asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the latest available estimate of the number of male Africans at present living on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt who are unemployed; and what proportion they form of the total number of male Africans on the Copperbelt.

Out of approximately 120,000 male Africans living on the Copperbelt, about twelve thousand are thought to be seeking work; but, in the absence of compulsory registration at employment exchanges, this figure can only be an estimate.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many male Europeans at present living on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt are citizens of the Union of South Africa; how many of them are Afrikaans-speaking; and what proportion of the total male European population of the Copperbelt is formed by each of these two categories.

Accurate figures are not available, but on a reasonable estimate there are some 10,000 European males on the Copperbelt who are citizens of the Union of South Africa. Of these, probably about 5,000 are Afrikaans-speaking. These categories represent in round figures 45 per cent. and 25 per cent. of the European male population on the Copperbelt.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what reply has been made by the Governor of Northern Rhodesia to the information concerning racial attacks contained in the letter addressed to him on 25th May by the Secretary of the United National Independence Party.

I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the reply which was sent at the Governor's direction to the Secretary of the United National Independence Party. As most of the allegations made were either untrue or grossly exaggerated the Governor declined to accept the party's request for a commission of inquiry.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the percentage of unemployment in Cyprus; whether it has increased during the last year; and what has been the percentage increase.

In May, 1960, the registered unemployed amounted to 1·7 per cent. of the working population. In that month, the figure was ·5 per cent. higher than in May, 1959, but lower than the figure for March. 1960.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what date he received from the Governor-General of Nigeria a memorial submitted by the expatriate pensionable officers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation; and what reply he has made.

I have received memorials dated the 12th January and the 30th May. I have deferred a reply pending fresh consideration by the Corporation of the position of these officers, but I hope shortly to be able to reply.

asked the Minister of Works if he is aware of the shortage of bricks in Scotland; and what action he proposes to take to ensure that there is an adequate supply to meet the housing programme.

I am not aware of any current shortages of bricks in Scotland. Deliveries this year have been at a very high level and stocks have risen, but I am always ready to look at any specific difficulties drawn to my attention.

asked the Minister of Works if he is now satisfied that there is an adequate supply of deck chairs in St. James's Park; and if he will make a statement.

I am concerned about the deck chair service in the Royal Parks generally, and I am considering what can be done to improve it.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has to amend the Scottish housing subsidies.

My right hon. Friend has none.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths from smallpox were registered in each of the years 1957, 1958 and 1959; and what were the ages at death.

No death from smallpox was registered in Scotland in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths from vaccinia, post-vaccinal encephalitis, or any other result of vaccination were registered in each of the years 1957, 1958 and 1959; and what were the ages of the victims.

There was one death from post-vaccinal encephalitis in 1957 (a male aged under one year), no death from this cause during 1958, and two deaths in 1959 (one male and one female, both under one year). There was no death from vaccinia or any other result of vaccination during the years 1957, 1958 and 1959.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the total amount given for each of the various farm subsidies in the year 1959–60.

The total amount of grants and subsidies to Scottish Agriculture in the year 1959–60 was £38,678,000. This is a provisional figure subject to audit, and is made up as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what consultations he has had with the University Grants Committee regarding the increase in the number of places in Scottish universities during the period 1960–1965.

The University Grants Committee consulted my Department before preparing the proposals which have already been approved, for university expansion up to a total of 135,000 places, by the mid-1960's. About 22,000 of these will be in Scotland. As I informed the hon. Member for Dunfermline Burghs (Dr. A. Thompson) on 3rd May, I am keeping in touch with the Committee's consideration of the proposals of the Scottish Universities and the Royal College of Science and Technology as regards their contributions towards the further expansion of 35,000–40,000 places by the early 1970's.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is now in a position to announce his decision on Dundee Corporation's Housing Redevelopment Schemes for St. Marys, Wharterbank, Hilltown, and Overgate.

Details of the actual rebuilding plans for the first three schemes are being adjusted with the corporation and the contractors, and I expect to give formal approval to the Whorterbank scheme shortly. The proposal to proceed with comprehensive redevelopment at Overgate was the subject of a local inquiry in February, the report of which has not yet been received.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will initiate discussions with the education authorities in Dumbartonshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Glasgow and Fife regarding the provision of positive incentives, including housing, to attract teachers to areas where shortage of staff in the schools is particularly acute.

Staffing in these areas should benefit from the scheme of voluntary restraint in recruitment by the better-staffed education authorities which is now in operation. I should prefer to see the effects of this scheme before asking any authority to consider special incentives, which by their nature generally raise difficulties.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when the Advisory Council on Education is expected to report on the question of transfer procedure and post-fourth year examination.

