asked the President of the Board of Trade what alternative source of employment he will provide to off-set the redundancies pending at the Barrow Steel Works.

There are several hundred new jobs in prospect in the Furness district, and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour does not expect any great difficulty in placing workers who become redundant at the Barrow Steel Works in new employment. My Department will continue to encourage firms to set up in the district.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now state the results of his study of the working of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1956, in order to decide whether any changes should be recommended to Parliament; and what changes he now proposes to recommend.

The fact-finding inquiry into resale price maintenance, which I announced in answer to a Question on 17th March, is not yet complete. I am not therefore in a position to make a statement.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now make a 'progress report on the work of his departmental committee considering horticultural co-operative marketing, stating in particular from what persons or bodies at home and overseas the committee has taken evidence; and when he expects to receive their final report.

The Working Party has met on nine occasions. It has heard oral evidence from individual experts, the Agricultural Central Co-operative Association, the National Farmers' Union, the Central Packhouse Association, and representatives of individual co-operative societies associated with these organisations. Written evidence has also 'been received or is awaited from various bodies and individuals in this country and overseas. The Joint Parliamentary Secretary and members of the Working Party are visiting co-operatives in this country and on the Continent. The Report may be expected in the latter part of this year.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will now widen the terms of reference announced by him on 24th February last for his departmental committee considering horticultural cooperative marketing, so as to include agriculture; or, in the alternative, whether he will set up a further departmental committee for this purpose.

It would not be practicable at this stage to extend the Working Party's membership and terms of reference to cover agriculture. There are considerable differences between cooperative marketing in agriculture and 'horticulture, and on the agricultural side no comparable problem of the relationship of societies to their members.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the depredations to salmon and inshore white fishing on the east coast of Scotland caused by grey seals, proved by markings to have originated from the Fame Island Colonies, what action it is proposed to take during the coming season to reduce to a reasonable extent the population of grey seals in such colonies.

As my hon. Friend will know, the Nature Conservancy is inquiring into the question of damage caused by grey seals to fisheries, but I am in close touch with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland on this matter.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when new regulations for the staining of meat are likely to be introduced.

My right hon. Friend the Minister of Health and I are now completing our final stages of consultation and hope to lay new regulations before the Parliamentary Recess.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many persons in his Department are engaged on safety and welfare work under the Agriculture (Safety, Health and Welfare Provisions) Act, 1956.

The Safety and Wages Inspectorate consists of 72 officers. In addition, six officers at Headquarters and approximately thirty officers in local offices carry out administrative and clerical work.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total of the estimated subsidy on eggs from 1952 to 1961, inclusive.

The total subsidy on home-produced eggs for the financial years 1952–53 to 1959–60 together with my latest forecast for 1960–61 is £270 million.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why it has been necessary to increase the staff of his Department to 14,938, an increase of 134 compared with April, 1959.

The increase consists mainly of additional staff needed in the regional organisation to administer the new schemes introduced to assist small farmers and horticulturalists and also to cope with the expanded work on the farm improvement scheme. The increase should be looked at against decreases of 324 and 436 in the two previous years.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further consideration he has given to the possibility of introducing legislation to amend the Agriculture Act, 1957, so as to enable co-operatively-owned agricultural buildings to qualify for improvement grants despite the fact that they do not form part of any particular agricultural holding.

I regret that I have nothing yet to add to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Denzil Freeth) on 19th November.

asked the Prime Minister if he will now send a Minister of Cabinet rank to Nicosia with instructions to conclude forthwith an agreement to establish the Republic of Cyprus.

No. As the hon. Member knows, the negotiations between my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Cypriot leaders have been resumed in Nicosia, and progress has been made.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will appoint a Minister especially charged with, and responsible for, ensuring economy in Government expenditure.

No. Responsibility in this matter rests where it should—on the Government as a whole, on my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer as custodian of the national finances, and on each of the Ministers in charge of the Departments.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are made by the Commissioner of Police to ensure that a police officer or some other responsible person is on duty at each school road crossing in the Metropolitan area when children are entering or leaving schools.

