asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty how many men over the age of 65 years are currently employed in the three southern dockyards; and to what extent he expects these numbers to fall in the next 12 months.

The numbers of industrials over the age of 65 now employed in the professional departments in the three southern dockyards at Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport are about 200, 210 and 90 respectively. With regard to the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, East (Mr. Willis) last Wednesday.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what steps have been taken to salvage the Royal Navy oiler"Green Ranger" and her stores and tackle, since her grounding six months ago.

As my predecessor informed the House on 10th April, the"Green Ranger" broke in two during gales subsequent to her grounding to become a total loss, and that it had been decided to offer her for sale as she lies. She was sold for scrap last month.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty whether the fare of £20 charged to the Mayor of Gosport for his private flight by naval helicopter from Lee-on-Solent to the Isle of Wight, on Saturday, 15th June, is the regular fare for this journey; how it is calculated for petrol, oil and other requirements; and what charges were made for depreciation and maintenance.

There is no regular fare and no regular service. Twenty pounds was the extra cost of this flight to Navy Votes. The figure includes appropriate elements for the fuel used and other charges arising from this particular flight.

asked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty on what date and time it was first suggested that the Mayor of Gosport should pay £20 for his private flight by naval helicopter from Lee-on-Solent to the Isle of Wight; when the fare was paid; whether it was in cash or by cheque; who received the fare; who issued the receipt; and whether the relevant documents are available for public examination.

The amount was not discussed beforehand because time did not allow it and, in any event, it depended on the duration of the flight. The bill will be presented in the ordinary way. I can see no justification for the suggestion that the documents should be made available.

asked the Secretary of State for War how much pension is received today by a 14 year old orphaned child of a lieutenant-colonel who retired on the 1956 Code after maximum service, if both parents had died on 3rd November, 1958; and how much it would be if the parents had died the next day.

£65 and £207.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many awards to holders of the Victoria Cross are paid to recipients living overseas, specifying the number of recipients living in each country.

Fifty-five. The recipients live in the following countries:

Australia	22
Canada	19
New Zealand	5
United States of America	3
Kenya	2
Nepal	2
Ghana	1
Denmark	1

asked the Secretary of State for War whether the transport carrying a party of British Service men and women, who inadvertently crossed the Yemeni frontier, was equipped with means of radio communication.

Yes.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why a separate White Paper on Housing in Scotland was not issued instead of Command Paper No. 2050, in view of the fact that the housing problem in Scotland differs from that of England.

The policy set out in this White Paper is relevant equally to Scottish and to English housing needs. The necessary differences in application are dealt with adequately and did not call for a separate White Paper.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he now expects to receive the report of the Reid Committee on Registration of Title to Land.

This Report will be laid before Parliament tomorrow and published on Friday.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the names of the owners of the four largest estates in Scotland, the gross valuation of the lands they own, and their total acreage.

I believe that my right hon. Friend whose Departments administer more than 1,900,000 acres is the largest land-owner in Scotland, but the other information could not be obtained without unjustifiable expense of time and labour.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total amount of subsidy paid to Scottish woodland owners over the past 10 years; and what is the estimated subsidy which will be paid for the year 1963–64.

In the ten years ended 31st March, 1963, the Forestry Commission paid just over £3 million in grants to woodland owners in Scotland. The corresponding estimate for 1963–64 is £500,000.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many new towns in Scotland have health centres; and by whom they were provided.

One; at Cumbernauld; by the Secretary of State.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he now has, following his meeting with the Ayr County Council, for increasing the educational building programme, in view of the need for more school places.

The position is unchanged. My right hon. Friend had already agreed that Ayrshire Education Authority should start school building projects to the value of about £1 million in the current financial year and that, provisionally, they should programme on the basis of a further £1 million for 1964–65.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has now received the Guest Report on Licensing.

Yes. This Report was presented to Parliament on 27th June and published the following day.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many community centres and halls have been built in each of the new towns of Scotland; and by whom they were provided.

In East Kilbride 16 halls are available, in Glenrothes 17, and in Cumbernauld 16. Others are under construction. I am sending the hon. Lady a detailed statement.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give figures for the total number of houses built in Scotland per 1,000 of the population for each of the years from 1950 to 1962, inclusive.

