asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty if he will given an estimate of the number of civilians employed by his Department in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively, who will lose their employment as a result of recent changes in defence policy.

I can give no figures at this stage Details of the effects of the defence review are still being worked out.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty when one of Her Majesty's major warships last paid a courtesy call to a port in the United States.

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to a visit by a cruiser or something larger. In the spring of 1956 the Cruiser "KENYA ", wearing the flag of the then Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station, paid a series of courtesy visit to United States ports ending at New Orleans from 3rd to 9th April.

asked the Postmaster-General the number of unsatisfied applications for telephones in the borough of Ilford; and when he hopes to provide the facilities required.

About 880. I cannot yet say when all the present applications will be met, but new cables are being provided and additional exchange capacity will be available at the end of the year. A start has been made with the construction of a new telephone exchange in Woodford Avenue.

asked the Postmaster-General how many applications for domestic and business telephones in Wales have been satisfied during the past twelve months; how many are now outstanding; and how many telephones were provided in Wales during 1952.

In the last financial year the Post Office installed 17,939 telephones —8,719 residence and 9,220 business. Outstanding applications number 12,675, of which 6,610 are for business telephones. In 1952, 12,269 were installed, including 7,400 business telephones. All the figures are for Wales and the border counties, the information for Wales alone not being readily available.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will arrange a telephone service giving the scores of the West Indies Test matches, similar to the service arranged last year for the Australian Test matches.

Yes. This service will be provided with the co-operation of the cricket clubs concerned for all the Test matches with the West Indies. Following is a list of the towns where the service will be available: —

Bath.	Leicester.
Birmingham.	Liverpool.
Blackpool.	London.
Bradford.	Manchester.
Brighton.	Middlesbrough.
Bristol.	Newcastle.
Cardiff.	Nottingham.
Derby.	Plymouth.
Edinburgh.	Sheffield.
Exeter.	Southampton.
Glasgow.	Southend.
Gloucester.	Swansea.
Guildford.	Taunton.
Hove.	Torquay.
Leeds.	Worcester.

asked the Postmaster-General if he has yet agreed, on representations made by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, to reduce the area round the wireless telegraphy station at Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, within which electricity supply lines have to be laid underground.

I understand that the Board wishes to consider this further in the light of discussions arranged on a corresponding problem that has arisen at Wick. Meanwhile, it has made no specific proposals for revision of the conditions at Stonehaven.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will give his reasons for his proposal to abolish the second delivery on Saturdays in Bristol.

This proposal is part of the general changes affecting wages and attendances of the main manipulative rank and file staff of the Post Office. The

Services making a profit					Expected profit 1957–58 £m.	Services making a loss					Expected loss 1957–58 £m.
POSTAL
Inland letters and postcards				…	9·9	Inland Parcels		…	…	…	3·2
Inland printed papers and samples				…	1·0	Inland Registration		…	…	…	1·1
Postal Orders		…	…	…	0·6	Overseas Services		…	…	…	5·4
						Money Orders		…	…	…	0·5
						Miscellaneous		…	…	…	0·3

TELEGRAPH
Inland Private Wires			…	…	1·5	Ordinary Inland Telegrams				…	3·4
Inland Telex	…	…	…	…	0·2	Other Inland Services			…	…	1·0
Overseas Services		…	…	…	0·4

TELEPHONE
Local Calls	…	…	…	…	1·1	Rentals	…	…	…	…	10·8
Inland Trunk Calls		…	…	…	12·0	Call Offices	…	…	…	…	2·0
Inland Private Wires			…	…	1·6
Overseas Services		…	…	…	1·4
Miscellaneous		…	…	…	0·2

SUMMARY
£m.
Postal Services	…	…	…	Profit	1·0
Telegraph Services		…	…	Loss	2·3
Telephone Services		…	…	Profit	3·5
				Profit	2·2

asked the Secretary of State for Air if he will reconsider the decision not to release Aircraftman J. R. Myatt, about whom the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme wrote to his Department on 30th March, on the ground that Aircraftman Myatt could perform more useful service to the country in civil life than in the Royal Air Force.

I have considered this case very carefully, but I am afraid that the change is to allow postmen to have more free time on Saturdays.

asked the Postmaster-General (1) which Post Office services are running at a profit, specifying the rate of profit for the current financial year;(2) which Post Office services are running at a loss, specifying the rate of loss for the current financial year.

Prospective profits and losses on the various Post Office services in 1957–58, before taking account of the recent statement about changes in pay and conditions, are estimated as follows:circumstances would not justify the airman's release.

asked the Secretary of State for Air if he will state, on the basis of the rates of long-service voluntary recruitment and re-engagements in the last three years, what increases in the rates of long-service recruitment and re-engagement he requires in the next two years to be able to dispense with compulsory service in 1960.

There are many uncertainties, but the significant improvement in the rate of recruitment to long-service engagements over the past year gives us good reason to hope that we shall be able to build up an adequate all-Regular force (which would include a W.R.A.F. element) by the end of 1962.

asked the Secretary of State for Air why recognition has been refused to the Civil Service Union in respect of auxiliary police grades locally recruited by his Department in Cyprus.

We consider that the interests of a uniformed and disciplined police force should be represented by associations which drew their membership exclusively from police grades.

asked the Secretary of State for Air the total number of Service men and civilians killed in accidents to transport aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force or chartered by his Department in the months of March, April and May, 1957, respectively.

Including crew casualties, and two civilians killed in the recent accident near Abingdon, the number of fatalities in accidents to R.A.F. transport aircraft engaged on trooping or to civil aircraft on charter to the Air Ministry during March, April and May have been seventeen, twenty-seven and thirty-four, respectively.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry into the Export of Live Cattle, so far as those relate to matters within his responsibility.

I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 8th May. The British Transport Commission has already announced that it is giving immediate consideration to the recommendations in the Report which concern British Railways.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what direction he has given to the British Transport Commission under Section 92 (2) (b) of the Transport Act, 1947, regarding their holding in the general reserve of shares in the Channel Tunnel Company Limited.

None.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation how many local authorities charge reduced fares on their buses to old-age pensioners travelling during off-peak hours.

Thirty; three other local authorities charge reduced fares on their trolley vehicles.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation when he proposes to announce plans to improve the flow of traffic over Tower Bridge and London Bridge.

A one-way working scheme on the south side of London Bridge proved successful and has been made permanent. Other schemes to improve the flow of traffic at the approaches to these bridges are still under consideration.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation how many schemes of road improvement are planned for Wales during the next twelve months; what will be the total cost of these schemes; and how this cost compares with the sum expended on road improvement in Wales during 1938.

I cannot say at present how many schemes will be authorised, but it is likely that their cost will be over £2 million. The comparable figure for 1938–39 was about £1·3 million.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what is now the position concerning the completion of the Whitchurch, Glamorganshire, by-pass.

I cannot add at present to the reply I gave on 3rd April.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will make a statement on the proposed improvements to Blackwall Tunnel.

I have recently made a grant of £945,000 to the London County Council towards the improvement of the northern approach to this tunnel. The scheme provides for a two-level layout to allow traffic to flow freely into and out of the tunnel and along the East India Dock Road. It is also designed to accommodate the entrance to a second tunnel in the future.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies by whom investigations were carried out into the recent defalcations in the labour and welfare department of the Seychelles; which officers of this department were permitted to leave the Seychelles while the investigations were in progress, and when they are due to return; and by whom permission to leave was granted, and for how long.

The investigations were carried out by the police. During the course of them, a man who had been a temporary clerk in the department but was no longer in government service left the Seychelles. As I said on the 23rd January, there was insufficient evidence for the issue of a warrant or summons, and he could not therefore be prevented from leaving. It is not known whether he intends to return to the Seychelles.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what rents are charged for Government-built houses in the Seychelles; and what is the average wage earned by the tenants.

Rents vary from 15s. to 36s. a month. There are also some rent-free houses for old people. It is not possible to assess the average wage of these tenants.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what approach has been made to the Inter-University Council to secure recognition of degrees conferred by the Nanyang University at Singapore.

I am informed by the Inter-University Council that no such approach has been made.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what was the result of the inquest on the four Indian labourers killed while hunting the wild boar in the Tanpin district of Negri Sembilan on 12th February, 1957; and what consideration was given to the payment of compensation.

The magistrate found that death was by misadventure and that no blame attached to the Security Forces. The Government are considering payment of compensation, although the dependants have not submitted any claims.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps he is taking to assist members of committees of co-operative societies in Uganda to attend courses on co-operative subjects in Kenya and in the United Kingdom.

Although training facilities available to employees of the Department of Co-operative Development are equally available to the voluntary cooperative movement, few African committee members have both the basic education to take advanced studies in English and the leisure to undergo a lengthy course of study; but one committee member is at present attending a course in Kenya. In 1956 ten advanced courses for African committee members were offered in Uganda in six languages and 326 students attended.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware of attempts to exploit the public ignorance of the geographical situation, the status and the history of Christmas Island so as to suggest that directly or indirectly Her Majesty's subjects in the south-west Pacific are liable to suffer from the proposed tests to be made in that island; and what steps he is taking to make the facts known.

