asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) what will be the constitution of the Senate in the new Government of Malaya; how senators are to be elected; and for what period of time;(2) what steps are being taken to overcome the difficulties with Malacca and Penang with reference to Commonwealth and Federation citizenship when Malaya becomes independent later this year; and what further negotiations are proposed on the subject of dual citizenship.

These are matters which I will be discussing next week with Tunka Abdul Rahman and a delegation representing the Conference of Rulers and the Government of the Federation of Malaya. It would not be right for me to anticipate the outcome of these discussions.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will name the persons or bodies which he has banned as subversive elements from the Singapore Legislative elections; and if he will state the grounds on which he regards such elements as subversive.

I have banned no persons or bodies by name. What Her Majesty's Government require is that persons detained and held in prison at the time because of subversive conduct threatening the peace, order and good government of Singapore should not be eligible for election to the first Legislative Assembly of the new State of Singapore.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number of Africans employed or working as independent farmers on the land in Sierra Leone for the years 1954, 1955 and 1956, respectively.

The number of men and women engaged in agriculture on their own account is roughly estimated at just under a million. It is not possible to give precise figures or to distinguish between years, but there is unlikely to have been great change during the period mentioned.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) if the Government of Sierra Leone will consider the instigation of an economic survey for Sierra Leone in view of the recent changes in the diamond mining areas;(2) if he will consider a recommendation to the Government of Sierra Leone that an International Bank Mission should be invited to survey the economy of the country and to make a report on the lines of the recent mission to Nigeria.

I am asking the Government of Sierra Leone whether they consider an economic survey of the Territory would be desirable at this stage. If so, I will consider with that Government the best means of arranging it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware of the dislocation of communications caused by the cessation of the air service to and from Bukoba, Tanganyika; and what steps are being taken to make the airstrip serviceable again.

Yes. Although the air service to Bukoba was recently withdrawn by the local company responsible for its operation, the airfield has not been closed and has continued to be used by other aircraft. A limited service is being resumed from the 9th May.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what communication he has had from the Governor of Tanganyika regarding constituency elections following the adjourned debate in the Legislative Assembly; and if he will make a statement.

The Governor of Tanganyika has informed me that during the debate on the Second Reading of the Elections Bill in the Legislative Council on 3rd May it became clear that there was a strong body of opinion in favour of deferring elections until they could be held in all constituencies at the same time. The debate was adjourned sine die to enable the Government to consider the views which had been expressed. I am now in consultation with the Governor on this matter but can make no further statement until I have considered his recommendations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why the United Kingdom Government have granted a licence to prospect for oil over the whole of Cyprus and its territorial waters to the Forest Oil Corporation, Pennsylvania.

The licence was granted by the Cyprus Government and covers the major part of the Colony and its territorial waters. No other company has recently shown interest of this kind in Cyprus, and I welcome all efforts by well-intentioned firms to develop the resources of the island.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he is aware of the extent to which his landing-craft at Hardway, H.M.S. "Sultan," is denying other vessels the use of this landing-place; and if he will now dispense with this vessel.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what are the duties allotted to H.M.S. "Sultan" at the Hardway, Gosport; and how long it is thought the vessel will be there.

H.M.S. "Sultan" is one of the principal training centres for the Engineering Mechanic branch of the Royal Navy, which was transferred to Gosport only last year, and there is no intention to move it elsewhere. The Landing Ship Tank berthed at the Hardway provides the facilities essential for operating and maintenance instruction, which cannot be as effectively or economically provided ashore. I am not aware that anyone previously enjoying berthing facilities in the Hardway area has been denied them as a result of the landing-craft being berthed there.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what further naval work is envisaged for the Admiralty Yard at Belfast on completion of the current minesweeper orders.

None in the immediate future for this section of Messrs. Harland and Wolff's shipyard. These facilities will, however, be borne in mind if and when further contracts for which they would be suitable come to be allocated.

asked the Postmaster-General when he expects that the new telephone exchange, Dominion, will be open.

In December this year.

asked the Secretary of State for Air how many accidents to aircraft under commercial charter for Service trooping have taken place in the past three years; what are the numbers of casualties in killed and injured; and what was the total number of persons transported in a three-year period up to the last convenient date.