The total numbers of houses built in Scotland per 1,000 of the population in each of these years were as follows:

1950	5·0
1951	4·5
1952	6·1
1953	7·8
1954	7·6
1955	6·7
1956	6·2
1957	6·3
1958	6·3
1959	5·3
1960	5·5
1961	5·3
1962	5·1

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what road construction will be necessitated by the development of Abbotsinch Airport; what is the estimated cost; and when construction is expected to start.

There is reasonable access to Abbotsinch from trunk road A.8 and from classified routes through Paisley. The main improvement will come when the Renfrew bypass is built and my right hon. Friend intends shortly to seek powers to build it. A start to the westerly section might, I hope, be possible in about two years' time, but the Glasgow end cannot be started before flying stops at Renfrew. It is too early to give a close estimate of the cost of the bypass, but it will be about £4 million.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many new school places were provided in Glasgow in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962, respectively.

The numbers were, respectively, 10,340, 8,170, 3,575 and 4,692.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he has taken in the last year to ensure that every Scottish child will be taught by fully qualified and certificated teachers.

I would refer the hon. Member to what is said in chapter five of the Report Education in Scotland in 1962presented to Parliament last April.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the number of houses receiving subsidy at the respective rates under the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1962, at the latest convenient date.

Subsidy is now being paid under the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1962, in respect of the following numbers of houses.

Agency	Number of Houses	Rate of Subsidy
Local Authority	268	£42	(overspill)
	76	£32	(industrial needs)
	435	£12	(other approved needs)
	260	£32
	14	£40
S.S.H.A	78	£42
New Town Development Corporation	11	£42
	1,142

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many local authority and Scottish Special Housing Association houses are receiving subsidy; and what is the total amount of subsidy paid in each of the following financial years, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, and 1962–63.

Subsidy is being paid to Scottish local authorities and the Scottish Special Housing Association for 569,230 and 49,675 houses, respectively. The amounts paid were as follows:

	£
1958–59	13,992,000
1959–60	14,550,000
1960–61	15,068,000
1961–62	15,717,000
1962–63	16,023,000

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how the income of the Scottish farmer on a 100 acre farm or under compares with the average wage of a farm worker.

Farmers' incomes on individual farms of 100 acres or under vary as a result of a number of factors, such as type of farm, land quality and level of management. The average net incomes on full-time farms of up to 100 acres in 1961–62, as shown by the sample of farm accounts which are available from the economics departments of the three agricultural colleges, for five of the main type groups are as follows:

	£
Upland Rearing	575
Livestock with arable, non-intensive	803
Livestock with arable, intensive	743
Cropping	874
Dairy	730

There were no hill sheep farms of under 100 acres in the sample. The upland rearing group includes farms with up to 100 acres of crops and grass (with which is associated a substantial area of rough grazings): the other groups include farms with up to 100 total acres (including small acreages of rough grazings).The average earnings of full-time adult male workers in Scotland in 1961–62 were £560.

—				Hill Sheep		Upland Rearing
				Acreage	Net Income	Acreage	Net Income
					£		£
Small	…	…	…	2,256	737	480	625
Medium	…	…	…	2,849	1,047	843	1,093
Large	…	…	…	5,406	1,917	1,313	1,597

—		Livestock with Arable				Cropping		Dairy
		Non-intensive		Intensive
		Acreage	Net income	Acreage	Net income	Acreage	Net income	Acreage	Net Income
			£		£		£		£
Small	…	89	837	49	677	52	595	55	633
Medium	…	164	1,350	101	1,014	145	1,407	136	1,017
Large	…	445	2,494	—	—	362	3,561	289	2,285

Small farms are those with labour requirements of less than 750 man-days a year: medium sized farms 750 to 1,500 man-days a year: large farms over 1,500 man-days a year.More detailed figures on farm incomes are available in Scottish Agricultural Economics, Volume XIII and in reports issued by the three agricultural colleges.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to improve the provision of residential

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the present level of farmers' incomes in Scotland; and whether he will publish a table setting forth their incomes relevant to the acreage of their farms.