I am aware that there have been misapprehensions about Christmas Island which is only the base for the nuclear tests, and particularly about its geographical situation. These misapprehensions may owe something to the fact that there are two Christmas Islands, one in the Indian Ocean about 200 miles south of Djakarta and one in the Pacific.The latter is the base for the nuclear tests and it lies in an isolated position in the Pacific Ocean, 1,160 miles south of Honolulu, 900 miles north-east of Canton Island, the nearest international airport, and approximately 3,500 miles north of New Zealand. It is the largest coral atoll in the Pacific, but has only a small area fit for cultivation and no regular settlement, the coconut plantations being worked by imported labour on short term contract. These facts and others about the Island are readily available in a number of publications about the Pacific area.As for any suggestion that peoples of the south-west Pacific may suffer from the nuclear tests, I would repeat the assurance I gave my hon. Friend in reply to his Question of 18th April on that subject.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the nature of land tenure on Christmas Island; and what population has been resident on the island and for what purposes, and under what administrative control during the last twenty years.

There are two Christmas Islands—one in the Indian Ocean and one in the Pacific. I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the latter.That island is owned and worked as a coconut plantation by the Government of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. It has no indigenous inhabitants, and, apart from the administration, its residents consist of the labourers and their families brought in from other islands in the Colony to operate the plantation on short-term contract. At the 1931 Census this population amounted to 38, at the 1947 Census to 52, and in 1955 was put at 240. From 1942 until the end of the war United States troops garrisoned the island, the last of them withdrawing in 1948.From 1937 to 1941 the island was administered by a resident Administrative Officer of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, and since 1952 the District Officer for the Line Islands District of the Colony has resided on the island. In the intervening period administrative duties devolved on the manager of the plantation.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to what extent land shortage and overpopulation are causing, and have during the last thirty years caused, concern in connection with the Ellice and Gilbert Islands, respectively; and with regard to the Gilbert Islands, what steps have been taken during that period by Her Majesty's Government to relieve overpopulation; and to what extent Christmas Island has been considered for settlement schemes.

These problems have been given careful consideration for many years. They are not as pressing in the Ellice Islands, where a greater density of population can be supported, as in the Gilberts. Schemes for the resettlement of Gilbertese from the more densely populated islands to under-inhabited islands in the Phoenix Group and also at Gizo in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate have been undertaken with the aid of Colonial Development and Welfare funds. A scheme is also in preparation to enable surplus or neglected land to be acquired for resale to islanders in need of land.The Christmas Island which is in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony—there is another island of that name in the Indian Ocean—has proved unsuitable for resettlement purposes. A group of Gil-bertese who were settled there in 1949 had to be repatriated at their own request two years later because they found the island too infertile to be fit to live on permanently. It is at present owned and worked as a coconut plantation by the Government of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what was the deficit shown in the original Estimate submitted to him by the authorities of Antigua; what was the deficit in the amended Estimate; what are the reasons for declining to agree with the Estimate; and what are the items struck out of the original draft Estimate.

The deficits in the 1957 draft Estimates and approved Estimates are $2,465,149 and $1,426,353, respectively. In discussion with a delegation from Antigua last November it was decided that a grant-in-aid of the latter amount would enable the Colony to maintain its administrative services and to carry out necessary public works. The changes in the draft Estimates were made because it was considered reasonable to increase revenue estimates (by approximately $290,000), to transfer certain items of expenditure to Colonial Development and Welfare finance (approximately $367,000) and to make some reductions, mostly under the Public Works heads, in the expenditure estimates (approximately $381,000). Copies of the draft and approved Estimates can be made available to the hon. Member if he so wishes.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what progress has been made in the past year in providing air-conditioning in Government offices in Colonial Territories in the tropics.

I have consulted Colonial Governments and will write to my hon. Friend as soon as I have all their replies. I can assure him, in the meantime, that some progress is being made.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will specify the animal feedingstuffs imported from dollar sources at a cost of £67 million in 1956, with the countries of origin; and if he will state the amount of import duty paid.

Animal feedingstuffs imported from dollar sources in the calendar year 1956 were as follows: —

	£ million c.i.f.
Maize and maize meal	U.S.A.	26·6
	Canada.	1·1
Barley	Canada.	16·8
	U.S.A.	0·7
Sorghums	U.S.A.	7·1
Bran and pollards	Canada.	1·5
Other cereals and cereal by-products	U.S.A.	1·1
	Canada.	0·3
Oilcakes and meals	Canada.	8·8
	U.S.A.	1·7
	Other (*)	0·2
Meat meal, whale meal and fishmeal	U S A	0·6
	Canada.	0·2
Other feedingstuffs	U.S.A.	0·2
	Canada.	0·1
	Total	67·0
(*) Mexico, Philippines, Haiti Ecuador.

