asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the estimated annual saving from the withdrawal of British Council representation in the Gambia; what alternative arrangements are being made by the Gambia Government to make use of the library and other equipment being gifted to them; and what is the estimated annual cost of these alternative arrangements.

The estimated annual saving is £7,000. The Gambia Government will maintain the centre, including the library and reading room. The British Council will continue to supply books and periodicals. It is hoped that the evening activities formerly organised by the representative will be started again later in the year. The cost of the alternative arrangements will be £2,000 a year.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent talks between his Department and a delegation from Mauritius about the Mauritius Cyclone and Drought Insurance Fund.

A delegation from Mauritius, led by the Chief Minister and including representatives of the sugar industry, has discussed with my Department the position of the Mauritius Cyclone and Drought Insurance Fund following the heavy calls made upon it as a result of the cyclones and drought of the last three years.Her Majesty's Government agree as to the importance of ensuring the continuance of the Cyclone and Drought Insurance Fund and are prepared to consider giving financial support to the Mauritius Government to help that Government to support the Fund.This problem was approached on the basis that the Fund should be in a posi- tion, if there is an "event" (i.e. an officially declared drought or cyclone) in 1963, to meet such obligations as will ensure that the reinsurance contract which the fund has entered into is honoured.On the understanding that the industry would make itself responsible for Rs.9m., Her Majesty's Government would not object to a promise by the Mauritius Government to underwrite the Fund in 1963 up to Rs.10m. or £750,000, and would undertake to provide an Exchequer loan, if needed, to meet any consequential shortfall in development finance up to that amount in respect of an event in 1963.If the Mauritius Government is called upon to make a payment in respect of an undertaking to underwrite the Fund in 1964 Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to consider with that Government what it can do to provide assistance if needed.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies What action he proposes to take following the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the control of public expenditure in Grenada.

I take the most serious view of the situation revealed by this disturbing Report and at my request the Administrator of Grenada has come to London for consultations. As a first step I have directed that no further issues of grant-in-aid or Colonial Development and Welfare funds shall be made to Grenada for the time being. I hope to announce what other measures will be taken very shortly.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases arising out of Section 245 of the Income Tax Act, 1952, have been taken to the Special Commissioners on appeal on the issue of whether a reasonable dividend has been paid; and of these how many have been won by the taxpayer.

In the ten years ended 31st March, 1962, the Special Commissioners heard 42 appeals on the issue mentioned by my hon. Friend, of which 19 were won by the taxpayer.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out in the OFFICIAL REPORT the amount of compensation paid in respect of principal coal hereditaments and subsidiary coal hereditaments under Sections 6 and 7 of the Coal Act, 1938, in each of the valuation regions.

The figures are as follows:

Region		Principal Coal Hereditaments	Subsidiary Coal Hereditaments
		£	£
Scottish	…	8,512,245	34,377
Northern	…	13,515,930	85,129
Western	…	5,409,030	4,309
Yorkshire	…	10,306,395	10,017
North Midlands	…	6,645,000	616
North Staffs.	…	1,315,710	14,470
East Midlands	…	1,475,190	5,697
West Midlands	…	1,628,025	23,329
South Wales	…	16,446,375	4,511
Southern	…	1,196,100	—
		66,450,000	182,455

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, from the information available to him through the Organisation for European Co-operation and Development, he will state the comparative terms and conditions of industrial depreciation allowances in the United States of America, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

I am afraid that this subject is far too wide to be dealt with briefly, in particular by way of Parliamentary Question and Answer; and in any case tax codes differ so much that it is difficult to make valid comparisons. If my hon. Friend has any particular aspect of the matter in mind and will write to me I will see what information I can provide.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the maximum pension of a Civil Service clerical officer in 1939; by what percentage and from what dates it has since been increased by each of the Pensions (Increase) Acts since enacted; what was the percentage increase over the 1939 figure in the cost of living at each of these dates; and what have been the total percentage increases up to 1st April, 1962, in the pension and in the cost of living; and by what percentage a corresponding pension of that date exceeds the 1939 pension.

The maximum pension for a male clerical officer employed in London who retired in 1939 after 40 years' service was £175. Subsequent increases in pension and the cost of living have been:—

Date	Percentage increases on basic pension	Percentage increase in cost of living over1939 (cumulative)
1st January, 1944	25	28
1st December, 1946	5	32
1st October, 1952	15	79
1st April, 1956	10	106
1st August, 1959	18½	120

The total increase in the pension to 1st April, 1962 was 73½ per cent. and the cost of living was then 141 per cent. above the 1939 level. A corresponding pension beginning on 1st April, 1962, exceeds by 37¾per cent. the 1939 pension as increased.NOTES:1. Before 1956 increases were subject to reduction on account of other income above certain limits and the rates of increase were lower for unmarried pensioners.2. The cost-of-living figures are based on the following Ministry of Labour indices:

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many new jobs have been created, since the Local Employment Act, for male insured people in the Crook area, Brandon area, Tow Law area, Weardale area and Landhester area of the North-West Dunham constituency.

This information cannot be made available for local authority areas. In the Crook Employment Exchange Area, which covers most of the local authority areas referred to in the hon. Member's Question, industrial development certificates have been issued during the period 1st April, 1960, to 30th April, 1962, for projects estimated by the firms concerned to provide employment for 80 males.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is his latest estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of applications received to date for re-equipment grants under the terms of the Cotton Industry Act, 1959.

I am informed that to date the Cotton Board has received applications covering expenditure, incurred or proposed, to the amount of £50 million; assuming all of these projects go ahead, the Government's contribution will be about £12·5 million.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the number of bankruptcies which have occurred, year by year, since 1945.

