asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware that the United Kingdom faces a possible shortage of milk in the coming months; and what action he proposes to take to avert this shortage.

Unless there are altogether abnormal weather conditions I do not expect any shortage of milk for liquid consumption in the coming months.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will indicate the total amount of grants paid to each eligible county in Wales in respect of schemes for unclassified and unadopted roads under the Agriculture (Improvement of Roads) Act, 1955, up to 31st March, 1959.

The following table gives the information:

AGRICULTURE (IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS) ACT, 1955 GRANT PAYMENTS IN WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE TO 31sT MARCH, 1959
Country	Unclassified	Unadopted
	£	£
Brecon	12,803	1,349
Caernarvon	16,193	—
Cardigan	10,986	—
Carmarthen	7,208	3,227
Denbigh	—	—
Flint	—	5,000
Glamorgan	2,232	—
Merioneth	26,895	—
Monmouth	—	—
Montgomery	—	—
Pembroke	4,703	1,109
Radnor	15,606
Totals	96,626	10,685

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will indicate the amount of grant under the Agriculture (Improvement of Roads) Act, 1955, which is to be allowed for each of the eligible counties in Wales for both unclassified and unadopted roads and the mileage of such roads to be so improved or constructed for the current financial year.

My Ministry has not yet completed its consideration of the programmes of work put forward by highway authorities in the eligible counties in Wales and Monmouthshire for the current financial year. Until these programmes have been examined and it is known what schemes can be approved it is not possible to give the information asked for.Subject to satisfactory schemes being submitted by the highway authorities it is hoped to approve programmes of new work on unclassified and unadopted roads during 1959–60 to the following amounts:

County	Estimated cost of work to be authorised
	£
Brecon	42,000
Caernarvon	29,000
Cardigan	44,000
Carmarthen	40,000
Denbigh	44,000
Flint	25,000
Glamorgan	27,000
Merioneth	38,000
Monmouth	28,000
Montgomery	44,000
Pembroke	20,000
Radnor	42,000
Total	423,000

The rates of grant authorised for schemes in Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Flintshire are 65 per cent. for unclassified roads, and 75 per cent. for unadopted roads. All other eligible Welsh counties receive the maximum rates of 75 per cent. and 85 per cent. for unclassified and unadopted roads, respectively.

asked the Minister of Health if he will give in the OFFICIAL REPORT the approximate number of persons living in Greater London, Brighton, Leeds, Sheffield and Binning-ham, respectively, in 1800, 1900, 1925, 1950 and 1958.

Figures for the years 1800 and 1900 are not available.

				Census figures		Mid-year estimates
				1801	1901	1925	1950	1958
Greater London		…	…	1,117,290	6,586,269	7,733,282	8,417,377	8,222,340
Birminghom	…	…	…	73,670	759,063	945,900	1,117,900	1,095,000
Brighton	…	…	…	7,339	123,478	138,300	157,800	159,700
Leeds	…	…	…	53,162	428,968	472,900	509,700	511,600
Sheffield	…	…	…	45,755	409,070	527,100	515,000	498,800

asked the Minister of Health whether he will make a statement on the availability of maternity beds in hospitals in Lincoln and Lincolnshire, respectively; and how it compares with the country generally.

In 1958 70 per cent. of the births in Lincoln, 64 per cent. in Lincolnshire and 65 per cent. in England and Wales occurred in institutions.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will now state the number of apprenticeships and learnerships for 1958; and how this compares with previous years.

During 1958, 93,212 boys and 17,352 girls entered apprenticeships or learnerships. The comparable figures for previous years were:

	Boys	Girls
1957	95,184	16,851
1956	93,213	15,614
1955	96,711	15,614
1954	88,400	14,800

asked the Minister of Labour what evidence he has that the work of the Industrial Training Council is being

I would refer the hon. Member to my statement in the House on 30th April.

asked the Minister of Labour what was the registered labour force in the Medway towns for the month of March, 1958, and the months of February, March and April, 1959.

Statistics of the total numbers of employees in local areas are available for the end of May only in each year. At end-May, 1958, the total numbers of employees in the area of the Chatham Employment Exchange were about 47,370 males and 19,390 females. The numbers registered as unemployed at that Employment Exchange and the Medway Youth Employment Office were as follows:

	Males	Females	Total
17th March, 1958	549	431	980
9th February, 1959	1,020	491	1,511
9th March,1959	886	443	1,329
13th April, 1959	891	522	1,413

The Chatham Employment Exchange covers Gillingham and Rochester as well as Chatham.

asked the Postmaster-General when he now intends to authorise the expenditure by the British Broadcasting Corporation for provision of television and very high frequency services in the Western Isles.

The matter is still under consideration.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of the cotton yarn imported into this country during the first quarter of 1959 came from Hong Kong; and how this figure compares with previous years.

22 per cent., compared with 27 per cent., 37 per cent., 26 per cent. and 15 per cent. in the years 1958, 1957, 1956 and 1955, respectively. Previously to 1955 the proportion was negligible.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that in the first quarter of 1959 imports of cotton yarn exceeded exports for the first time; and, in view of the fact that the agreement recently negotiated with Honk Kong does not include imports of yarn, if he will take steps to get yarn included to ensure that the spinning section is not subject to the kind of competition which did so much damage to other sections of the textile industry.

The answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes". As regards the second part, the arrangements with Hong Kong were negotiated by the Cotton Board on behalf of the industry.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the area of new factories built in each of the Development Areas and the Home Counties area during the year 1958.

The following is the information:

New factories and extensions (over 5,000 sq. ft.) completed during 1958
Development	Area ('000sq. ft.)
North Eastern	2,337
West Cumberland	40
South Wales	2,614
Wrexham	108
South Lancashire	1,141
Merseyside	885
North East Lancs.	189
Scottish	2,757
Home Counties(I)	9,244
(1) The counties of Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and parts of the counties of Essex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Bedfordshire.

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he has any further statement to make on the problems of rural transport.

In the light of concessions the Government have recently made to the bus industry, I consider this is a useful moment to review trends in rural bus services. I propose, therefore, to set up a small committee for this purpose, and I hope to announce its composition and terms of reference in the near future.

asked the Secretary of State for War on what date it is intended to test the Corporal at the South Uist guided missiles range.

It will be during the early summer. No date has been fixed.