asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he is aware of the difficulties of old-age pensioners owing to the high costs of food, clothing and housing; and what immediate steps he plans to ameliorate their condition.

I would refer the hon. and learned Member to what I said on this subject last Wednesday during the debate on the Address, to which I have nothing to add.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance if he is aware that persons who have paid National Insurance for many years are still being paid at the rate of 26s. per week, and have received no increases because they have gone to some part of the Commonwealth to live with sons or daughters; and if he will take steps to remove this anomaly.

I am aware that in the case of certain retirement pensioners living in countries which are not covered by a reciprocal agreement the position is as stated by the hon. Member. The policy under which pensions payable in such countries are not increased has been applied since 1946 and I do not think I should be justified in adopting the hon. Member's suggestion, which would impose substantial additional burdens on contributors and taxpayers in this country.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will arrange for the next change in the retail price of milk to take effect on a Sunday in order to ease the burden of work on milk roundsmen and avoid the inconvenience to housewives of the present system.

The Milk Marketing Board and the Milk distributors are considering whether it would be practicable for changes in the retail price of milk to take effect on a Sunday instead of on the first of the month. If they can agree to this my right hon. Friend will be glad to consider making changes only on a Sunday.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the difficulties of using Section 47 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, to prosecute persons who sell an article as ice cream which contains no real cream but only cream substitutes, he will introduce amending legislation at an early date to ensure that the original purpose of the Section is achieved so far as ice cream is concerned.

Section 47 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, deals with cream, not ice cream, which, under the terms of the Food Standards (Ice Cream) Order, 1953, may contain fat other than milk fat. I am at present considering whether this Order requires amendment.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has considered the objections of the Milk Marketing Board, the National Farmers' Union and others to the proposed Ice Cream Regulations; and whether he will make a statement.

I am now considering the observations of the Milk Marketing Board, of the National Farmers' Union and of other interested parties and will make a statement in due course.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that, when recently convicted at Bedford for theft, Ronald Eric Giddings, a male mental nurse, was revealed as having been previously convicted for the full offence of homosexuality; what inquiry he is holding into this particular case; and what precautions he is taking to ensure that no one, either male or female, possessing a previous criminal record, is appointed to be in nursing charge of the mentally sick.

I have made inquiries of the Hospital Management Committee and am satisfied that it had no reason to suspect that this man had a previous conviction when it engaged him for a month's trial as a nursing assistant. Hospital authorities do their best to ensure, by taking up references and otherwise, that the persons they employ are of good character, but no system that could be devised can be expected to be 100 per cent. successful.

asked the Minister of Health how many cases of leprosy are known in the United Kingdom at the present time; and what were the numbers for 1950, 1946 and 1939, respectively.

Two hundred and sixty-six. I regret that information for the earlier years mentioned is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps he has taken in the United Nations during the last four months, and with what result, towards a resumption of meetings of the Disarmament Committee.

In view of the Soviet refusal to attend the meetings of the Disarmament Commission of twenty-five members set up last November, I have not sought to have a meeting of that Commission convened.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what progress he has made during the last four months towards reaching agreement with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the limitation of armaments in Europe.

No direct progress, I regret to say.

asked the Minister of housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he is aware of the exceptionally heavy financial burdens, due to greatly increased road charges, which frontagers of private streets are being called upon to bear at the time of public take-over of the streets; and what steps he is prepared to take to alleviate these burdens.

Local authorities already have a power to allow these charges to be paid by instalments over a period of up to thirty years. This power is frequently used, and my right hon. Friend is not satisfied on present evidence that there is a case for a general amendment of the law.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether, in special cases where the neglect and disrepair of a large housing estate makes it in the public interest that the property should be acquired by the local authority, he is prepared, in the case of smaller authorities unable to bear the current burden, to arrange for special assistance.

My right hon. Friend does not think that any special assistance is called for, since the local authority should be able to meet the cost of acquisition as part of its normal financial arrangements.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what restrictions are placed upon the members of smallholdings committees, who themselves are tenants, in the general management of the smallholdings estates.

If such a member has a pecuniary interest in a matter under discussion, he is subject to the general restrictions contained in Sections 76 and 95 of the Local Government Act, 1933

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs the number of houses requisitioned by each metropolitan borough council at the inception of the Requisitioned Houses and Requisitioning Act, 1955, the number since derequisitioned and handed back to owners, the number acquired, and the number still under requisition by each council at the latest convenient date.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many applications his Department has received under Section 3 (3) (d) of the Housing Subsidies Act, 1956, from local authorities who wish to build houses for key workers at new generating stations; and how many have been granted.

Twenty-six applications have been received. Twenty-three of these have been granted.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that, taking the internal purchasing value

The latest information available at 30th September, 1958, is given below. The figures, which are subject to correction, relate to dwelling units. i.e., houses and flatsof the £ sterling at 20s. in October, 1951, it had declined to 18s. 10d. in September, 1952, to 18s. in September, 1954, to 16s. 5d. in September, 1956; and what was the comparable figure for September, 1958.

Yes, 15s. 6d.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider declaring Saturday, 27th December, as a public holiday, in view of the fact that so many people in this country will, in any case, not be working on this day.

