asked the Postmaster-General what proportion, in terms of price, of Post Office equipment, other than telephone and electrical, is purchased in Scotland; and what was the comparative proportion in 1950.

Four per cent. in 1958–59 and 5 per cent. in 1950–51.

asked the Postmaster-General the number of Post Office employees in Scotland; what percentage this represents of the total number of Post Office employees in the United Kingdom; and if he will compare this percentage with the similar percentage for 1950.

The figures were, respectively, about 30,000; 9 per cent. and 9 per cent.

asked the Postmaster-General what consideration he has given to the restoration of the 100 free calls to telephone subscribers; and what other plans he has, incorporating this concession, to make ownership of a telephone a more attractive proposition.

I have the matter of postal and telephone charges much in mind, but I am not yet 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 the size of the waiting list for telephones in each telephone area in Great Britain and Northern Ireland at 31st March, 1960; what proportion this bore in each case to the total number of subscribers in each area; and by what date in each area respectively he expects to reach the position in which requests for connection of a telephone can be put in hand immediately they are received.

I give the figures below.For the United Kingdom as a whole the waiting list on the 31st March, 1960, was 49,093. This was just over 1 per cent. of the working lines.I cannot at present say when it will be possible for connection of telephones to be put in hand immediately on request. This depends both on the available capital resources, and on public demand which at present is running at an exceptionally high level.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will give a date for the commencement of work on the Medway towns-Sittingbourne by-pass road.

Tenders for the construction of the Medway Bridge, the first part of the Medway Motor Road, are now under consideration. It is hoped to let the contract shortly, and work should start soon afterwards.

asked the Minister of Transport, in view of the large number of road accidents causing injury and death in Great Britain, if he will, as an experiment, make an appeal to motorists all over Great Britain to dedicate one single day, to be called Road Safety Day and specified by him, to the nation-wide exercise of specially strict observance of the rules of the Highway Code; and if he will, as a consequence, use the result of that day as a guidance for his future policy in relation to road traffic.

While I have every sympathy with the intention behind the hon. and learned Member's Question, such evidence as there is does not go to show that a one-day concentration of effort would on the whole help to further road safety. As I said, however, in a recent debate in this House, I am referring this suggestion to the Departmental Road Safety Committee and to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents for further examination.

asked the Minister of Transport when he intends to announce further road safety measures.

Proposals for new measures are constantly being examined. Decisions are announced as soon as the necessary study and preparatory work have advanced enough to justify them.

asked the Minister of Transport the estimated sum to be received from tolls for the first year after the opening of the Dartford-Purfleet Tunnel; and the estimated cost of collecting them and the number of staff to be employed for this purpose, together with the cost of operation of the ferry in 1959 and income received.

The level of the tolls and the method of collection have not yet been settled, so that estimates of revenue, cost and staff cannot yet be given.I have no information about the cost of operating the Tilbury-Gravesend Ferry or of the income.

asked the Minister of Transport when he will announce his proposals to assist to reduce the accident rate on the Stratford-Birmingham road between Monkspath and Shirley.

We are extending the "keep left" bollards at the Blackford Lane-Marshall Lake Lane crossroads to form a short length of divided carriageway to help right-turning traffic. We also intend shortly to move the bus stops at the Cranmore Boulevard junction and to provide a bus draw-in. "Blackspot" signs are to be erected, and the Chief Constable of Warwickshire has instituted uniformed patrols, on this road. We will consider applying a 40 m.p.h. speed limit when we have powers to do so.

asked the Minister of Transport how many detailed analyses of road accidents, on the basis of the one concerning those occurring last Christmas, have been made in the last five years by his Department.

This investigation is the first of its kind. Analyses of road accidents are prepared regularly by my Department and more detailed analyses of the statistics are made by the Road Research Laboratory in the course of its research programme, but the very detailed investigation of all the accidents occurring last Christmas is the first in which the Laboratory, or my Department, has investigated all fatal accidents occurring over a period of a few days.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will publish a White Paper setting out the details of the Government's road-building programme for the next five years.

No. I think it would be undesirable to announce detailed plans a long way ahead.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will give the figures of the number of accidents involving injury and death, respectively, that have taken place at the crossing of the Great North Road and the New Road, Stan-borough, during each of the past five years and to the latest available date during the present year.

The figures are as follows:

ACCIDENTS AT OR WITHIN 20 YARDS OF THE CROSSING OF THE GREAT NORTH ROAD AND THE NEW ROAD, STANBOROUGH
Year	Personal injury accidents	Casualties
		Killed	Seriously injured	Slightly injured
1955	2	1	—	1
1956	—	—	—	—
1957	—	—	—	—
1958	—	—	—	—
1959	1	—	—1	1
1960 (January-April)	1	1	—	—

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will give the figures of the number of accidents involving injury and death, respectively, that have taken place at The Bull Crossing, Stanborough, Hertfordshire, during each of the past five years and to the latest available date during the present year.

