asked the Minister of Transport if he will give a general direction to the British Transport Commission for adult fares not to be charged to school children until they have attained the age of 15 years.

No. This is a matter for the commercial judgment of the British Transport Commission. The Commission's Passenger Charges Scheme, however, contains provisions enabling reduced fares to be charged for young people between 14 and 18 years of age for travel to and from schools and other educational establishments.

asked the Minister of Transport what relaxations he has made of the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, Section 10, and the Road Traffic Act, 1934, Section 1, in respect of roads with dual carriageways other than M.1 and the Preston by-pass; and whether he will consider the extension of such relaxations to the by-passes on the Great North Road and other arterial roads.

So far as the speed limits applicable to certain types of vehicles are concerned, "None." Our present policy is not to relax the speed limits for such vehicles on roads other than motorways. With regard to the general 30 m.p.h. speed limit imposed in built-up areas by the Road Traffic Act, 1934, I have no statistics of the lengths of dual carriageway by-passes or arterial roads from which the speed limit has subsequently been removed by order. We are willing to consider on their merits any proposals for the relaxation of the speed limit on specific lengths of such roads.

asked the Minister of Transport what account he is taking of the problems of high unemployment areas in his review of the road programme for the next financial year; and if he will make a statement.

While I am aware of the problems of high unemployment areas, the selection of schemes must be determined primarily by the requirements of the traffic.

asked the Minister of Transport what consideration he has given to the proposal to establish a direct express rail link from the British Overseas Airways Corporation terminal at Victoria to London Airport; and how this project compares in cost and time with other possible services.

I have considered this proposal in assessing the communications between central London and the airport. Very substantial improvements in communication by road have been made and more are projected. When they are completed there will be excellent road access to the airport.Any decision about a rail link would have to take into account the considerations mentioned by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in his statement on 10th March about the position of the British Transport Commission.Rail links of the monorail type have also been suggested from time to time, but so far definite proposals have not been put to me.As regards the second part of the Question, the cost of a rail link and road improvements are not comparable, because roads are multi-purpose while a rail link would serve only the airport. The journey time in each case would not be very different when the road improvements are completed.

asked the Minister of Transport when work on the new underground railway from Victoria to northeast London will start.

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Islington, East (Mr. Fletcher) today.

asked the Minister of Defence by what authority official information regarding a powerful nerve gas, developed in this country, has been supplied to the Defence Department of the United States of America.

Details of a British discovery relating to chemical warfare were passed to the United States authorities at the research stage under the arrangements for the exchange of defence information between the United Kingdom and the United States.

asked the Minister of Defence what discussions have taken place in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation regarding the equipment of the forces of the member countries with chemical and biological weapons.

I cannot give details of confidential discussions in N.A.T.O.

asked the Minister for Defence whether it is still the Government's policy, as stated by his predecessor in the Defence Debate on 26th February, 1958, that to expand Western conventional forces sufficiently to meet a major conventional attack without resorting to nuclear weapons would entail Great Britain maintaining between 1 million and 1½ million men in the Armed Forces and spending a further £1,000 million on defence.

It is not a question of policy but one of fact that to take a fair share in expanding Western forces to meet a major conventional attack without the use of nuclear weapons would cost us manpower and money of the order indicated.

asked the Minister of Defence whether the statement by the Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence, that the development of Blue Streak must be maintained, was made with his consent.

I presume the right hon. Member refers to the recent lecture by Sir Frederick Brundrett. He is not now my Scientific Adviser. He retired from the public service at the end of last year. He spoke as a private individual, and my consent was neither required nor asked for.

asked the Minister for Defence whether paragraph 12 of the 1958 Defence White Paper, which states that a major attack on any North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally with conventioned forces only would be met by resort to strategic nuclear weapons remains the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

asked the Minister for Defence whether it is still the policy of the Government, as stated by his predecessor and the Prime Minister in the House on 26th Febraury, 1958, to resort to nuclear weapons first against a mobilisation of large forces or a major attack with conventional arms on a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, on the ground that otherwise the possession of nuclear weapons would be useless and the only alternative would be surrender.