This information is given in Table I (a) on page 8 of the General Annual Report on Bankruptcy for 1961, a copy of which is available in the Library.

asked the Minister of Labour what is the number of juveniles unemployed at the employment ex- changes in the North-West Durham constituency.

On 14th May, 109 boys and 57 girls were registered for employment at the Crook, Consett and Durham Youth Employment Offices.

asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the number of insured male persons unemployed in the North-West Durham constituency at the latest convenient date; and how this compares with the previous twelve months.

I regret that figures are not available for the North-West Durham constituency. The following table gives information covering the Employment Exchanges and Youth Employment Offices wholly or partly within the constituency:

Insured Male Persons registered as unemployed at the Crook, Durham, Stanley and Consett Employment Exchanges and Crook, Durham and Consett Youth Employment Offices
Date		Number
15th May, 1961	…	1,204
12th June, 1961	…	1,140
10th July, 1961	…	1,185
14th August, 1961	…	1,310
11th September, 1961	…	1,533
16th October, 1961	…	1,666
13th November, 1961	…	1,745
11th December, 1961	…	1,995
15th January, 1962	…	2,370
12th February, 1962	…	2,266
12th March, 1962	…	2,213
9th April, 1962	…	1,950
14th May, 1962	…	2,019

asked the Postmaster-General if a site has been chosen for the satellite television station in Weardale, County Durham, in view of the unsatisfactory reception still being experienced by people in this isolated area.

The exact location of this station, which the B.B.C. hopes may provide service for 9,000 people has not yet been decided. The B.B.C. has already started looking for the many sites required for its Stage III satellite stations, but this will naturally take some time.

asked the Minister of Power if he will set out in the Official Report the total amount of interest and interim income paid in respect of the Treasury Stock issued in each valuation district as compensation to former coal-owners under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act, 1946.

Up to 15th December, 1961, approximately £83 million interest was paid on 3½ per cent. Treasury Stock 1977–80 of the nominal value of £262 million Which was issued between June 1950 and December 1956 in satisfaction of compensation amounting to £242 million. Interest on this stock is payable by the Treasury to current stockholders who are not necessarily the former colliery owners to whom the stock was originally issued. The total interest payments cannot easily be allocated to the stock originally issued in respect of each valuation district.The total amount of interim income paid to former colliery owners in each valuation district is set out in the table below:

Valuation District	Interim income paid
	£
Northumberland	3,290,909
Durham	9,575,622
Cumberland	314,969
Lancashire and Cheshire	2,865,536
North Wales	482,155
Yorkshire	14,090,582
North Derbyshire	4,013,131
South Derbyshire	740,643
Nottinghamshire	4,847,616
Leicestershire	804.914
Shropshire	240,609
Cannock Chase	1,179,938
North Staffordshire	1,750,560
South Staffordshire	239,090
Warwickshire	2,009,911
Forest of Dean	594,451
Somerset	183,893
Kent	280,990
Bristol	4,453
South Wales and Monmouthshire	7,568,084
Scotland	8,490,010
	£63,568,066

NOTE:These payments were the equivalent of interest on compensation from the primary vesting date until the date of full satisfaction of the compensation whether by the issue of Treasury Stock or by money payments. Interim income was not separately related to the proportion of compensation satisfied by issue of Treasury Stock.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state the number of prescriptions dispensed, the average cost of a prescription and the average charge paid by patients, during each month from 1st March, 1961, to the latest convenient date, and the corresponding figures for the previous year.

The information is as follows:

SCOTLAND
Number of Prescriptions dispensed (Millions)
——			1961	1960
March	…	…	1·85	1·97
April	…	…	1·60	1·84
May	…	…	1·75	1·86
June	…	…	1·66	1·76
July	…	…	1·43	1·56
August	…	…	1·51	1·69
September	…	…	1·60	1·82
October	…	…	1·74	1·91
November	…	…	1·79	1·95
December	…	…	1·66	1·96
			1962	1961
January	…	…	1·94	2·12
February	…	…	1·75	2·25

Average gross cost per Prescription (Pence)
—			1961	1960
March	…	…	103·0	91·7
April	…	…	105·9	93·4
May	…	…	106·1	93·9
June	…	…	108·0	95·6
July	…	…	110·7	97·5
August	…	…	109·4	96·5
September	…	…	108·7	96·4
October	…	…	109·2	97·0
November	…	…	109·5	97·4
December	…	…	112·8	99·2
			1962	1961
January	…	…	110·1	98·6
February	…	…	110·0	98·4

asked the Minister of Transport if he will make a further statement about the development of nuclear propulsion for merchant shipping.

The Government's policy is to pursue a vigorous programme of research aimed at a reactor system which is economically attractive to a wide range of shipping. This programme will cost about £3 million spread over about three years and is being carried out by the Atomic Energy Authority in conjunction with the nuclear industry. Its scope is determined by a high level Working Group on which shipowners and Shipbuilders are represented.The latest development, announced on 16th May, is the signing of an agreement between the Atomic Energy Authority and a consortium of Belgian companies to develop an advanced version of the pressurised water reactor which shows promise for marine propulsion.We are co-operating in the studies which are being made by the European Nuclear Energy Agency of the possibility of constructing and operating a nuclear merchant ship on an international basis.

asked the Minister of Transport what recent report he has received of the recent pollution by oil in the Gareloch; and what steps have been taken to ascertain the cause and deal with those responsible.

Various suggestions about the cause of the pollution have been made, but none of them has so far been substantiated. If evidence is obtained of any contraventions of the Oil in Navigable Waters Act, 1955, there will be no hesitation in instituting proceedings.