The figures are as follows:—

ACCIDENTS AT OR WITHIN 20 YARDS OF THE BULL CROSSING, STANBOROUGH, HERTFORDSHIRE
Year	Personal injury accidents	Casualties
		Seriously injured	Slightly injured
1955	2	—	3
1956	4	—	10
1957	8	—	10
1958	8	—	8
1959	9	3	8
1960 (January-April)	2	2	2
There were no fatal accidents.

asked the Minister of Transport (1) what improvements are planned for the Great North Road between Hatfield and Ayot Green, Hertfordshire; and when it is expected that work on these improvements will begin;(2) what improvements are planned for the Great North Road between Ayot Green and the Clock, Welwyn; and when it is expected that work on these improvements will begin.

Plans for the improvement of A.I between Hatfield and the south end of the Stevenage By-pass are at present under review. I regret that I cannot yet say when it will be possible to begin the improvements.

asked the Minister of Defence what agreements on nuclear weapon production, warning systems, or means of delivery of nuclear weapons have been reached with France.

No agreement has been reached with France on nuclear weapon production, strategic early warning systems or means of delivery of nuclear weapons. There have been discussions with the French about development of electronic systems for the air defence of Europe and also of a vertical take-off aircraft to meet the needs of N.A.T.O. forces.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what reply he has made to the Soviet Note proposing that the co-Chairmen of the Geneva Conference should make a joint appeal to the Government of Laos to abide by the Geneva agreement regard the members of Pathet Lao and to agree to the resumption of the activities of the International Control Commission.

Our views were fully set out in a Note given to the Soviet Government on 12th March, to which the latest Soviet Note of 18th April is a reply. No further communication has therefore been made to the Soviet Government.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is now in a position to state in whose custody the records of the activities of German military and security forces in Lvov in 1941 are now held.

Further search has confirmed that there are no such records among the jointly-controlled documents in Washington. The only relevant document which came into allied hands appears to be the document published as Document O 18-L in the Nuremberg Trial series, which is among the records of the International Military Tribunal deposited with the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the extra annual loss of revenue due to the recent exemption from Income Tax of the income of single persons over 65 up to £275, and the exemption of the income of married couples, where one person is over 65, up to £440, over and above the loss arising from the ordinary personal allowances for people of all ages.

The present cost of the age exemption provisions is about £4 million, of which £1 million is the cost of the associated marginal relief.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the loss of revenue if single persons were all exempt from Income Tax up to £275 and all married couples were exempted up to £440.

To exempt incomes of single persons up to £275 and of married couples up to £440 leaving the tax on incomes above these limits unchanged would cost nearly £10 million.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the effect under the National Insurance Act, 1959, of the proposal in the Finance Bill to fix £15 as the amount on which tax relief will be given in the cases of men, whose highest band of Income Tax is 2s. 3d., 4s. 3d., 6s. 3d., 7s. 9d. and the Surtax payer paying 12s. 3d. in the £, respectively; and how much the tax relief amounts to per week in each case.

The value of tax relief on the allowance for National Insurance contributions of £15 at the existing rates of tax is as follows:

Rate of Tax			Amount of relief
			a year			a week
	s.	d.	£	s.	d.	s.	d.
Reduced rates	1	9	1	6	3		6
	4	3	3	3	9	1	2¾
	6	3	4	13	9	1	9½
Standard rate	7	9	5	16	3	2	2¾
Income Tax at 7s. 9d. plus Surtax at 4s. 6d.	12	3	9	3	9	3	6½

asked the Minister of Labour the number of persons unemployed in Sunderland on the latest available date, and the figures for the corresponding dates in 1959, 1958 and 1957.

Five thousand two hundred-and thirty-five at 11th April, 1960, compared with 4,805 at 13th April, 1959, 3,161 at 14th April, 1958, and 2,580 at 15th April, 1957.

asked the Minister of Education, as representing the Minister for Science, how many employees of the Road Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are engaged in analysing the road accidents that took place during the Christmas period.

Twelve members of the staff of the Road Research Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research have been engaged in the work. Ten of them were primarily concerned with collecting data and two in the subsequent analysis, which is now nearly complete.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty (1) in view of the fact that workers, skilled and unskilled, in Her Majesty's dockyards take home a far smaller pay packet than those working in yards under private enterprise, where overtime constitutes a great percentage of the wages, if he will look into the pay structure of workers in Her Majesty's dockyards and bring it in line with those working in civilian yards;(2) if he will make an immediate adjustment of wages in Her Majesty's dockyards without waiting for the lapse of time that is necessary to get agreement with the unions concerned.

The basic rates of pay for skilled and unskilled workers in Her Majesty's Dockyards are not less favourable than the rates nationally agreed for corresponding workers in private industry, and payment for overtime is made on the same rates. The amount of overtime or short time, which may be worked, is liable to vary at different times and places and cannot be taken into account as a ground for modifying basic rates. There is no question of the Admiralty departing from the prevailing Government policy that rates of wages and conditions of service are negotiated on joint councils containing representatives of the management and the trade unions concerned.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made towards the setting up of the Horticultural Marketing Council.