The Council decided to concentrate in the first instance on the part of its remit dealing with the post-fourth year examination structure and has now submitted to me a report on this topic. The Report will be published tomorrow as a Command Paper.

asked the Prime Minister what reply he has sent on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to Mr. Khrushchev's letter of 2nd June, putting forward new proposals for disarmament.

It is not the practice to disclose the contents of confidential correspondence between myself and other Heads of Government. But I can tell the hon. Member that in replying to Mr. Khrushchev I told him that we should give the most careful consideration to his latest disarmament proposals and that like him we thought it best for the proposals to be discussed in the Ten-Power Disarmament Conference at Geneva.

asked the Prime Minister which Minister is now primarily responsible for dealing with United Kingdom relations with the European Free Trade Area and the Common Market; and what efforts are now being made to heal the breach in Europe between the two economic groups.

The Governments concerned agreed in Paris on 10th June to continue to discuss the trade relations between the European Economic Community and the European Free Trade Association in the Committee on Trade Problems in Paris. We and our partners in the European Free Trade Association have made it clear that we are prepared to negotiate in a constructive spirit. Our aim is a partnership between the two groupings in a common system of European trade consistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.So far as United Kingdom Ministers are concerned relations with the European Free Trade Association inevitably fall within the field of a number of Ministers, in particular the Foreign Secretary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of Trade. My right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary has a general responsibility for the political aspects and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the economic aspects of this problem.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, taking the £ as having a purchasing value of 20 shillings in October, 1951, what was the relative purchasing value of the £ at the latest convenient stated date.

16s. 5d. in May, 1960.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in view of the increasing activities of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, involving visits by Members of Parliament to places as far distant as Tokyo, he will increase his grant in aid to this body.

The British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union receives a grant-in-aid of £11,500 a year, and I am not aware that this amount is inadequate for their purposes.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the exact nature of the inquiry which he is conducting into the question of luncheon vouchers and Income Tax-free payments for employees' luncheons in general; and by what date he anticipates he will have some up-to-date information as to the extent of these practices and their cost.

I am keeping the whole question of the taxability of luncheon vouchers under review, but I am not engaged in any specific inquiry into the matters to which my hon. Friend refers.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement as to an amendment to the Double Taxation Agreement with the Republic of Ireland.

The House will recall that last year we entered into an agreement with the Republic of Ireland to make it clear beyond doubt that avoidance devices against which the two countries had enacted specific legislation could not be practised under cover of the exemptions provided by the Double Taxation Agreement with the Republic of Ireland. In view of the introduction in the current Finance Bill of further provisions against tax avoidance, a new amending agreement is being negotiated with the Republic of Ireland to restate in general terms the Agreement of last year. This Agreement will require to be validated by a Clause in the Finance Bill which I shall bring forward at the Report stage.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what action has been taken in the last year to find out the causes of the tom-cat smell which periodically afflicts Stockton-on-Tees and the Tees-side area; and what is being done to remedy this situation.

This smell has not been reported since 1957, when the source was traced and interim remedies applied. These temporary measures have been replaced during the past year by permanent measures which have proved effective. There are occasional complaints about a fish-like smell from an amines plant. Remedies have been applied with success, but complete elimination of smell at all times cannot be guaranteed.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many objectors have indicated their opposition to the proposals of the Durham County Council planning committee relating to the Easington area; when the inquiry will take place; and to what extent it is now the policy of his Department to prevent the Easington Rural District Council from building houses outside the new town of Peterlee so that those people who have no desire to live in Peterlee may be provided with accommodation elsewhere.

There have been 212 objections to the Easington town map and six petitions from residents in South Hetton and Haswell. The inquiry has been arranged for 14th September. The extent to which houses should be built elsewhere than at Peterlee is one of the main questions arising on the town map, and I cannot therefore express an opinion until I have received and considered the report of the inquiry.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will now approve Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's application for the re-zoning for industrial purposes of 75 acres of land in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, particularly in view of the need to attract new industry to North Staffordshire.

My right hon. Friend is considering the application in the light of the position in that part of North Staffordshire and expects to be able to reach a decision shortly.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh affairs what stage the consultations have reached on the provision of a flood barrier across the Thames at Long Reach, near Dartford; and what bodies and local authorities he is consulting.

Copies of the recent Command Paper on the Technical Possibilities of a Thames Flood Barrier were sent to all the bodies which appeared to my right hon. Friend to have some interest in this matter, in preparation for further consultations. As a next step, he will shortly seek the views of the bodies which seem most directly concerned, including the riparian local authorities and river boards.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what reply he gave to Oldham Corporation's request to him in January last with regard to the shortage of common bricks; if he is aware that the corporation's slum clearance work is still being handicapped by the continuing shortage of bricks; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure that the housing programme is free from brick shortage in the future.