It remains the case, as was stated in 1958, that a major attack on the West would have to be met by all the retaliatory forces that are at the disposal of the Allies, including, if necessary, long range strategic nuclear forces. The existence of the latter at a high state of readiness is the most important element of the West's deterrent to war. It is primarily by this means that peace is at present secured and no revision of policy is called for.

asked the Minister of Defence to what extent Her Majesty's Government's policy is still based on the proposition expressed by his predecessor on 11th February, 1959, that in the presentstate of scientific knowledge there is no effective means of defending the country as a whole.

Her Majesty's Government's policy is to defend the country primarily by deterring war. If war came, it remains true, as stated by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Air last week, that in the event of a major nuclear attack there is no effective means of direct defence of the country as a whole.

asked the Minister of Defence if he will publish a pamphlet explaining to the public Her Majesty's Government's defence policy in the light of the proposal to establish the Fylingdales early warning station.

As I explained in the second paragraph of the Report on Defence 1960 (Cmd. 952), the Government's broad defence policy has undergone no major change. The proposed early warning station at Fylingdales neither reflects nor will cause any change in this policy.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to what extent it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to make arrangements with the United States Government for the exchange of information with regard to the development and production of biological and chemical weapons of war.

There is a continuing exchange of information with the Americans on all matters of common defence interest.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is now the policy of Her Majesty's Government regarding the export of arms to countries in the Middle East.

The policy remains as stated in the answers to Questions about export of arms on 21st January, and 18th February, 1959, to the hon. Member for Fife West, (Mr. W. Hamilton), and the right hon. and learned Member for Rowley Regis and Tipton (Mr. A. Henderson) respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will request the United States Government to dispatch to this country microfilm copies of all captured biographical records of the Nazi period, at present held by them both in Washington and the Berlin Documents Centre, so that records in this country of this period may be complete.

No.

asked the Minister of Labour how many unemployed workers, of what ages and of which sexes, on his recommendation, travelled from their homes to Luton, there to take up work recommended by him; from whence they came; how many were provided with work; how many were provided with residential accommodation; and how many and of which sexes went back home owing to lack of adequate residential accommodation there.

Since May, 1959, 404 unemployed men from 67 different places in the United Kingdom have been placed in employment in Luton by the Ministry of Labour. They were mainly in the younger age groups. All of them secured accommodation either through their own efforts, or with the help of their employers or the employment exchange. It is not known how many workers returned home owing to lack of adequate accommodation.

asked the Minister of Labour what is his estimate of the effect on employment in the Barry area of the decision of the War Office to close the boat stores there, and the decision of the Admiralty to withdraw ships of the Reserve Fleet from the port of Barry, respectively.

I am informed that 79 workers will be affected by the closure of the War Department Boat Stores Depot, of whom 14 may be offered transfer to other Government establishments; and that the withdrawal of ships of the Reserve Fleet will affect 25 workers employed by private contractors.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will state the number of registered unemployed in each of the districts listed under the Local Employ-

The following is the reply:

asked the Minister of Labour if he will list the employment exchange areas outside the districts listed under the Local Employment Bill where the percentage of unemployed is 4 per

The following is the reply:

asked the Minister of Labour how many disabled men and how many handicapped school leavers are registered on the disabled persons' register covered by the employment exchanges at Alnwick, Amble, Ashing-ton, Bedlington, Blyth, Morpeth, and Seaton Delaval in the county of Northumberland at the nearest convenient date; and whether he will make a statement.

On 19th October, 1959, the date of the last count, 2,531 men and 24 young persons were registered as disabled. On 21st March, 1960, 187 registered disabled men and six disabled young persons awaiting their first employment were unemployed. These figures are higher than a year ago, but

asked the Minister of Labour if he is aware that the delay in the negotiations for shorter hours and increased pay for the fire brigade industry is causing great uneasiness among the men concerned; and if he will urge the National Joint Council to give early consideration to this claim.