There have been five accidents in which passengers were killed or injured. Passenger casualties amounted to eighty killed and six injured. During the three years ending 31st March, 1957, approximately 421,000 passengers were carried.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what percentage of air trooping is now being done by charter companies and by Royal Air Force Transport Command, respectively.

Roughly 90 per cent. by chartered aircraft and 10 per cent. by Transport Command.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will examine the scheme of the road transport operators and others who award tokens acknowledging good work as a contribution to accident prevention; and whether he will consider a national scheme under his aegis which will give transport operatives and motorists with good driving records public commendation as a contribution to accident prevention.

I fully recognise the value to road safety of the national safe driving award schemes for transport drivers. It would not be practicable to bring private motorists within the scope of the existing schemes, but I warmly support the many national and local organisations which aim to encourage high standards of driving by private motorists.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what application was made by the Midland Red Omnibus Company to continue wholly or in part such increases in fares as were made under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties (Temporary Increase) Act; and with what result.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation on what date an application was received by the Traffic Commissioners from the Midland Red Omnibus Company to continue the increase in fares made under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties (Temporary Increase) Act; and what has been the result.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, following the removal of the extra duty levied under the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties (Temporary Increase) Act, what application has been made by the Midland Red Omnibus Company operating in Worcestershire to continue the increased fares, or any part of them, charged while the extra duty was in force; and what has been the result.

The company applied to the Traffic Commissioners on 18th April to continue certain of the increased fares to meet the continuing surcharge on the price of oil. The Commissioners were satisfied that the modified increases would not raise the gross receipts from fares by more than 3 per cent., and they therefore authorised a continuation subject to review.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether a final decision has yet been reached about the use of Kingsway Tunnel.

No. The London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee are to review the position later this year.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation when he expects to receive the 1956 report of the British Transport Commission.

About the end of June.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will make available details of the field tests undertaken by his Department on all proposed traffic signs before their inclusion in draft regulations.

No. Many traffic signs have been tried out before being prescribed in regulations for general use. If my hon. Friend wishes to know what experience there has been of any particular sign, I will be glad to inform him.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation when he is prepared to authorise the widening of Rainham Road, South Dagenham, from the junction with Ballards Road to Dagenham East station so as to relieve traffic congestion on Heathway.

I expect to authorise this scheme in the current financial year.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, why, in the road works started on 23rd April on improving the eastern approach to Swansea, route A.483, the dual-carriageways are being made 22 feet wide when the standard has been 24 ft. for two years; and whether he will construct the carriageways to the present standard.

Twenty-four feet was recommended in April, 1956, as the standard width for dual-carriageways in rural areas. This section of the eastern approach to Swansea, which is less than a mile long and in an urban area, will have the same width as the four miles or so of the road already constructed or in hand. There would be no justification for constructing it to a different width.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he is satisfied with standards of maintenance of aircraft used for trooping by charter companies; and if he will make a statement.

The regulations governing the maintenance of aircraft used for trooping are exactly the same regulations as those for public transport aircraft, including those of the Corporations, and I am satisfied that they are adequate.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation at what all-up weight the Viking aircraft is allowed to operate; and what was the figure when these aircraft were owned by British European Airways Corporation.

The maximum permissive all-up weight for the Viking aircraft is 34,000 lb.; it was the same when British European Airways Corporation owned some of these aircraft.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he can now make a statement on the results of the further investigations into the passing of signals at Welwyn Garden City by the Aberdonian in March.

As I informed my hon. Friend on 3rd April, this incident is being fully considered by the Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways in the course of his Inquiry into the collision at Welwyn Garden City on 7th January. I cannot make any further statement until I receive his report.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what percentage of vessels from 300 to 1,000 gross tons were United Kingdom vessels at the latest convenient date; how that percentage compares with that for previous recent years; and what proportion of it is more than fifteen years old.

