asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement about the future of his Department's scheme for scholarships for the sons and daughters of agricultural workers.

I have carefully reviewed this scheme after consultation with the local authority and agricultural organisations. In view of the much increased scale on which authorities are now providing scholarships for agricultural courses—it is estimated that about 2,500 awards are being made annually—and of the steady decline over the last few years in the number of applications for my Department's awards, I have come to the conclusion that there is no longer need for a special scheme of

Year June-May		Actual net farming income £m.	Net increment of occupiers' capital £m.	Spendable Income £m.	Index of real spendable income (1948=100)
(1)		(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
1947–48	…	223·5	82·0	141·5	82
(1948 calendar year)	…				(100)
1948–49	…	291·0	85·5	205·5	113
1949–50	…	305·0	88·0	217·0	116
1950–51	…	268·5	77·5	191·0	97
1951–52	…	323·5	86·0	237·5	112
1952–53	…	334·0	69·0	265·0	120
1953–54	…	332·0	52·5	279·5	124
1954–55	…	296·0	22·0	274·0	119
1955–56	…	329·5	66·5	263·0	110
1956–57	…	314·0	36·0	278·0	112
(1957 calendar year)	…				(119)
1957–58 forecast	…	360·0	44·5	315·5	Not yet available but probably over 120.
The index in column 5 is obtained from the figures in column 4 adjusted by the consumer price index.

The column headed "net increment of occupiers' capital" shows a decline in re-investment. The relatively high figures recorded in the years soon after the war reflected a pressing need to restore and increase the numbers of various kinds of livestock and to equip farms with more machinery. In recent years the need for this kind of investment has, unlike the need for fixed investment, much diminished, and a larger share of net income has been available for personal spending.

asked the Minister of Health how many patients were waiting to enter hospitals in each of the hospitals of the Gateshead Hospital Group at the

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the figures of farmers' spendable income which were discussed at the Annual Price Review and which show that this has risen in real terms by some 12 per cent. since 1948; and whether this increase has been achieved by reducing the sums reinvested in the industry.

Following are the figures:latest convenient date; how these compare with each twelve months for the last six years; and what is the average period of waiting.

The following are the available figures. Since 1955 no separate waiting lists for individual hospitals have been kept. Information is not available for the calculation of an average waiting period and in view of

Hospital				Number of patients on admission waiting lists at end of February
				1958	1957	1956	1955	1954	1953
Queen Elizabeth	…	…	…	—	—	—	550	504	371
Bensham General	…	…	…	—	—	—	192	206	299
Gatehead Children's	…	…	…	—	—	—	26	49	268
Whickham Cottage	…	…	…	—	—	—	—	—	13
Group list for chest diseases	…	…	…	—	—	5	4	44	78
Grand Total	…	…	…	847	959	815	772	803	1,029

asked the Minister of Health the number of consultants, excluding psychiatrists, in the employ of each regional board at the latest

Regional Hospital Board		Number of consultants, whole-time and part-time (excluding psychiatrists) at 31.12.56 (1)	Number of staffed beds (excluding beds allocated to mental illness and mental deficiency) at 31.12.56	Estimated population of the hospital region (in thousands) at 30.6.56 (2)
Newcastle	…	353	15,338	2,944
Leeds	…	299	17,753	3,066
Sheffield	…	357	19,716	4,230
East Anglian	…	167	7,254	1,485
N.W. Metropolitan	…	642	17,930	3,942
N.E. Metropolitan	…	531	18,966	3,103
S.E. Metropolitan	…	556	19,933	3,229
S.W. Metropolitan	…	703	25,216	4,707
Oxford	…	188	7,433	1,503
S. Western	…	330	16,621	2,792
Welsh	…	293	15,494	2,608
Birmingham	…	491	23,047	4,547
Manchester	…	409	23,611	4,381
Liverpool	…	276	14,180	2,130
		5,595	242,492	44,667

NOTES:

(1) The number of individual consultants employed by each board. A consultant who works for more than one regional hospital board has been included in the total for each board.

(2) The population served by the hospitals of each regional hospital board cannot be stated since—

(a) hospitals under boards of governors also serve the population in general;

(b) the hospitals of any region do not receive patients from that region only.

asked the Minister of Health, in view of the general rule that mental patients are not discharged from mental hospitals unless they have friends and a home to receive them, how many patients are without these essentials.

