asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will take steps to amend the 1947 Agriculture Act, so as to ensure that five years' full-time forestry work with the Forestry Commission may count as agricultural service for the purposes of Section 52 of this Act and the 1949 and 1952 Letting of Smallholdings (Selection of Tenants) Regulations, which are governed by it;(2) if he will introduce legislation to amend Section 52 of the 1947 Agriculture Act and the Smallholdings (Selection of Tenants) Regulations of 1949 and 1952 so as to enable a man who has put in a defined amount of part-time work on a smallholding over a defined number of years to be awarded a tenancy in his own right, despite the fact that he has not been occupied in full-time practical farming for a period of not less than five years.

These changes would not be consistent with the aim of the present law, that smallholdings should be let to persons of sufficient agricultural experience.

asked the Prime Minister if he will now make a statement on the breaking up of the Ministry of Supply, particularly stating which Departments will now be responsible for the microbiological research centre at Porton and other similar establishments, the Royal Ordnance factories, and the disposal of surplus Service equipment, respectively.

With certain minor exceptions, the Ministry of Aviation will, in addition to its responsibilities for civil aviation, perform the functions of the former Ministry of Supply in respect of aircraft, guided weapons, ballistic missiles, atomic weapons, radar and other electronic equipment. Those functions of the former Ministry of Supply which are not being retained by the Ministry of Aviation will mostly be transferred to the War Office, which will become responsible inter alia for the bulk of the Royal Ordnance factories and for the greater part of the disposal of surplus Service equipment. Certain functions may, however, be taken over by other Departments. The final details have not yet been settled.

asked the Prime Minister which Departments will come under the guidance of the Lord Privy Seal in his new rôle of Minister for Science; and if he will make a statement.

My noble Friend the Lord Privy Seal and Minister for Science is responsible to Parliament for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Medical Research Council, the Agricultural Research Council, the Overseas Research Council and the Nature Conservancy, and is chairman of the five Privy Council Committees to which they report—the Committees for Scientific and Industrial Research. Medical Research, Agricultural Research, Overseas Research and Nature Conservancy. The Minister for Science will also exercise the Ministerial functions under the Atomic Energy Acts, and will exercise general supervision over the programme of space research at present being devised under the direction of the Steering Group presided over by Sir E. Bullard.Other Ministers remain responsible for the scientific establishments within their own Departments. But the Minister for Science is responsible for broad questions of scientific policy outside the sphere of defence and is advised by the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy on general questions which relate to the whole field of civil science.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland the number of murders known to the police for each month of 1959 for which figures are available.

The number of murders made known to the police reported to me in each of the first nine months of 1959 is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements, in accordance with the proposals made to him by the General Committee of the World Refugee Year, have been made for the selection of refugees from camps in Europe to be admitted to this country.

Her Majesty's Government have arranged for a team to leave on 2nd November to visit camps in Italy, Austria and Germany where they will interview refugees nominated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and select 200 for admission to this country. The team will include a representative of the British Council for Aid to Refugees, who will advise on the suitability of individuals and families for settlement here. Families with children as well as single persons will be eligible for admission, and among those selected will be a proportion who will require treatment or supervision for tubercular infection. The British Council for Aid to Refugees has undertaken responsibility for the resettlement, including housing, the finding of employment in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, and the general welfare of the refugees brought here under this scheme. For those who require medical treatment or supervision, the facilities of the National Health Service, including hospital facilities for those suffering from tuberculosis, will be available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many prosecutions under the Merchandise Marks Acts have been instituted by his Department this year up to the latest convenient date; and how this compares with 1955. 1957 and 1958, respectively.

The figures are as follows:

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give the annual rise and fall in the price of imports and exports from 1951 to the latest convenient date, and the internal rise and fall in the cost of living and the £ sterling.

The following is the reply: