. Between 5,000 and 60,000 kilowatts, exports may be licensed within quantitative limits. At less than 5,000 kilowatts exports are free.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the offer to take over the Hawick knitwear firm of Lyle and Scott; and, in view of the importance of this firm to our export trade, what action he proposes to take.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been called to the threat to buy out the firm of Messrs. Lyle and Scott Limited, the Hawick knitwear and hosiery manufacturers; if he is aware of the contribution this firm make to our export trade; and what steps he is taking to protect this contribution to our national economy.

In common, I believe, with other right hon. and hon. Members, my right hon. Friend has received representations on this subject. On the information available, it is not clear that any action on his part is called for, but the Department's officials have offered to discuss the matter with the chairman of the company.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will include Dagenham in the list of Development Areas, in view of the growth of unemployment there and the consequent desirability of allocating Government orders to such an area wherever possible.

No.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what provision has been made in the proposed common market treaty for the safeguarding of the British motor industry against low wage competition from abroad.

In spite of the phraseology of the Question, I assume from its context that the hon. Member intends to refer to the proposed negotiations for an agreement for a free trade area in Europe, and not to the treaty for a Customs and Economic Union now under negotiation between the six Messina powers, to which the United Kingdom is not a party. The negotiations for a free trade area have not yet started and I cannot anticipate their outcome. I would, however, remind the hon. Member that the question of relative levels of wages was discussed in some detail in the debate on European trade policy on 26th November last in speeches from both sides of the House, notably those of my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the hon. Member for Stechford (Mr. Roy Jenkins).

asked the President of the Board of Trade what inquiries his Department has made into the possibility of introducing light industry into the Invergordon area.

The Board of Trade has inspected possible sites and premises in this area and will continue to bring these to the attention of industrialists whose needs might be met by the facilities available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give an assurance that he will fulfil the undertaking given by his predecessor concerning the incidence of entertainment tax; whether, in the proposed review which has been promised regarding this tax, he will bear in mind that with regard to greyhound racing this is the only entertainment that is expected to pay a 10 per cent. tax in addition to the entertainment tax; and whether he will abolish this tax in his next Budget.

I am engaged on the comprehensive review of the Entertainments Duty initiated by my predecessor, and I am taking into account all the representations made about the position of greyhound racing; but I cannot anticipate my Budget statement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that for many years past his predecessors have admitted and confirmed that the present 10 per cent. tax on totalisators at greyhound race tracks is unfair and discriminatory; and, as this tax does not apply to horse racing, whether he will consider, in his forthcoming Budget, removing this tax on greyhound racing and placing this entertainment on the same basis as horse racing.

While I do not altogether accept the first part of the Question I will consider the hon. Member's suggestion.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer his latest estimate of the annual cost of administering the Premium Bonds Scheme, including advertising costs but exclusive of prizes

The cost of administration of the Premium Savings Bonds scheme (including advertising costs) will be about £1,075,000 in the current financial year, and slightly over £1½ million in 1957–58.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of a recent case of a conviction for failure to license the possession of a dog in temporary custody although the owner had a licence; and whether he will introduce such legislation as will protect those responsible for boarding kennels, dog homes and hospitals, dog shows, etc., from the necessity of obtaining licences for dogs temporarily in their care.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Sir J. Lucas) on 31st January.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the estimated value of our invisible exports in 1956, in total and under the headings of interest or investments, tourist trade, shipping, and insurance; what were the comparable figures in 1938; and what proportion the 1956 total figure constitutes of our total exports, as compared with 1938.

I regret that figures are not available which would enable me to answer the hon. Member's Question in exactly the form asked. For the year ending 30th June, 1956, however, earnings from interest profits and dividends amounted to £348 million, from travel £115 million and from shipping £484 million. The comparable figures for 1938 were £205 million. £28 million and £100 million respectively. I regret separate figures for the earnings from insurance are not available, nor have we figures for total invisible exports, for our accounts contain a miscellaneous category of invisible receipts less payments (in which insurance is included) which amounted to £280 million in the year 1955–56 and £72 million in 1938. The total of all these items mentioned above comes to £1,227 million for 1955–56 or a little under 40 per cent. of exports in that year. For 1938 the total comes to £405 million, and the percentage to just over 75 per cent.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is now in a position to publish figures of local housing authorities who have informed him of the cessation of their house building programmes, in view of the withdrawal of subsidies and higher interest charges.

The information for which the 1,468 local authorities have been asked is the number of tenders they propose to let in the current financial year. 202 have submitted a nil return; but this does not necessarily mean that they have stopped building or will in fact do so. Some of them are known to have let new tenders since making the return. Most authorities are still building, and many—though I do not know how many—will let new tenders after the end of March. Various factors may cause local authorities to suspend or modify their house building programmes: as a rule they do not give reasons for what they propose.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will now define the Government's attitude towards the Liverpool Corporation's proposal to flood the Treweryn valley.

I think that the Government's attitude would more appropriately be defined in debate on the Bill deposited by the Liverpool Corporation.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) how much residential property in Holborn and St. Pancras, respectively, is being used for office purposes;(2) how many square feet of office building were destroyed in Holborn and St. Pancras, respectively, during the war.

I regret that this particular information is not available.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many square feet of new office building have been constructed since the war in Holborn and St. Pancras, respectively; and for how many planning permission has been granted.

Up to January, 1956, the last date for which this information is at present available, planning permissions had been given for 3,650,000 square feet of new office building in Holborn and 1,451,000 square feet in St. Pancras. Approximately 2,290,000 square feet have been constructed in Holborn and 850,000 square feet in St. Pancras.

asked the Minister of Labour the cause of the trade dispute at Messrs. Briggs; and what action has been taken to terminate it.

