asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what invitation has been sent for the nuclear ship "Savannah" to visit this country on her forthcoming maiden voyage; what ports she will visit; and whether she will receive the same or similar facilities as the nuclear submarines that have already visited British waters.

I have been asked to reply.Discussions are in progress with the United States authorities about a possible visit by "Savannah" and the conditions under which such a visit might take place. No invitation has been sent.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will make a statement as to the degrees of readiness at which various classes of ships laid up are maintained; and how much time would elapse before each of these classes could be brought into service.

The more important ships in the reserve fleet are at notice to get to sea within a week. There is, however, still a number of ships in reserve which could not be made operational so quickly. This includes ships on the sales list. Oar policy, which was announced in February, 1958, is to reduce this margin by degrees. It would not be in the public interest to give the exact degree of readiness of each ship.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty the extent of the radioactive discharge from Polaris and the engines of nuclear submarines; and what form this discharge is expected to take.

There is no radioactive discharge from the Polaris missile. The discharge from the nuclear reactor of a submarine is a liquid effluent, which takes the form of excess primary coolant, and arises when the reactor plant is brought up to operat- ing temperature after being shut down. This effluent is discharged into the water, but the level of radioactivity is low and the amount is small. The discharge takes place only infrequently—for example, when a submarine is getting ready for sea—and within agreed limits designed to ensure that no hazard is created.Solid waste, with a higher level of radioactivity, is normally disposed of far outside territorial waters. If necessary it can be dealt with in the same way and under the same precautions as other radioactive waste originating in the United Kingdom.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty how many Royal Navy personnel under the age of 21 years have been found guilty before a naval court of desertion during the period 1st January, 1959, to 30th September, 1960; and how many of them have been first discharged from the Service and then sentenced, respectively, to a period of detention, or to a term of imprisonment for the desertion offence, to be served in a civil prison.

It has not been possible to obtain in time all the information necessary to answer this Question. I will write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as it becomes available.

asked the Secretary of State for Air how many Royal Air Force personnel under the age of 21 have been found guilty before a Royal Air Force court of desertion during the period 1st January. 1959, to 30th September, 1960; and how many of them have been first discharged from the Service and then sentenced, respectively, to a period of detention, or to a term of imprisonment for the desertion offence, to be served in a civil prison.

Seven airmen under the age of 21 were convicted of desertion by Royal Air Force courts-martial during the period 1st January, 1959, and 30th September, 1960.The answer to the second part of the Question is "None".

asked the Minister of Aviation, in view of the importance to private flying of national gliding clubs, whether his Department will assist the Lasham Gliding Club by acquiring the aerodrome from the Air Ministry for this purpose.

asked the Minister of Aviation if his attention has been drawn to the imminent disposal of Lasham Aerodrome by the Air Ministry; what effect this step will have upon the interests of gliding; and what steps he proposes to take now to protect and encourage this important part of private aviation.

I am aware of the importance of Lasham Aerodrome to the gliding movement. I am discussing the situation with my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Air.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will revoke the planning permission to develop the gardens of Westbury Court, Westbury-on-Severn; and if he will hold a public inquiry into this matter, in view of the threat to one of the most beautiful gardens in Great Britain.

I was consulted about this application, since structures in the gardens are listed under Section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947. The development will incorporate, as far as practicable, the special features of the gardens, which were in danger of becoming derelict; and, after the proposals had been revised to meet points raised by my Department, I told the Gloucestershire County Council that I had no further comments. In these circumstances I am not prepared to revoke the permission or to hold a public inquiry.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the Joint Tuberculosis Council of Great Britain has declared that the evidence that cigarette smoking is responsible for a high proportion of lung-cancer deaths is conclusive; and if he will now take action to discourage young people from starting to smoke.

Since the publication in 1957 of the findings of the Medical Research Council on smoking and lung cancer, local health authorities have had the responsibility of making known to the general public the risks involved in smoking. Much of this publicity has been and continues to be directed specially to young people.

asked the Minister of Labour the number and percentage of persons in the Stornoway area unemployed at the last official count, and the numbers in each of the islands of Barra, South Uist, Benbecula, and North Uist at the same date.

On 14th November, 1,484 or 27·4 per cent., and 112, 145, 42 and 92 respectively.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he proposes to introduce legislation based on the Report of his Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Guest on the Licensing Law in Scotland.