No representations have been made to my Department on this matter and it would not be appropriate for me to intervene in any way in the negotiations proceeding on this independent joint body, which, I understand, is due to meet again tomorrow.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what representations he has had from Highland Engineering Limited, concerning the development of Donibristle, Fife, as an industrial estate.

Highland Engineering Limited made an offer in July, 1959, for the whole of the Admiralty property at Donibristle, but the offer was not effective because it included 252 acres of mainly agricultural land which we were selling back to the former owners. The firm were invited to make a revised offer for the remaining 90 acres, but none has been received.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will take steps to enable more Gurkha troops to be enlisted into the Armed Forces.

This is a matter which will be kept under review, but the size of the Gurkha force is broadly sufficient for our needs today.

asked the Secretary of State for War what are his plans for the future of Dorchester Barracks, in view of the amalgamation of the Devon-Dorset Regiment; and whether he will give an assurance that the barracks will be fully occupied, in view of the fact that in the meantime the Borough of Dorchester is losing approximately £4,500 in rates, which is a serious loss for a comparatively small borough.

Except for a small area needed by the Territorial Army and for other purposes, the barracks will be sold.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many members there are of the Armed Forces still living who were awarded the Military Medal in the 1914–18 war; and what would be the cost of awarding each of them a gratuity of £20 per annum.

About 116,000 Military Medals were awarded in the first world war, but I have no record of the number of holders still living.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the full text of the letter, sent to him by Dr. Kennedy in connection with the latter's lecture at the Royal Institution.

The text is as follows:University of Edinburgh.8

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make a statement concerning the abandonment of Army stores of live explosives in a quarry at Great Ayton in such a manner that Middlesbrough school boys were able to remove some of them, thus causing great danger to themselves and other persons.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the discovery of bombs in a quarry at Great Ayton; how they got there; and if he will make a statement.

The objects found are a mixture of empty containers and practice mortar bombs filled with sand. None of them contain explosives. The quarry is used as a refuse tip and I understand that the bombs were dumped in it recently by a local merchant. He had bought them from a Royal Ordnance Factory in 1942 as scrap metal. A large quantity of rubble has been dumped to obliterate them.

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will negotiate for the removal of the clause insisting on racial discrimination in the lease of the Nyali leave centre, Kenya; and if he will publish in HANSARD the names of the directors and managers of the estate company responsible for this discrimination.

The leave centre is in a European residential zone where the clause referred to is standard in the lease of property. This is a temporary camp which it is our intention to give up in 1965 in favour of a permanent one a short distance away; and I have reason to believe that the lease of the new leave centre will not contain a restrictive clause of this kind. It is not the practice to give details of the kind asked for in the last part of the Question.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will now state the composition and terms of reference of the body which is to review the Charter, Licences, and Agreements relating to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Television Authority.

I fear that I cannot add to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Mayhew) on 2nd March, 1960.

asked the Postmaster-General what current proposals he has for reducing telephone charges.

I am not in a position to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Kidderminster (Mr. Nabarro) on 16th December.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will list in detail the official objections to changing the design of British postage stamps from the invariable representation of the British sovereign to a more varied and colourful description of the country's history, events, and personalities.

Since this country first invented the postage stamp the Monarch's head has been the dominant feature of our design, and this is accepted throughout the world as identifying our stamps, which alone do not bear the name of the country of origin. I am convinced that this long tradition and this unique privilege are things which we are right to value and cherish.For our high value stamps and the commemorative stamps which we issue from time to time, it is possible to retain the Monarch's head as part of the design because these stamps are larger. But such large stamps would be most inconvenient for the lower values and would, of course, cost more.

asked the Postmaster-General what he estimates would be the net result to Post Office revenues of charging 2½d. for all inland communications weighing one ounce or less.