The information is set out in the table below:

There is no such general rule.

asked the Minister of Health if he will arrange as soon as practicable for a survey to be taken to ascertain the number of patients under the Lunacy Act, 1890, in designated mental hospitals who could be discharged if suitable accommodation with the necessary care and attention could be found for them from other sources.

No. I do not consider that, at any rate in present circumstances, the practical value of such a survey would be commensurate with the considerable amount of work involved.

asked the Minister of Health in how many cases the survey in 1954 revealed that mental patients were suitable for discharge if friends or relatives with suitable accommodation could be found; and what was the average number of mental patients in designated mental hospitals in that year.

The information examined in 1954 did not differentiate patients suitable for discharge to friends or relatives with suitable accommodation from those suitable for other types of accommodation. The average number of patients resident in designated mental hospitals during 1954 was 147,078.

asked the Minister of Health the number of certified patients admitted to mental hospitals under the Lunacy Act, 1890, in the years 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1956, and 1957, respectively.

The number of admissions of certified patients to the designated mental hospitals were as follows:

Year				Admissions
1948	…	…	…	17,203
1950	…	…	…	18,891
1952	…	…	…	19,409
1954	…	…	…	19,339
1956	…	…	…	16,904

The figure for 1948 excludes admissions to Public Health General Hospitals and Public Assistance Institutions.Figures for 1957 are not yet available.

asked the Minister of Health if he will arrange for a survey to be taken to ascertain the number of certified mental defective patients who could be allowed out on licence or discharge if suitable arrangements could be made for their welfare outside mental hospitals.

This appears to me to be more appropriate for local assessment by the authorities concerned.

asked the Minister of Health, in view of the decision in the High Court on 9th March, 1956, in the case of Miss Kathleen Rutty, what action has been taken to ascertain the number of mental defective patients detained under a similar Section of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913; what is the number affected; how many of the cases have been reviewed; how many have been discharged as a result of the review; and what plan there is in operation to review every case of this type as soon as possible.

As soon as this decision was known, the Board of Control sent a circular letter to the superintendents of mental deficiency hospitals asking for the names of similar cases; 5,035 were reported. All have been reviewed and 814 discharged. The remainder are kept under review and those recommended as suitable to remain in hospital on an informal basis are being discharged from Orders.

asked the Minister of Health how many mental deficiency patients have been discharged as a result of the examination of certificates consequent upon the ruling in the case of Regina v. Head.

One.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons over 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90 years, respectively, certified for the first time and admitted to designated mental hospitals since 1st January, 1957.

I regret that this information is not yet available.

asked the Minister of Health how many patients certified under the Lunacy Act, 1890, were discharged from designated mental hospitals in the age groups over 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90 years since 1st January, 1957.

I regret this information is not yet available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the cost of investigating an unnatural death in England compares with the figure for Scotland.

I regret that no figures are available to enable this comparison to be made.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place in each of the last ten years which have arisen as a result of the proceedings in coroners' courts; and how many inquests has been adjourned because a charge has been made.

No figures are available of the number of persons committed for trial on a charge of murder, manslaughter or infanticide by a coroners' court.As regards the latter part of the Question, the number of inquests adjourned under Section 20 of the Coroners (Amendment) Act, 1926, because the coroner was informed that some person had been charged before examining justices with the murder, manslaughter or infanticide of the deceased, or with causing the death of the deceased by reckless or dangerous driving, in each of the ten years ended 31st December, 1956, was as follows:

1947–212	1952–309
1948–226	1953–216
1949–194	1954–202
1950–223	1955–182
1951–193	1956–202

No figures are yet available for 1957.In addition, a small number of inquests were adjourned under Regulation 5 (5) of the Defence (Burial, Inquests and Registration of Deaths) Regulations, 1942, and under Section 7 of the Visiting Forces Act, 1952, which replaced those Regulations.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many coroners there are in England and Wales; how many inquests have been held in each of the last ten years; and what has been the total cost each year.

There are 299 coronerships, which are at present held by 267 coroners.The number of inquests held in respect of deaths reported in each of the ten years ended 31st December, 1956, the latest year for which figures are available, was as follows:

1947–28,208	1952–25,492
1948–25,687	1953–25,521
1949–26,125	1954–25,983
1950–25,994	1955–26,111
1951–26,995	1956–26,240

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the difficulties experienced by courts in sentencing persons under Section 460 (5) of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, since they are often ignorant of what considerations, if any, have been given to the circumstances of the original offence by the court which has imposed sentence for the further offence; and if he will consider the amendment of the law so as to provide that the court which sentences the offender for the original offence should also sentence the offender for the offence which has been committed during the probation period.