The latest figures on farm incomes in Scotland are for 1961–62 for a sample of about 600 farms for which accounts are available from the economics departments of the three agricultural colleges.The following table shows the average farm acreage (crops, grass and rough grazings) and average net incomes in three size groups (measured by labour requirements) and six main type groups for this sample.accommodation for severely mentally-handicapped children in the Glasgow area.

The Western Regional Hospital Board is at present expanding its accommodation for mentally defective patients by some 120 beds, and a further 120 beds are planned for 1965.

asked the Secretary of State for Air what consideration he has given to the plan put to him by Mr. Harvey de Weerd of the Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California, to allow Bomber Command operating facilities on some of the far northern Strategic Air Command American and Canadian air bases, so as to improve the ability to survive of the V-bombers and to further co-operation between the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

When Mr. de Weerd was last in this country I was happy to entertain him to lunch. We discussed a large variety of topics, but no plan of any kind was put to me.

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is satisfied that the Canberra aircraft now used by the Second Tactical Air Force in Germany as a strike aircraft is adequate for this rôle; and what plans he has to purchase a number of F.104s which are in service with both the American Air Force and the Luftwaffe, for use by the Royal Air Force until the TSR.2 enters squadron service in 1967.

The Canberra will fulfil the strike rôle adequately until the TSR.2 comes into service in the later 1960's. I have no plans to purchase any F.104 aircraft.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will introduce double white lines on the A.20 trunk road where it passes under the railway bridge in the village of Harrietsham.

No. The visibility here considerably exceeds the minimum necessary to justify double white lines.

asked the Minister of Transport what was the cost of erecting the pedestrian footbridge over the A.20 trunk road in the parish of Swanley; and if he will have a similar footbridge built over the same A.20 trunk road in the parish of Harrietsham.

The temporary foot bridge at Swanley cost £3,800. I am satisfied that at Harrietsham the central island which has already been constructed is the better answer.

asked the Minister of Transport if he has now decided on some form of road sign other than the"slow" sign at those road junctions in the country where there are strong local opinions that the existing form of"slow" sign is proving inadequate in preventing accidents.

I agree with the recommendation in the Worboys Report on road traffic signs which is being published today that"Slow" signs should be replaced by the more definite mandatory"Give Way" signs, supplemented where necessary by new and more emphatic carriageway markings. I feel sure that the new traffic signs will be an improvement and will help to reduce accidents at road junctions, but comprehensive new regulations will be needed before they can be erected generally, and this will inevitably take some time.

asked the Minister of Transport whether he has now studied the report of the Worboys Committee on traffic signs; and what conclusions he has reached.

The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have studied the Report, which will be published this afternoon, and we agree generally with its recommendations. There will be an exhibition of the new signs tomorrow in the Upper Waiting Hall of this House for the information of hon. Members; it will be open for a week. There will be another exhibition in London for the public. In addition, on certain roads in Birmingham new signs will by tomorrow permanently replace the old as a demonstration of their actual use. Our aim is to change over to the new signs as quickly as possible. New regulations will be needed to give effect to the agreed recommendations. We are already at work on these. They will be laid as soon as we have completed the necessary consultations with the local authority associations and other interests concerned.

asked the Minister of Transport (1) whether he will ensure that the timber used for roadside fencing on the Hatfield Peverel-Witham by-pass is home-grown.

I encourage the use of home-grown timber for fencing whenever this is economic.

asked the Minister of Transport what reply he has sent to the petition from the Paddington and Westminster Head teachers' Local Consultative Committee about parking outside schools.

The committee was informed of my policy as regards the use of"School Entrance" carriageway markings, including my willingness to consider imposing formal waiting restrictions outside primary schools where the markings alone have not been successful. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of the full reply.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will specify the parts of the M.6 motorway where changes have been made in the carriageway sub-base materials at an extra cost of £900,000.

After the original specifications for the Lancashire and Staffordshire sections of the M.6 were prepared, the standard carriageway specification for motorways was improved in order to reduce deterioration under heavy traffic. These improvements were adopted in Lancashire and Staffordshire over a total length of 37 miles at an extra cost of about £693,000. In Cheshire a change of material to facilitate construction work has increased costs by about £200,000.

asked the Minister of Transport what change in traffic flow has been reported on the A.25 road since 3rd July, 1962; and what changes have occurred since his answers in columns 37 and 38 of the Official Report of that date.