The Report has only just been published and it would be premature to contemplate legislation based upon it until I have had an opportunity of considering in detail the Committee's recommendations and any representations about them which I may receive.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he is aware that an incubator had to be brought with police escort from supplies in Glasgow to an Edinburgh maternity hospital because all available incubators were in use in the city; and what action he is taking to avoid the necessity for this procedure;(2) how many child incubators are in stock in the maternity and other hospitals in the City of Edinburgh; and whether he will arrange for additional supplies to be in readiness at such hospitals in case of emergency;(3) whether he is aware that on Friday, 9th December, no incubators were available for a premature baby born at the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity, Hospital, Edinburgh, and that other hospitals in the city were unable to supply this apparatus; and whether he will ascertain the reason for the shortage of these articles.

This incubator was required for a child that had been born, not prematurely, before the mother was admitted to the Elsie Inglis Hospital. The hospital obtained the incubator urgently from the suppliers in Glasgow without approaching other hospitals in Edinburgh, although it has since been ascertained that one could have been obtained in this way. There are altogether twenty-one incubators of various types in Edinburgh hospitals, five of them at the Elsie Inglis Hospital; one of these five is of the particular type required on this occasion, but it was already in use. On only one previous occasion in the last fourteen years has the Elsie Inglis Hospital had to borrow an incubator, and it is not clear that there is any need to stock more of them in Edinburgh; but the Regional Hospital Board is examining the arrangements for securing that particular kinds of incubators are available where and when they are needed.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will set out in tabular form for the engineering and allied industries output and exports in 1913, 1924, 1954, and 1959.

Following are the figures:

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will set out in tabular form as percentages the United Kingdom's share of world trade in imports and exports, respectively, for the years 1850, 1906, 1913, 1924, 1954, and 1959, and the population at each census in the same years.

The table below gives the figures for the nearest available dates to those mentioned in the question. Comparisons over this long period are very uncertain. Apart from the greater difficulties of measurement in all the figures for the earlier years, there are special factors which affect the comparisons of the trade figures. The main causes of discontinuity are changes in national boundaries which affect world aggregates, variations in exchange rates and the fact that the figures up to 1924 omit goods which were imported and subsequently re-exported without being processed.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will set out in tabular form the total wages, gross profits, and dividends, respectively, as a percentage of the gross national product, for the years 1913, 1924, 1938, 1946, and on the latest possible date; and if he will give on a similar basis figures for manufacturing industry, the engineering industry, services, and all other industries.

The information asked for in the first part of the Question is not available for any year before 1938. The figures for 1938, 1946 and 1959 are given in the table below.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the total amount of loans granted under Section 3 of the Export Guarantees Act, 1949, since its inception, with details of the countries both inside and outside the Commonwealth to whom loans have been made and the purposes for which loans have been given in every case, and a list of loans announced or contemplated but not yet made.

The total amount of loans under Section 3 of the Export Guarantees Act, 1949, as since amended, for which Loan Agreements have been signed is £138·75 million. The total of further Section 3 loans in respect of which announcements have been made but loan agreements have not been signed is £55 million. All these loans are listed in the following table. It would be contrary to policy to give information about other loans which may be contemplated for the future.Except where otherwise stated in the "remarks" column of the table, these loans have been made available to finance a range of imports from the United Kingdom by the country con- cerned for the development of their economy. Where the loan has been intended from the outset to provide finance for a particular project or the

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the extent and nature of crown property in Ilford; how many freeholds of houses have been offered to occupying lessees; and how many acceptances have been received.

The Crown Estate Commissioners have informed my right hon. and learned Friend that the Crown Estate property at Ilford consists mainly of terraced and semi-detached residential houses let on 99-year leases at low ground rents. The Commissioners have decided to sell this part of the Estate. The freeholds of 690 houses have been offered to the lessees or occupying tenants and so far there have been 647 acceptances.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many Army personnel under the age of 21 years have been found guilty before an Army Court of desertion during the period 1st January, 1959, to 30th September, 1960; and how many of them have been first discharged from the Service and then sentenced, respectively, to a period of detention, or to a term of imprisonment for the desertion offence, to be served in a civil prison.

The detailed information required must be collated from several sources, and will take time to prepare. I shall however forward it to the hon. Gentleman as soon as possible.