I am informed that this strike was in protest against the suspension by the firm of five shop stewards. Work was resumed this morning.

asked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been called to the decision of the Hawker Aircraft Company to withdraw the production of the Hunter aircraft from Blackpool to Kingston; whether he is aware that nearly 4.000 workers in Blackpool will become redundant on account of this decision; and what steps are to be taken to find alternative employment for them.

I am aware of the firm's decision and, with my right hon. Friends, am in touch with the company on the future of the factory. The number of workers likely to become redundant is not known but is likely to be less than the figure given by my hon. Friend. My local officers will do everything they can to place workers in other employment and they are already interviewing workers in the factory, but as I told the House last week prospects in this locality are not good.

asked the Minister of Labour how many vacancies there are in the engineering industries in Twickenham, Teddington and district.

Twickenham is covered by Richmond Employment Exchange and Teddington by Kingston Employment Exchange. At 9th January the numbers of notified unfilled vacancies in the engineering industries were 21 at Richmond and 148 at Kingston.

asked the Minister of Labour how many Hungarian refugees have been found work in agriculture or horticulture, in the country as a whole and in the county of Kent, respectively.

I regret that statistics are not available, but I can say that only a small number of refugees have agricultural or horticultural experience and the number who have taken work in these occupations is few.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what further representations have been made by the Minister of State in the Security Council against Mr. Nehru's actions in seizing part of Kashmir.

The United Kingdom spokesman at the proceedings of the Security Council on Kashmir has been not the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs but the Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Sir Pierson Dixon. Since the meetings on 16th, 23rd and 24th January, to which I referred in answer to the hon. Member for Blackley (Mr. E. Johnson) on 31st January, there has been a further meeting on 30th January, at which the Pakistani representative replied to the Indian representative's speech of the previous week. The Council adjourned without fixing a day for its next meeting on Kashmir.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations if he will ask the Over- seas Migration Board to make an investigation into the recent increase in emigration overseas from Scotland.

My noble Friend is aware of the importance of obtaining as much information as possible about the trends of migration. I consider it would be better that any measures taken to improve available information should not relate to any one part of the United Kingdom but should cover the country as a whole.As I assured the House during the Committee stage of the Commonwealth Settlement Bill on 30th January, we intend to take all practicable steps to improve the knowledge of this important subject.The hon. Member will also recall that I gave an undertaking on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland that the interests of Scotland in this matter will be carefully borne in mind.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations if he will give the monthly figure of emigrants to the various Commonwealth countries since October, 1951.

The following are the figures of emigrants travelling direct by sea to various Commonwealth countries each month from October, 1951, to September, 1956. The term "emigrant" in these tables means a person intending to reside in the country of immigration for a year or more. As I explained in the debate on 25th January, no similar figures can be made available for emigrants proceeding by air or via the short sea route.

EMIGRANTS TO VARIOUS COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES
(Travelling direct by sea from the United Kingdom)
OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1951
—	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
1. Canada	3,598	4,084	3,736
2. Australia	2,788	5,724	2,324
3. New Zealand	300	792	852
4. Union of South Africa	720	560	654
5. India	408	498	524
6. Pakistan	102	38	146
7. Ceylon	88	116	172
8. Southern Rhodesia	414	302	410

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations how many persons emigrated from this country to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada in 1956.

The following are the numbers of migrants travelling direct by sea from the United Kingdom to the three countries named during the period 1st January, 1956, to 30th September, 1956.

Canada	…	…	31,670
Australia	…	…	25,344
New Zealand	…	…	8,330

The figures for the last quarter of 1956 are not yet available.Records are not kept of migrants travelling by air or leaving the United Kingdom initially by short sea routes.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations whether his attention has been directed to the suggestion made by the High Commissioner for Australia for the creation of a permanent Commonwealth organisation to deal with all matters of mutual interest; and whether he will consult the partners in the Commonwealth with a view to the establishment of such an organisation.

Yes. Her Majesty's Government are always ready to examine possible improvements in the methods of Commonwealth co-operation but any such new arrangements must be generally acceptable throughout the Commonwealth.

asked the Paymaster-General whether he will state the position of the nation's reserves of fuel oil and the pace at which they are running down; and whether he will make a statement outlining the policies of Her Majesty's Government designed to effect immediate economies by imposing a system of priorities which would ensure a supply of fuel oil for essential industries.

For security reasons, stocks of oil are not disclosed but, as has already been announced, it will not be necessary to increase the present cuts on fuel oil during March.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he is aware that the success of the anti-tuberculosis campaign in March-April this year may be endangered by the inadequacy of the present scale of tuberculosis allowances; and what action he proposes to take.

My right hon. Friend is not aware of any such threat to the success of the campaign referred to. The hon. Member will be aware that the current National Assistance Regulations provide for appreciably higher allowances for persons who have suffered a loss of income in order to undergo treatment for respiratory tuberculosis.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the number of Service patients of, respectively, the First World War, the Second World War, and the period since 1945, who are patients in mental and psychiatric hospitals or similar institutions as at 31st December, 1956, as a result of service with Her Majesty's forces; and if he will give these figures for Scotland and for England and Wales separately.

2,892 for the First World War and 1,550 for the Second World War and since. I regret that separate figures for the period since 1945, or for England and Wales and for Scotland, are not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, in view of the relatively small cost of the initial preparatory work on the Forth road bridge, he will re-examine the possibility of further reducing the eighteen months' delay which will occur between now and mid-1958.

The statement which I made last week, is based on an estimate of the time which will be required for completion of the plans by the Joint Board, advertisement and acceptance of the tenders and appearance of the successful contractor on the site. I have no doubt that the Joint Board will do everything in its power to minimise this period.