Consultations with the bodies representing the various interests in the horticultural industry have been completed, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I have appointed the following to be members of the Horticultural Marketing Council.

asked the Minister of Power what arrangements are contemplated by Messrs. Richard Thomas and Baldwins for disposing of the output of coke-oven gas from the new steel works at Llanwern to the Wales Gas Board.

I am informed that there will be no surplus coke-oven gas available for sale from the developments so far approved.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he can now amplify his statement on the hospital building programme, with particular reference to projects in non-teaching hospitals.

Planning work is going ahead on the schemes announced in the statement I made on 16th November, 1959. Regional hospital boards have since been authorised to complete plans for the following large schemes at non-teaching hospitals:

1.Vale of Leven Hospital—new maternity unit.

2.Bellsdyke Mental Hospital—replacement of obsolete accommodation and provision of male psychoneurosis unit.

3.Dunoon Cottage Hospital—new hospital to replace three existing hospitals.

4.Mackinnon Memorial Hospital, Skve— major extension.

A considerable amount of preparatory work has already been done on several other large schemes and I hope soon to authorise the boards concerned to go ahead with detailed plans.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will publish in HANSARD or in some other appropriate publication a comparison between tariffs imposed by the Common Market countries and by Great Britain on the most important articles of trade between the United Kingdom and the other countries concerned.

In the most important sectors of trade with the Common Market countries, such as the trade in chemicals and in iron and steel goods, the tariff headings are so numerous and in general so different in the different countries, as to make it impracticable to comply in small compass with the right hon. Member's request; but the following are the main rates of duty for individual items for which the 1959 figures show that United Kingdom exports to the Common Market countries exceeded £2 million. Trade in these items

PRINCIPAL UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS TO THE SIX AS SHOWN IN THE T. & N. ACCOUNTS FOR 1959
Item	Current Rates of Import Duty
	U.K.	Benelux	France	Italy	W. Germany
Vegetable oils	0–15 per cent.	0–12 per cent.	4–16·2 per cent.	0–25 per cent.	0–10 per cent.
Whisky	£10 13s. 9d. per proof gal.	60·53 florins per hectolitre	30 per cent.	25 per cent.;60 per cent.	DM 325 per 100kg
Cigarettes	£3 10s. 0d.per lb.	45 per cent.	0; 70 NF per kg.	5,000 lire per kg.	DM 7,500
Iron ore	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Coal	Free	Free	Free	0; 4 per cent.	DM 20 per ton
Motor spirit	2s. 6d. per gallon	Free	5·6 per cent.	16 per cent.	DM 12·9 per 100 kg.
Fuel oil	Free	Free	1·75 per cent.; 2·8 per cent.	9 per cent.; 16 per cent.	DM 12·9 per 100kg.
Tyres and Tubes (motor vehicles)	30 per cent.	21·6 per cent.	18 per cent.; 22 per cent.	22 per cent.; 22·5 per cent.	14 per cent.
Sheepskin Leather	10 per cent.; 15 per cent.	0; 6 per cent.	0—13·5 per cent.	10·8—15·3 per cent.	0; 6 per cent.
Raw Wool	Free	Free	0; 0·9 per cent.	Free	Free
Wool tops	10 per cent.✶	2 per cent.	2 per cent.	0; 3·6 per cent.; 6·3 per cent.	1 per cent.
Wool yarns	7½per cent.†	4 per cent.	4 per cent.; 6 per cent.	9·9 per cent.; 11 per cent.	2—6 per cent.
Wool textiles	17½ per cent.✶	18 per cent.; 24 per cent.	15 per cent.	16·2 per cent.; 18 per cent.	13 per cent.
Tinplate	£7 5s. 0d. per ton or 10 per cent.	6 per cent.	7 per cent.	10 per cent.	6 per cent.
Unwrought copper	Free	Free	0; 18 per cent.	Free	Free
Unwrought tin	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
I.C. engines	17½ per cent.; 30 per cent.	6–24 per cent.	15–25 per cent.	13–27 per cent.	0–11 percent.
Pumps	15 per cent.; 17½ per cent.; 30 per cent.	6 per cent.; 15 per cent.	8–22·5 per cent.	8–25 per cent.	0–9 per cent.
Refrigerating equipment	15 percent.; 17½ per cent.	6 percent.; 12 per cent.	13·5 per cent.; 16·2 per cent.	14·4—18·9 per cent.	2 percent.; 4 per cent.
Metalworking Machine tools	10 per cent.	6 per cent; 7 per cent.	6–22 per cent.	7–25 per cent.	0; 4 per cent.
Radio communication and navigationaid equipment	17½ percent.; 20 per cent.; 30 per cent.	10 per cent.	18–22 per cent.	16·2—36 per cent.	9 per cent.
Cars	30 per cent.	24 per cent.	29 per cent.	25—40·5 per cent.	13 per cent.; 16 per cent.
Tractors	15 per cent.; 20 per cent.; 30 per cent.	6 per cent.; 24 per cent.	15—27 percent.	12—32·4 per cent.	0—11 percent.
Aircraft	17½ per cent.	0; 10 per cent.	18 per cent.	13—22 per cent.	Free
* Not containing man-made fibres.
† Not containing man-made fibres or horse hair.