asked the President of the Board of Trade what arrangements are made to ensure that the limited amount of Dutch flower bulbs which can be imported into this country under the present quota system are fairly distributed between gardeners and growers in England, Scotland and Wales respectively; and if he will give figures indicating what proportion of the imported quota permitted last year was sold in England, Scotland and Wales, respectively.

Allocations to importers, who include distributors as well as growers, are related to trade in 1951 and 1952 when imports were free of restriction. It would not be desirable or practicable to control the distribution of bulbs area by area. I regret that the figures asked for by my hon. Friend are not available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1), in view of the official announcement that imported goods are 2s, 2d. in the £ cheaper than a year ago, if he will give in some official publication a list of the raw materials that have been so reduced in cost.(2) if he will publish each quarter a list of the changes in cost of the certain range of imported goods that periodically or spasmodically fluctuate, to enable the public to be better informed as to what time elapses between the alteration in price of certain imported raw materials and this variation reaching the consumer through British manufacturers or retailers.

The article on wholesale price index numbers which appears once a month in the Board of Trade Journal includes a table showing monthly index numbers of prices of the principle materials imported into the United Kingdom; and the Monthly Digest of Statistics includes a table giving monthly average prices of various commodities, including some foodstuffs. In addition, a great many specific market prices are quoted regularly in the daily and trade papers. The time which elapses between the purchases of raw materials and the sale of products made from them varies widely; but home costs are four or five times as important as import costs in the final prices of manufactured goods.

asked the Minister of Education how many new places for children in primary schools and secondary schools, respectively, have been provided since January, 1951, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Answer is 34,325 and 21,015 in the area for which the West Riding Local Education Authority is responsible.

asked the Minister of Supply to what extent, and for what purpose, live animals are used by official establishments dealing with tests and experiments concerned with guided missiles, rockets and analogous activities.

Live animals are not used by Ministry of Supply Establishments carrying out tests and experiments concerned with guided missiles, rockets and analogous activities.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many retired pensioners were in receipt of supplementary allowance at the Bridgend and Maesteg offices of the National Assistance Board at the latest available date; and what were the corresponding numbers for the previous ten years.

The National Assistance Board informs me that information of the kind asked for is available only for administrative areas as a whole. At the dates stated since the National Assistance Act came into force on 5th July, 1948, the numbers of weekly National Assistance grants paid to retirement pensioners by the Board's offices at Bridgend and Port Talbot, the latter of which serves an area comprising roughly the municipal borough of Port Talbot and the urban districts of Maesteg and Glyncorrwg, were as follows:

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, in view of the increasing traffic congestion in the approaches to many cities in Great Britain, if he will authorise the construction of overhead roadways above the existing main line railway lines with the necessary fly-overs, etc., to avoid the greater expense which may be necessary in the future if some such provision is not shortly made.

When proposals for new or improved roads are examined, the possibility of building over existing railways is taken into consideration. So far, other methods have proved to be more practicable, but I will continue to keep the idea in mind when looking at future road schemes.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will now state on which day he will publish the Bowes Report on Canals and Inland Waterways.

The Report is being laid before Parliament today and will be published next Monday, 28th July. The Report goes very thoroughly into all aspects of the inland waterways problem and makes some far-reaching recommendations. I am much indebted to Mr. Leslie Bowes and his colleagues for having undertaken their task with such care and thoroughness. The Government does not intend to reach any conclusions on the Report until those interested have had the opportunity of considering it.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what sum of money has been allocated for a new house for the Commander of the Royal Marines, Stonehouse, Plymouth.

None.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps he has taken since November, 1956, to enlist the aid of those Arab journalists, writers and broadcasters who believe in civil liberty and constitutional government to answer the propaganda put out by the wireless stations of Cairo and Damascus.

It is the aim of Her Majesty's Missions to maintain and, where possible, improve friendly relations with all Arabs who influence public opinion in their countries. They endeavour constantly to ensure that such persons are aware of Her Majesty's Government's policy and viewpoint and understand the reasons which lie behind them. A programme of visits to this country, which enables influential individuals to have free discussion and study of our institutions and policies here, is also designed to promote this understanding. In Her Majesty's Government's view these are in the long run the most effective ways of countering hostile propaganda.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make available to hon. Members in the Library translations of the type of broadcast in Arabic that has been made under his guidance to the Middle East since the revolt in Iraq was known to him.

My right hon. and learned Friend has asked the British Broadcasting Corporation to make available a selection of scripts which are broadcast by the external services in conformity with the relationship established between responsible Departments and the external services of the British Broadcasting Corporation by the current Licence and Agreement between the Postmaster-General and the Corporation.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what advice he is offering to British organisations and individuals invited to the Seventh World Youth Festival in Vienna next year.

These festivals are designed to exploit young people for the purposes of Communist propaganda. They are stage-managed by Communist-controlled organisations solely concerned to advance the aims of the Soviet Government. I recognise that members of youth or student organisations in this country may have wished to see in these occasions some opportunity of reaching across this barrier of political intention and establishing a genuine contact with Communist youths. Nevertheless, after careful consideration I must express the hope that no organisation in this country will have anything to do with the forthcoming festival. I understand that the Austrian Youth Federation, representing all the main non-Communist sections of the Austrian student and youth movements, both political and non-political, has issued a statement denouncing the next festival and calling on their members not to participate.I also hope that all organisations in this country will keep in mind that even the sending of an observer is enough to involve them with the sponsoring organisations and is likely to be advertised throughout the world as proof that the Communist sponsoring organisations themselves are respectable.I recognise, however, that a number of individual young people, who have no Communist sympathies and who are aware of Her Majesty's Government's views, will go to this festival, whether from curiosity, a desire to practise foreign languages, or in the hope of establishing fruitful personal contacts with the young people of the host country or other countries. My advice is that if these individuals go they should, in their own and in the national interest, acquaint themselves thoroughly before they go with the nature of these festivals and with those international issues which divide the free world from the Communist world. They should also be familiar with the facts about their own country so that they can counter misrepresentations. Finally, they should make it quite clear that they represent themselves only.