1,920 of the school crossings in the Metropolitan Police District are supervised by school crossing patrols, police officers or police cadets. It is not feasible to supervise every crossing, and priority is given to those where the children, in reasonable numbers, have to cross a busy road.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of immigrants into the United Kingdom from the West Indies for the five months ended 31st May, 1960, as compared with the similar period in 1959.

The estimated net inward movement is 14,800, as compared with 3,500 in the corresponding period last year.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what terms John Straffen is at present detained at Horfield Prison, Bristol; when was his most recent medical examination; and what was then his medical state.

Straffen is serving a sentence of life imprisonment, to which a sentence of death imposed in July, 1952, was commuted. He was last medically examined on 3rd June, when he was readmitted to Bristol prison. For some time there has been no material change in his medical condition.

asked the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations how many United Kingdom citizens and British protected persons, respectively, are still detained under emergency powers in South Africa.

One citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (Dr. Letele) and one British protected person (Mr. Mpho) are detained under the Emergency Regulations in South Africa.

asked the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations whether Dr. Letele, a United Kingdom citizen, has yet been released from detention by the South African Government; and what legal and other help has been given to him by the United Kingdom High Commissioner.

Dr. Letele is still detained under the Emergency Regulations. The High Commissioner and members of his staff have visited him. The High Commissioner has repeatedly pressed the South African authorities to release Dr. Letele or to inform him what offences are charged against him.

asked the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations what recent request Her Majesty's Government has received from the Government of India for financial assistance; and what has been the response.

The United Kingdom Government have offered a loan of £10 million to the Government of India, to be made under Section 3 of the Export Guarantees Act. The intention is that India should be able to draw on this loan to make payment for a broad range of her imports from the United Kingdom.2. The loan is being offered in response to an approach by the Government of India to the United Kingdom for early assistance in meeting India's foreign exchange requirements for 1960–61, the final year of the Second Five Year Plan.3. In addition the United Kingdom Government will later join in consideration of India's need for assistance during the current year with the consortium (U.S.A., Canada, German Federal Republic and Japan in addition to the United Kingdom) which met under the aegis of the International Bank to concert assistance to India in 1958 and 1959.

asked the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations whether he has received representations from the Government of India in respect of the presence in this country of Mr. A. Z. Phizo, leader of the Naga National Council of India; what was the agreement reached respecting the Nagas on the attainment of Indian independence in 1947; and whether, preceding that agreement, any proposal was considered for the reservation of Naga-occupied areas as a separate British Colony.

Her Majesty's Government have received no formal representations from the Government of India. But we have been in touch with the Indian Government over the matter. The Government of India have expressed their views with regard to the status of Mr. Phizo in relation to the law of India and their concern lest there should be any misunderstanding about this in the United Kingdom.No special provision was made in respect of the Nagas on the attainment of Indian Independence. The Nagas are only one of several Indian hill peoples inhabiting the North-East frontier region of former British India which became part of the Union of India in 1947.So far as I am aware there was no proposal for the reservation of the specifically Naga inhabited areas as a separate British Colony. A number of proposals for the future of the North-East frontier region were considered in the years before 1947, but it was decided that it would not be in the interests either of the tribesmen or India that the area should be separated from independent India.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many, and what proportion of, British colonial servants have agreed to continue their service under the new united Somaliland Government; if that Government has applied for administrative assistance from this country; and whether Somalis in this country are now classified as aliens unless they now become naturalised.