I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to Section 8 (5) of the Criminal Justice Act.I agree that there is advantage in an offender who is already subject to a probation order or order of conditional discharge being dealt with, wherever possible, by one court, both for the further offence and for the original offence. My hon. Friend's proposal is not, however, practicable because in some cases it would involve persons convicted before superior courts being sent for sentence to magistrates' courts with limited sentencing powers, and this would be unacceptable for a number of reasons. Subsections (6) and (7) of Section 8, which enable the court dealing with the fresh offence to deal also with an earlier offence in respect of which a court of summary jurisdiction has made a probation order or an order of conditional discharge, go as far as it is possible to go to achieve what my hon. Friend appears to have in mind.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what advice he has received from the Nature Conservancy regarding the increase in the breeding colony of grey seals on the Fame Islands which are doing increasing damage to Scottish fisheries;

I have had reports of increased damage by both grey and common seals from many parts of the Scottish coast. In its Report for the year ended 30th September, 1957, the Nature Conservancy summarised the evidence it had obtained about the breeding colony of grey seals on the Fame Islands, noted the increase which has occurred and made these recommendations:

(1) Research and observations on seals should continue as at present.

(2) A new programme sponsored by the Scottish Home Department should attempt to discover means of protecting nets against seals.

(3) As an experimental and interim measure, further increases in the grey seal should be limited by an annual cull of 300 calves, if authorised by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, by order under the Grey Seals Protection Act, 1932.

My Department is arranging for experiments under head (2) of these recommendations and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and I are considering the proposal under head (3) in consultation with the interests concerned.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what action has been taken by Her Majesty's Government to carry out the recommendations made in the Report of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission about the supply of oxygen and dissolved acetylene by the British Oxygen Company.

The Commission's conclusions and recommendations on this matter are summarised in the Annual Report by the Board of Trade on the operation of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Acts, 1948 and 1953, which was laid before Parliament on 28th February, 1957 (H.C. Paper No. 97, 1956–57 Session). Her Majesty's Government do not propose to take any action on the majority recommendation that steps should be taken to regulate the level of the British Oxygen Company's prices and profits on oxygen and dissolved acetylene. The other matters on which the Commission made recommendations have been the subject of discussions between the Board of Trade and the company, and the company has at the Board's request given certain undertakings on these points.Copies of a statement giving full details of the agreement which has been reached are available in the Vote Office and the statement will be published in the Board of Trade Journal for 28th March.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer. in view of his decision to mint golden sovereigns as a result of his study of reports of counterfeiting of such coins abroad, how many such reports came to his notice during the past ten years; what was the approximate sum involved in each year and in each counterfeiting case; how many counterfeiters were involved; and in what countries.

During the past ten years I have had notice of thirteen cases in which charges of counterfeiting gold sovereigns have been brought. The details are as follows:

1949	…	1	…	Greece
1950	…	1	…	Italy
1951	…	1	…	Italy
1953	…	4	…	Italy
1953	…	1	…	Tangier
1954	…	1	…	Italy
1954	…	1	…	Australia
1955	…	1	…	Switzerland
1955	…	1	…	Lebanon
1956	…	1	…	Italy

In one of the cases which began in 1953 in Italy, some 3,800 counterfeit sovereigns were seized, in the others only a very few coins, but quantities of counterfeiting apparatus and in some cases bars of gold. The number of persons accused in these cases was forty-seven.In addition, my officers have handled during the same period over twenty cases of trafficking in counterfeit sovereigns; according to an up to date check on the information supplied in connection with those cases, the circulation during the period of over 400,000 counterfeit sovereigns has been traced.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations how many vehicles are operated in Basutoland by the South African Road Motor Services, by residents in the Union of South Africa and by residents in the Protectorate, respectively; and how many of these residents in the Protectorate are Africans, Indians, and Europeans, respectively.

Of the licensed public transport vehicles in Basutoland, 16 are operated by the South African Road Motor Services, 16 by residents of the Union of South Africa and 147 by residents of Basutoland. Of these 147 residents of Basutoland, 110 are Africans, 25 are Asians or Coloureds and 12 are Europeans.