To charge 2½d. for letters now charged at 3d. would reduce the revenue by about £9 million. The minimum weight step for printed papers is at the moment 2 oz. and it is difficult to say what would be the effect of introducing a charge of 2½d. for the first ounce with consequential changes in the rest of the tariff. But additional revenue of the order of £6 million might result.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has recently considered the question of continuing to tax Welsh harps and Scotch bagpipes at 25 per cent., whilst pianos and electronic organs are free of such duty; and what consultations he has recently had about this matter with representative bodies from Scotland and Wales.

My right hon. Friend is considering the representations that he has received about the tax on musical instruments irrespective of their national associations.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Purchase Tax of 25 per cent. on stationery does not apply to writing paper of a size greater than 229½ square inches; and whether steps will be taken by his Department to publicise this exemption for the benefit of those who cannot afford to pay Purchase Tax on their stationery but would be prepared to buy it in a larger size and reduce it themselves to smaller dimensions, with a view to reducing the cost of living.

Customs and Excise Notice No. 78, which was presumably the source of my hon. Friend's information, is a public notice.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why bull's eye lanterns, duck lamps, guards' hand lamps, and hand signalling lamps are still subjected to Purchase Tax at 25 per cent. when acetylene hand lamps and miners' safety lamps are exempt from such tax; and what would be the approximate loss to the revenue of extending exemption to such lamps.

Because successive Governments have not seen fit to introduce further exemptions into this Group in the Tax Schedule. As regards the second part of the Question, traders are not required to make separate returns of tax paid on individual types of articles and the information is therefore not available.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the total taxation imposed on road users, through the fuel, vehicle, and purchase taxes, is devoted to road building and maintenance.

Expenditure on road building and maintenance is not related in any way to particular forms of revenue. Expressed as a percentage of the revenue derived from the fuel, vehicle and purchase taxes imposed on road users, the amount spent on road building, maintenance and associated road expenditure in the current financial year is about 19 per cent.

asked One Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Greek-speaking or other officers of the Special Branch were present in the Greek Orthodox Church at Camden Town when Archbishop Makarios preached there in Greek during his recent visit to London and referred to the EOKA terrorists and to General Grivas; and if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the report made to him on that occasion by his officers.

It is the practice, in the public interest, not to disclose the details of police dispositions or the contents of police reports, and I regret that accordingly I cannot give my hon. and gallant Friend the information for which he asks.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state in detail his plans for new prisons to replace old prisons, the changes in design he proposes and, in particular, what he proposes to do with the site of Dartmoor prison; and if he has yet decided where the new prison to replace Dartmoor prison will be put.

The new prisons which are being built are in addition to the existing prisons, which are still needed. Meanwhile, as I informed my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Hobson) on 17th March, some 30 institutions have in the last two-and-a-half years been either opened, started, or planned. Details of the new developments in prison design will be published in due course. I have ordered a public inquiry to be held into Che replacement of Dartmoor prison. This will take place on 25th April. I shall not reach a decision until I have received and studied the report of the inquiry.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what precautions his pest officers who possess official supplies of strychnine take to protect their stores from theft; and under what precautions they issue it.

Not more than 4 ozs. of strychnine are held in stock, and normally not more than a quarter of an ounce is issued to an employee, although exceptionally, with the authority of a senior officer, up to 1 oz. may be issued. The strychnine is issued to operators in screw-capped glass jars clearly labelled strychnine and poison, and is kept by them in a locked box.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the number of new jobs likely to become available in the Barry area from recent and present developments at Barry and at Aberthaw.

Projects in hand or in definite prospect for the Cardiff area are expected to provide some 1,500 new jobs in the area: about 150 of them in Barry and the remainder within travel to work distance of the town.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the total amount of the loans outstanding to the Scottish Industrial Estates Limited, at the most recent date.