Under the Interim Agreement for a United Kingdom Aid Mission, which was signed in Hargeisa on 26th June, 69 senior expatriate staff, principally from the United Kingdom, have agreed to remain for a period of up to six months in the public service of Somaliland, and the decisions of a further six are awaited. This compares with about 190 senior expatriate officers employed there in April of this year. A further 109 junior expatriate staff, principally from India and Pakistan, have likewise agreed to remain.The third part of the Question is the concern of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. I understand, however, that persons who, immediately prior to Somaliland's attainment of independence on 26th June, 1960, were British protected persons by virtue of their connection with the Protectorate, became aliens on that date; but that special arrangements have been made to minimise hardship and difficulties for them.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will give a list of British companies which have been expropriated by the Argentine Government without compensation; and whether, in his forthcoming discussions with members of President Frondizi's party visiting this country concerning future financial agreements, he will make representations about the position of such companies.

No British company has been expropriated by the Argentine Government without compensation. Assuming, however, that in the second half of the Question my hon. Friend has in mind the companies about which he asked a Question on 22nd June, he will realise that while the case is before the Argentine Courts the action which Her Majesty's Government can take is necessarily limited. No doubt these matters will come up during the various discussions which will be held during President Frondizi's visit.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what degrees can be taken by African students undertaking courses of study in technical colleges in the territories of East and Central Africa for which he is responsible.

There are at present no facilities for students at technical colleges in East Africa to study for degrees. When the Royal Technical College of East Africa at Nairobi has been reconstituted as a University College its Governing Council will no doubt be considering, however, whether such facilities can be introduced. Higher education in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is the responsibility of the Federal authorities.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what facilities are available for African students in the territories of East and Central Africa for which he is responsible who wish to pursue post-graduate studies.

African postgraduate students can be accepted at the University College of East Africa at Makerere, where suitable arrangements could be made, dependent on the subject to be studied. If the hon. Member will inform me of the specific post-graduate studies in which he is interested I will ascertain whether such studies can be pursued there. Opportunities for Africans to take post-graduate courses do, of course, exist in the United Kingdom and other countries outside East Africa. In the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, higher education is a responsibility of the Federal Government.

asked the Minister of Aviation whether any expenditure will be involved during the current year in respect of the new Eurocontrol organisation; and whether he proposes to present a supplementary estimate to authorise this.

A token supplementary estimate of £10 will be presented shortly to authorise expenditure under this new head. Any expenditure involved during the current year will be met out of savings under other heads.

asked the Minister of Education what deferment of the acceleration of the further education building programme for 1961–62 he proposes as a result of the Government's latest restrictions of the nation's investment programme.

It is not expected that the further education building programme of major projects for 1961–62 which has already been announced will be affected.

asked the Minister of Education whether the deferred acceleration of some parts of the educational building programme for 1961–62 affects his undertaking to the recent Durham County deputation that sufficient money would be made available to eliminate all-age schools by 1965 without adverse effect on the grammar-school rebuilding programme.

No.

asked the Minister of Power if he is aware that the number and diversity of fuel advertisements claiming to be the best for industrial and domestic heating purposes are causing much confusion; and whether he will consider setting up a central agency within his Department to give advice on the use of fuels.

The answer to the last part of the Question is, "No". The National Industrial Fuel Efficiency Service exists to advise upon the use of fuel in industry and commerce; and I do not think that there is sufficient need for a governmental agency to advise the domestic consumer to justify the expenditure involved.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Annual Report of the Bank of England for 1960 will be available.

The Bank of England informs me that the Report for the year ended 29th February, 1960, will be issued during the week ending 16th July. I understand that, in keeping with the recommendations made by the Committee on the Working of the Monetary System, the Report will be considerably fuller than in previous years. For this reason, and in order to avoid unnecessary expense, it is not proposed to republish the Report, as has formerly been the practice, in the series of Command papers. It will, however, be presented to Parliament and copies will be available to Members without charge in the usual way. Copies will also be put on sale by H.M. Stationery Office.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what deferment of the acceleration of the university expansion programme for 1961–62 he proposes as a result of the Government's latest restric tions of the nation's investment programme.

The universities' investment programme is, of course, still of relatively modest proportions. But like other public investment programmes it must be included in the current review as part of the arrangements my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 23rd June.