At the 30th June, 1956, about 19 per cent. of world merchant vessels from 300 to 1,000 gross tons were on the United Kingdom Register. The corresponding percentages for each of the previous five years were as follows:

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what percentage of vessels from 300 to 1,000 gross tons carrying imports and exports to and from United Kingdom ports are United Kingdom vessels.

I regret that no information is available on which an estimate could be based.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he has considered the possible increase in cross-Channel sea freight which may result from this country joining the European Common Market; whether he is satisfied that United Kingdom coastal shipowners will be able to renew and to enlarge their fleets in time to ensure that United Kingdom vessels take advantage of that increase; and if he will make a statement.

I presume my hon. Friend is referring to the proposals for a European Free Trade Area. The main object of these proposals is to increase trade, and I am sure that United Kingdom shipowners will take advantage of this.

asked the Minister of Defence in how many cities and towns there are three recruiting offices for the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, respectively; and if these were amalgamated what savings would be made in money and manpower.

In twenty-seven cities and towns. The desirability of amalgamating these offices is at present being examined, together with other possible economies of a similar nature.

asked the Minister of Labour whether Her Majesty's Government have now considered the recommendations of the Devlin Committee on the Dock Labour Scheme; and whether he will make a statement.

The Report recommended that the main structure of the Dock Labour Scheme should not be altered, but that there should be greater co-operation between the employers and the trade unions to make the Scheme work more effectively and that the National Dock Labour Board should be given the opportunity to exert a greater degree of leadership in dealing with various problems of dock labour. On those recommendations I have not yet received the observations of all the bodies in the industry with whom it would mainly lie to implement them. The Report also recommended various minor amendments to the Scheme.When I have the observations from all bodies on these, which I hope will shortly be the case, I propose to consider the desirability of amending the Dock Labour Scheme under the procedure laid down in the Dock Workers (Regulations of Employment) Act, 1946.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1) if he will state the reciprocal fields of technical assistance promised to the United Kingdom by the Government of Ghana under the agreement on the scheme of mutual technical assistance announced recently by Her Majesty's Government and the Ghanian Government;(2) how many younger Ghanian public servants, who are to be nominated by the Government of Ghana, he anticipates training in the United Kingdom in practical and technical subjects at the expense of the British taxpayer during 1957; and what he estimates the total cost of this technical assistance to Ghana to be during 1957, 1958, and 1959;(3) if he will list the practical and technical subjects which will be available under the technical assistance scheme for Ghana for Ghanian younger public servants who, upon nomination by their Government, will come to the United Kingdom at our expense for training;(4) if he will give an estimate of the price to the British taxpayer, for 1957, of the British share of the costs of those United Kingdom experts who are to be supplied to the Government of Ghana by the United Kingdom to fill specialist, technical and professional posts of a temporary or advisory nature in Ghana; and how long he anticipates that this expression of British co-operation to Ghana in technical and other fields will continue.

It is not intended to define in advance more closely than I did in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine) on 2nd April the types of technical assistance which the United Kingdom Government and the Government of Ghana will give to each other. Nor is it possible to make at this stage detailed estimates of the numbers of Ghanaian pubic servants likely to come here for training, of the number of experts we may send to Ghana, or of the cost of the scheme to us. We await proposals from the Government of Ghana, and we will do our utmost to meet their requirements speedily in the spirit of mutual co-operation upon which the scheme is based. We have placed no limit of time on our offer.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what was the cost of preparing and printing and distributing the tract entitled, "Tributes to Britain on Ghana's Achievement of Independence within the Commonwealth, and on Becoming a Member of the United Nations," prepared for his Department by the Central Office of Information; what is the purpose of this tract; how many copies were printed; and how it was distributed.

The cost in the United Kingdom of printing and distributing "Tributes to Britain on Ghana's Achievement of Independence within the Commonwealth, and on Becoming a Member of the United Nations" was £92. The number of copies so printed was 8,200. The purpose of the pamphlet was—in view of the widespread misunderstanding of the character of British policy and its constant denigration here and overseas—to draw attention to the tributes paid by speakers throughout the world to the part played by the United Kingdom in guiding Ghana along the road to full membership of the Commonwealth. The pamphlet was also printed in the overseas Commonwealth. Copies have been distributed mainly to leaders of opinion and influential organisations.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations whether the Report of the Swaziland Mineral Development Commission of 1954 has now been considered; and which recommendations have been accepted and which have been rejected by the local government.

The main recommendation of the Report of the Swaziland Mineral Development Commission was that the mineral law of the Territory should be consolidated and simplified in accordance with the draft mining Proclamation annexed to the Report. This draft has now been carefully considered by the High Commissioner after consultation with the European Advisory Council, the Paramount Chief and other interested parties, and is now receiving final consideration by my noble Friend. It is hoped that it will be possible to authorise the High Commissioner to promulgate the Proclamation very shortly. I will write to the right hon. Gentleman as soon as possible with regard to the last part of his question.

asked the Minister of Health the number of patients in England and Wales certified as being of unsound mind due to alcoholic psychoses in twelve months up to the latest convenient date; and how this figure compares with those for the same periods immediately before, and immediately after, the 1939–45 war.

1,053 certified patients were admitted to mental hospitals in 1955 in consequence of alcoholic psychosis or alcoholism. No figures of this kind are available before 1949, when the number was 438.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the refusal of the St. Pancras Borough Council to discharge its civil defence functions.

On 11th April, I was informed that the General Purposes Committee had submitted to the Council the recommendations that as from the 1st June, 1957, all civil defence activities in St. Pancras should be discontinued by the Council; that the civil defence staff should be absorbed into other departments of the Council: and that all properties belonging to the Council, at present being used for civil defence, should be handed over to the Housing Department.The Committee sought to justify its recommendations by references to the White Paper "Defence: Outline of Future Policy". I therefore caused the Council to be informed on 25th April that the Committee was under a misapprehension: and that the White Paper stated that civil defence would continue to play an essential part in the defence plan: the Council was further informed that the Government were satisfied that should the deterrent fail to prevent war civil defence preparations made in advance would save very many lives that might otherwise be lost and do much to provide a framework for the preservation of organised society.I asked the Council for an assurance that it would continue to carry out its civil defence functions, which would remain no less important than they had been in the past. But, on 2nd May, I was informed by the Council that it could not give this assurance and had approved the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee.The Council will have today received a letter informing it that if it adheres to the proposals in those recommendations I shall have no alternative but to invoke my powers under the Civil Defence (General) Regulations, 1949, whereby, if I am satisfied that any local authority has failed or refused properly to discharge any of its civil defence functions for which I am the responsible Minister, I may either empower myself to discharge those functions in the name and at the expense of the Council or appoint some other authority or person to do so.With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government. I have also had the Council informed that similar action will, if necessary, be taken by my right hon. Friend, who is the other designated Minister concerned with civil defence functions conferred on the Borough of St. Pancras: that should it become necessary to exercise these powers because of the continued refusal of the Council to discharge its civil defence functions, no grant will be payable to the Council in respect of those functions; and that the civil defence premises and staff in St. Pancras will continue to be required for civil defence purposes.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of tenants of the East Kilbride Development Corporation who have given up their tenancies each year, respectively, since 1951.

The numbers, which are readily available only for financial years (ending 31st March), are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many houses have been built by the East Kilbride Development Corporation; and how many have been let.

By 25th April, 1957, 4,627 houses had been built and 4,448 let by the development corporation.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how long the Clyde Bridge, Carstairs, has been closed to traffic above two tons in weight; what used to be the average number of vehicles of and above this weight using the bridge formerly; and how long a detour such vehicles are compelled to make now.

This bridge has been closed to vehicles weighing more than two tons since 7th October, 1955. I regret that figures of the number of such vehicles formerly using it are not available. The length of the detour which has to be made by heavy vehicles varies from two to—in exceptional cases—9½ miles, depending on their destination and the direction from which they are coming.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) when he expects to be able to allocate funds for rebuilding the Clyde Bridge, Carstairs;(2) what representations he has received from the Lanark County Council for an allocation of grant money for reconstructing the Clyde Bridge, Carstairs.

I have received no application for grant for the reconstruction of this bridge. If one is made, it will be considered in the light of the competing demands for the funds available.