I am sure that it would not be in the general interest to proclaim Saturday, 27th December, as a Bank Holiday.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what further changes he contemplates in the organisation of the non-operational commands of the Royal Air Force to correspond with the changes in the size and shape of the Service.

We are making two further changes in the organisation of the non-operational commands.Firstly, we are abolishing Home Command and its two remaining Group headquarters. The Command was set up in 1950 primarily for the control and training of reservists, auxiliaries and cadets, but has also been responsible for certain Regular units which could conveniently be organised under it. The reduction in these tasks has made it practicable to distribute them between other commands, and this is now being done. The reorganisation will be completed during the present financial year. We estimate that it will save about 670 Service and 300 civilian posts. The financial saving should in the long term amount to over £¾ million a year.The control of the Air Training Corps and the Royal Air Force Section of the Combined Cadet Force will pass to Flying Training Command. We hope that this will strengthen still further the link between these Cadet Forces and the flying commands. The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Flying Training Command will assume the additional title of Commandant of the Air Training Corps. In view of the importance of the two cadet forces an air commodore is being appointed as full-time Deputy Commandant.The second change is in the status of Headquarters, No. 90 Signals Group. We have decided that the term "Group" no longer represents the functions of this Headquarters. An Air Force with increased flexibility and mobility demands ever better communications, navigational aids and radar. We have therefore decided that this formation should henceforward be known as Signals Command. The change in title will involve no upgrading of posts or increase in establishments.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many applications were made last year by African boys for training at the Government trade centre in the Southern Cameroons; and how many were accepted.

I have asked the Acting Governor-General of Nigeria for this information and will write to the hon. Member when I have a reply.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, following recent discussions with representatives of the Trinidad Government and after hearing the views of the main Trinidad opposition party, he will make a statement on the proposed changes in the present constitution of Trinidad and Tobago.

I have had discussions with Dr. P. V. Solomon, the Minister of Education and Culture, representing the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, about constitutional proposals based on the two Motions passed by the Legislative Council in September, 1957, and June, 1958. The Governor, Sir Edward Beetham, and the Attorney-General, Mr. Ellis Clarke, were present throughout the talks, and Mr. W. J. Alexander, a Nominated Member of the Legislative Council, attended the initial meetings. I also had discussions with representatives of the Democratic Labour Party, the main opposition party in Trinidad, at which the Governor was present.In putting forward the views of his Government, Dr. Solomon confirmed their decision, earlier communicated to me, not to seek the removal of Her Majesty's powers to legislate by Order in Council and to disallow Ordinances. On the other hand, the Government wished three changes not included in either of the Motions to be made: that the Governor should consult the Premier regarding the appointment of Nominated Members before making such appointments acting in his discretion; that the Governor should dissolve and prorogue the Legislative Council on the advice of the Premier and that a Judicial Service Commission should be set up. Dr. Solomon explained that the purpose in proposing that the Governor should consult the Premier before appointing Nominated Members in his discretion was to ensure that, if the necessity arose, the direction given by me in 1956 that the Governor should consult the leader of the majority party regarding the appointment of suitable Nominated Members so as to permit him to have a reasonable working majority should continue to apply. I confirmed that this would be the case and in the light of this assurance, Dr. Solomon on behalf of his Government withdrew this proposed amendment. On the question of the dissolution and prorogation of the Legislative Council, it was not the intention of the Trinidad Government that any amendment should go beyond the conventions in force in the United Kingdom. Dr. Solomon explained that the proposals in respect of the Judicial Service Commission were a logical development following the establishment of the Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission. I took note of the views of the Trinidad Government, expressed by Dr. Solomon, that the retention of the Governor's power to refuse to assent to Bills was unnecessary inasmuch as Bills could be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. It was recognised, however, that future constitutional changes would involve the transfer from Her Majesty to Her representative in the territory of the Sovereign's discretion to assent to Bills. In the circumstances Dr. Solomon agreed that the appropriate course would be to leave the present provisions in the Constitution unaltered, and instructions to be given to the Governor not to exercise the power to refuse to assent unless so directed by Her Majesty.Subject to the points which are explained in this statement, I agreed that the changes now sought by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago were appropriate at this stage of constitutional development in the territory and undertook to recommend them to Her Majesty in Council. These changes may be summarised as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the concern caused to many people by the continued use of gin traps, which have been banned as a method of trapping in England and Wales, if he will introduce legislation to extend the ban to Scotland.

On 23rd October I made the Spring Traps Approval (Scotland) Order, 1958, and the Agriculture (Spring Traps) (Scotland) Order, 1958, which have the effect of banning the use of the gin trap in Scotland from 1st May, 1959. except for foxes and, under certain conditions, otters. These Orders were published on Friday, 31st October.

asked the Minister of Supply what consideration has been given by Her Majesty's Government to an earth-space satellite programme either by this country alone, by a united Commonwealth effort, or in conjunction with other European countries; and with what conclusions.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I have given today to other Questions on this subject.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has yet received the Report of the Departmental Committee on Hallmarking set up in December, 1955, to examine the state of the law on the assaying and hall-marking of precious metals; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. The Report is being studied in my Department.