The Kent County Council's automatic traffic count at a point near Sevenoaks showed an increase of almost 13 per cent. between April, 1962, and April this year. I understand that the Kent and Surrey County Councils are to carry out a comprehensive traffic survey of the A.25 this summer.

asked the Minister of Transport how many miles of the A.25 road have a continuous double white line; and what percentage of the total length of the road this represents.

2·8 miles, i.e., 6·6 per cent.

asked the Minister of Transport how many miles of the A.25 road have a continuous white line with a dotted white line alongside it; and what percentage of the total length of the road this represents.

4·67 miles., i e., 11 per cent.

asked the Minister of Transport what special arrangements are being made for the accommodation and protection of the crews of the special tankers now being constructed for the carrying of methane gas from North Africa.

My Department has discussed and agreed with the owners and builders of these ships the special safety measures which will be required. In particular, the pipes for disposal of escaping methane gas will be kept well clear of the crew's accommodation.

asked the Minister of Transport when the Cunard Company is likely to take advantage of the facilities provided by the North Atlantic Shipping Act.

The company is considering new proposals for a ship to replace the"Queen Mary" and has asked me whether the Government would provide financial assistance. This suggestion is being considered, but no decision has yet been taken.

asked the Minister of Transport what has been the response to his shipbuilding credit scheme; what firm orders have been placed as a consequence; and what tonnage such orders represent.

The response to the scheme has been encouraging and a number of applications for loan are at an advanced stage of consideration. It is too early for me to make an announcement about firm orders.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will introduce amending legislation to make the Trades Dispute Act applicable to seamen.

No. But I am always prepared to consider proposals from the shipping industry relating to conditions of employment.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will state, for each of the competitions for driving and traffic examiners during the last 10 years, the number of candidates who have been former police officers and the number successful in each competition.

The Civil Service Commission, who run the competitions, have not retained the information for so long a period. An analysis of applications from more recent competitions would involve the examination of many thousands of application forms, and I do not think the time and effort entailed would be justified.

Boys
Class of employment				1960		1961		1962
				Number entering	Percentage of Total entrants	Number entering	Percentage of Total entrants	Number entering	Percentage of Total entrants
(1) Apprenticeship of leaner ship to skilled occupations				10,733	33·3	12,606	38·2	14,077	38·9
(2) Employment leading to recognised professional qualifications fications	…	…	…	350	1·1	412	1·2	396	1·1
(3) Clerical employment			…	2,805	8·7	2,460	7·5	2,492	6·9
(4) Employment with lasting at least 1 year not covered in (1) to (3) above				—*		2,277	6·9	1,324	3·7
(5) Other employment			…	18,328	56·9	15·239	46·2	17,866	49·4
TOTAL	…	…	…	32,216		32,994		36,155
*Included in class 5 before January, 1961.

asked the Minister of Labour how many school leavers he expects to be available for employment this year in comparison with 1962; and if he will take steps to ensure they are suitable placed in employment in commerce and industry.

About 550,000 in 1963 compared with 657,000 who started work in 1962. I have taken steps to ensure that through the Youth Employment Service these young people are given all possible assistance in finding suitable employment.

asked the Minister of Labour what are the proportions of school leavers in Scotland and the number during each of the last three years going into the following categories of employment, namely, apprenticeship and learner ship leading to skilled crafts, employment leading to recognised professional qualifications, clerical work, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, respectively.

The following are the figures for new entrants into employment in Scotland in each of the last three years:

Girls
Class of employment				1960		1961		1962
				Number entering	Percentage of total entrants	Number entering	Percentage of total entrants	Number entering	Percentage of total entrants
(1) Apprenticeship or learner ship to skilled occupations				1,910	6·5	1,997	6·3	1,779	5·1
(2) Employment leading to recognised professional qualifications	…	…	…	328	1·1	288	0·9	285	0·8
(3) Clerical employment			…	10,044	33·9	10,457	33·1	10,976	31·1
(4) Employment with train lasting at least 1 year covered in (1) to (3) above			…	—*		3,990	12·6	3,170	9·0
(5) Other employment			…	17,309	58·5	14,905	47·1	19,017	54·0
Total	…	…	…	29,591		31,637		35,227
*Included in class 5 before January, 1961.

asked the Minister of Labour how many boys and girls in Scotland started apprenticeships during 1962; what were the skilled crafts in which they started; and what were the numbers in each of the skilled crafts.