I regret that the information requested in the second part of the Question is not available; statistics of duty paid are not maintained by country of origin or consignment.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is now able to give a list of the local offices of his Department which are to be closed as a result of his recent review.

The following is the list:FULL TIME OFFICES TO BE CONSIDERED FOR CLOSURE

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will make a statement on the results of the National Joint Advisory Council's inquiry into the efficient use of manpower.

As I informed the House on 1st May, 1956, the National Joint Advisory Council decided in the spring of last year to draw the attention of employers and trade unions in all industries to the urgent need for a close examination of the restrictive practices which impede the full and efficient use of manpower. Each industry was invited to submit a report to the Council on the action it was taking or proposing to take. Although a number of answers are still outstanding, those so far received cover about 80 per cent, of the employees in British industry.About one-third of the industries who have replied report that they have no serious difficulties in regard to restrictive practices. Of the remainder, the great majority either have, or are establishing, machinery to examine the problem on a joint basis. A small number of industries, amounting to rather less than one-sixth of all who have replied, have so far, for various reasons, been unable to embark on a joint examination of their problems.The replies from those who have no particular problem in this field call for no further action. The second group, where joint machinery has been established, includes a number of very important industries and the Council considers it desirable to ensure that the machinery for dealing with any outstanding problems is actively working. These industries have therefore been notified that they will be approached again in due course for a further report on the effectiveness of their arrangements. In the third group the difficulties in the way of joint examination varied considerably, and the Council is taking follow-up action according to the circumstances of each case. Follow-up action has also been taken in respect of industries which had not replied to the original inquiry, and their replies are currently being received.Generally speaking, the replies offer encouraging evidence of the willingness of employers and trade unions throughout the greater part of British industry to discuss and seek satisfactory solutions of the problems of restrictive practices. A high proportion of the industries concerned have submitted full and detailed reports which clearly show that the question is being looked into fully, often by means of a joint committee appointed for the purpose, with useful results. I am convinced that this is the most fruitful approach to a very difficult problem.

asked the President of the Board of Trade with which countries of Eastern Europe the United Kingdom has no trade agreement; and what action he is taking to promote such agreements.

The United Kingdom has no trade agreement with the Soviet Union, Roumania, Albania or the Eastern Zone of Germany. In the case of the Soviet Union, our trade has improved in recent years and there is scope for a further substantial increase, but I do not consider that in present circumstances a trade agreement is called for. As regards Roumania and East Germany, I would refer the hon. Member to the Answers given on 4th December, 1956, to the hon. Member for Morpeth (Mr. Owen) and on 9th April, 1957, to the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. de Freitas).

asked the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from the Federation of British Industries and other trade associations concerning the United States proposals for a tightening of the controls on trade with the Soviet bloc as a condition of freeing certain items for export to China; and what action he intends to take on the Federation's proposals.

Several associations of traders have urged the rejection of proposals in this sense, and the hon. Member may rest assured that we shall give full weight to their views.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will consider the possibility of converting the strawberry duty from ad valorem to a specific amount.

No. The home grower is already protected by specific duties during the main home season.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the number of Statutory Rules and Orders made in each of the last ten years, respectively.

The numbers of Statutory Rules and Orders and Statutory Instru- ments made in each of the years 1947 to 1956 are as shown below.

Year	General	Local
1947	1,387	1,531
1948	1,508	1,350
1949	1,382	1,086
1950	1,211	933
1951	1,166	1,169
1952	1,029	1,283
1953	829	1,108
1954	706	1,057
1955	657	1,350
1956	722	1,402

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in a White Paper, or in a Government publication, or in the OFFICIAL REPORT, an analysis of recent changes in the sterling balances of Colonial and other Commonwealth countries, showing how far variations therein are due to changes in the balance of trade, gold movements, grants and Government loans, and private investments, respectively.

An analysis of all these matters is available for the sterling area as a whole in the White Paper on the Balance of Payments, and details of Colonial Territories are given in the Annual Reports of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. As the right hon. Gentleman will know, it would be contrary to our practice to give figures for the sterling holdings of individual countries. However, if he will let me know more exactly what he has in mind I will gladly consider whether anything could be done.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now introduce legislation to improve the leaving gratuities of unestablished civil servants.

The Government have decided to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on leaving gratuities for unestablished civil servants, subject to the provision that no gratuity shall exceed one year's salary. The new gratuities will be payable to unestablished civil servants leaving their employment on or after 15th May, 1957. Legislation for this purpose will be introduced as soon as possible.