Questions on brick supplies are for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Works, and after consultation with him I informed the Oldham Corporation, when it communicated with me, that brickmakers were doing their best to meet demands. In fact, I understand that brick production so far this year has been at a record post-war level, and my right hon. Friend hopes that there will be a still further increase in the coming months. I also understand that any shortage of bricks at Oldham has now been largely overcome.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what action he has taken, following representations made by Wood Green Borough Council, in regard to a two months' delay in the starting date for a building contract owing to the shortage of bricks.

I take it that the hon. Member is referring to the Pellatt Grove scheme. From my right hon. Friend the Minister of Works, whom I have consulted, I learn that the order for bricks was not placed until April, although both the contractor for the scheme and the types of brick to be used had been settled nearly a year ago. Earlier ordering would have avoided any risk of delay.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what proportion of the houses, flats and bungalows built by each of the new town development corporations has been allocated to old people; and what is the proportion of the houses, flats and bungalows under construction in each of the new towns which is due to be allocated to old people.

The information in the following table relates only to development corporation dwellings; it does not include the many old people's dwellings provided by local authorities. In most towns the percentage of existing dwellings suitable for old people is higher than that given in column (1); some dwellings are let for the time being to younger people to meet the urgent needs of industry in the new towns. The figures in column (2) refer to dwellings suitable for old people. The number allocated initially to old people will depend on the demand for accommodation when the dwellings become available.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement concerning British participation in the European Atomic Energy Agency.

I am satisfied that the agreement of February, 1959, provides the basis for fruitful technical collaboration between the United Kingdom and Euratom.As I indicated when addressing the Assembly of the Western European Union on 2nd June, we will be ready to consider anew the proposal that Britain should join Euratom as part of a wider settlement in Europe.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in his communications with the United States authorities regarding Mrs. Hazel Wolf, he satisfied himself that she is in fact a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies; and if he will give the detailed evidence upon which he based this conclusion.

The grounds on which the conclusion was reached that Mrs. Wolf is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies are as follows.Mrs. Wolf's birth certificate showed her to have been born in Canada on 10th March, 1898, and she therefore became a British subject at birth. She ceased to be a British subject in 1926 under the provisions of Section 10 of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914, on marriage to an alien. Her marriage was to a United States citizen but she did not acquire United States citizenship by virtue of that marriage. Section 10 was amended by the British Nationality Act, 1933, so as to provide,

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why John Straffen was transferred from Cardiff Prison to Horfield.

Straffen was returned to Bristol prison, which is a fully secure prison, because the move was considered to be in the general interest.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are at present on remand waiting for vacancies in detention centres; and what is the average waiting time.

The information is not available, as I cannot say how many young offenders remanded in custody for inquiries before sentence are eventually sentenced to detention.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what consultations he had with the United States administration regarding the flight of United States U2 aircraft, operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, from Lakenheath aerodrome.

I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to Questions on these matters on 11th May.

asked the Postmaster-General what action he is taking to reduce delays in the cable service.

The delays on overseas telegrams result from a severe shortage of staff and an increase of traffic. To overcome the staff shortage I have recently improved pay at the recruiting level, and applicants are now coming forward in much better numbers. Special arrangements have been made to bring recruits into service quickly. Some telegraphists have also been transferred temporarily from the inland service to ease the position.To employ staff to the best advantage all overseas circuits have recently been concentrated at Electra House, the main overseas telegraph centre in London. I am also pressing ahead with the mechanisation of the overseas telegraph and telex services. It may be some time before the full effect of these measures is felt, but the service is improving and I mean to see that this improvement should be progressive.

asked the Minister of Labour how many strikes took place during the month of April, 1960; and how many working days were lost as a consequence.

The figures which the hon. Member requests will be found on page 220 of the May 1960 issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what action he proposes to take on the 1958 Report of the Monopolies Commission on the Supply of Imported Timber; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. The Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission in its 1953 Report on the Supply of Imported Timber found that, while there were no price rings on a national scale, agreements in the trade by which importers undertook to buy only through agents on an approved list and the agents undertook to sell only to importers on similar lists should be abrogated and should not be replaced by any other arrangements or undertakings with similar effects. In correspondence with the Minister of Materials in 1954 the Timber Trade Federation undertook to comply with the recommendations. The Commission in its 1958 Report, on whether and to what extent its 1953 recommendation had been complied with, found that the original agreement had been duly abrogated but that in the hardwood and softwood sections of the trade other arrangements had been made whose effects were similar to those in the original agreement.I have accepted the findings of the Commission and I am laying before Parliament an Order relating to imported hardwood and softwood timber which will prohibit the making or carrying out of such agreements or arrangements with similar effects. This Order will be subject to affirmative Resolution.The Timber Trade Federation has assured me that there had been a genuine misunderstanding on the part of its members as to the purport of the recommendations by the Monopolies Commission in its 1953 Report and so of the extent of its own undertakings. I entirely accept this assurance.