At 31st March, 1959, outstanding loans to Scottish Industrial Estates Ltd. totalled £285,475.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the total investment in land and industrial buildings held by the Scottish Industrial Estates Limited; and what is the annual income from rents.

At 31st March, 1959, the figures were £22,351,663 and £1,034,475, respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in how many cases, apart from the recent Mau Mau raid on a farm near Nairobi, during which African farm workers were forced at panga-point to swear the Mau Mau oath, the Mau Mau conspaircy in Kenya is known to have succeeded in administering its oath in the last year.

The Governor of Kenya is not aware of any recent Mau Mau raids, either on farms near Nairobi or elsewhere in the Colony, or of any incident involving African farmworkers such as my hon. Friend mentions. In the last twelve months there have been two confirmed cases in which Mau Mau oaths have been administered. These occurred in the Meru Native Land Unit in January and March of this year, when remnants of a gang who were foraging for food administered the oath to Meru tribesmen to prevent them divulging the gangs whereabouts.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give the names and status of the members of the Hong Kong Governor's Standing Committee which keeps under frequent review problems of bribery and corruption in the Colony.

The Standing Committee appointed in 1956 consisted Of:

asked the Minister of Health if he will state the number of consultants, senior hospital medical officers, senior registrars and registrars holding hospital psychiatric appointments, at the latest date for which figures are available; and the percentages of the total number of doctors in each grade.

The information is contained in the following table which relates to the position at 1st July, 1959.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what progress has been made in respect of the arrangements for contracting out under the National Insurance Act, 1959.

As my noble Friend will be aware, Regulations governing the appointment and procedure of the Registrar of Non-Participating Employments and the Adjudicator were made in November and December last. Since then I have submitted to the National Insurance Advisory Committee two sets of draft Regulations; the first, the Assessment of Graduated Contributions Regulations, deals with the contribution position of people in the graduated scheme; the other, the Assurance of Equivalent Pension Benefits Regulations deals with the preservation of the equivalent pension rights of employees who are contracted out of the graduated scheme. With the making of these two sets of Regulations, the detailed structure of the new scheme so far as it concerns those considering contracting out will be substantially complete.Graduated contributions will be due from the first week of April, 1961, for all employed persons then earning more than £9 a week, in respect of whom a certificate under Section 7 of the Act has not been issued by the Registrar.As I told the House last July, the Registrar (then Registrar designate) has since then been available to employers for informal consultations about the requirements for contracting out. Application for a certificate under Section 7 may be made at any time, whether before or after April, 1961, but employers who wish to have certificates in force at the beginning of the new scheme should allow sufficient time, in making their applications, for the Registrar to be able to deal with them by that date. In cases where a certificate, even though applied for, has not been issued by April, 1961, graduated contributions will be payable from then until such date as the certificate is issued and takes effect.

asked (he Minister of Power (1) if, for the purpose of increasing the area of public accountability, he will take powers to require the electricity consultative councils appointed under Section 7 of the Electricity Act, 1947, to submit to him schemes whereby consultative committees shall be set up for each of the managerial areas in each area;(2) if, in pursuance of the purposes provided for in Clause 9 (8) of the Gas Act, 1948, he will take powers to require the gas consultative councils to submit to him schemes whereby a consultative committee shall be appointed for each area of the separate undertakings so that a closer relation shall be established between the administration and the consumer.

My right hon. Friend is satisfied that the councils themselves can best judge local requirements for helping the consumer. If they propose amendments of their existing schemes they will be sympathetically considered.

asked the Minister of Power whether he is satisfied that there is now an adequate supply of the following smokeless fuels, namely, Coalite, Rexco, Warmco, Phurnacite, raw Anthracite, and Clean Glow for the implementation of clean air schemes; and whether he will make a statement.

Total supplies of solid smokeless fuel, including coke, are sufficient to allow the implementation of clean air schemes. As regards the supply position of the fuels mentioned, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, North (Mr. Iremonger) on 1st February. 1960.