Fourteen thousand and seventy-seven boys and 1,779 girls. The figures are not analysed by craft.

asked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has made of the number of apprenticeships which will become available in Scotland during the five years from 1963.

Few firms have estimated their requirements for apprentices for five years ahead. The making of estimates of this kind will be an essential part of the work of the Industrial Training Boards proposed in the White Paper on Industrial Training (Cmnd. 1892).

asked the Minister of Labour how many boys and girls are unemployed in the Aberavon division; and how many have been unemployed for six weeks or more.

On 10th June, 146 boys and girls were unemployed in the Port Talbot Youth Employment Office area, which covers the greater part of the Aberavon division. An analysis by duration of unemployment is not available for June. At mid-April, out of 228 boys and

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether he will make a further statement on the possibility of seconding selected Foreign Service officers to university courses on economic and business subjects.

The Foreign Office would like to second selected officers to such short university courses on economic and business subjects as are of value for the purposes of the Foreign Service. Shortage of manpower is, however, a difficulty at present. Selected Foreign Service officers already attend the Administrative Staff College.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in view of the changes now taking place in technical education, what plans he has for relinquishing his responsibility for agricultural colleges; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Education and I have agreed that administrative responsibility for the agricultural colleges in England and Wales should be transferred to the Minister of Education on 1st April, 1964. I am confident that this change will help the planning of agricultural education as a whole and will be in the interests of the agricultural colleges themselves and of the industry.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the cost of materials and of wages and salaries, respectively, in the narcotic experiments on wood pigeons so far conducted by his Department; and how many are directly employed in this work.

This work formed a small part of the normal duties of the scientific and other staff (twelve in all)

Blackcurrants in England and Wales (1)
Year		Total Acreage	Output (thousand tons)	Of which		Percentage of output not sold on contract	Average price per lb. (2)
				Quantity sold on contract (thousand tons)	Quantity not sold on contract (thousand tons)		On contract		Not on contract
							s.	d.	s.	d.
1953	…	12,966	20·0	8·8	11·2	56	0	7	0	9
1954	…	11,383	15·4	1·2	8·2	53	0	8	0	11
1955	…	10,440	18·3	10 ·6	7·7	42	1	0	1	2
1956	…	10,436	10·7	7·5	3·2	30	1	4	1	8
1957	…	11,477	14·3	11·5	2·8	20	1	4	1	10
1958	…	12,347	20·9	16·6	4·3	21	1	6	1	9
1959	…	12,901	15·9	13·7	2·2	14	1	6	1	8
1960	…	13,691	19·6	16·3	3·3	17	1	6	1	8
1961	…	14,215	19·3	18·0	1·3	7	1	6	1	9
1962 (provisional)		15,384	21·3	19·0	2·3	11	1	5	1	8
Notes:
(1) All figures are subject to a margin of error.
(2) These prices are estimated average prices per lb. at the farm-gate.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science, in view of the admitted inaccuracy of the information he gave to the honourable Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme on the subject of geological research, what special steps he is taking to ensure that in future the information on research supplied to and by his Department is in every respect correct

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table in the Official Report giving for each of the last 10 years, the total acreage of blackcurrants grown in England and Wales, the total estimated crop of blackcurrants grown in England and Wales, the average price per pound of blackcurrants sold on contract, the average price per pound of blackcurrants not sold on contract, and the percentage of the total crop not sold on contract.

The following table gives the information required:

As I explained to the hon. Member in my letter of the 28th June, the inaccuracy arose from a slip in drafting the Answer and not from the supply of incorrect information. I have already apologised for my mistake to the hon. Member and to the House in my reply to the Question he asked on 25th June.

asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science if he will make a statement about the Report of the Committee appointed by the Minister for Science in April 1960, under the chairmanship of Sir Alan Wilson, to consider the problem of noise.

This Report was published yesterday, when my noble Friend made the following statement in another place:

Report on the Problem of Noise

The Government are most grateful to Sir Alan Wilsonand his colleagues for their thorough and illuminating examination of the many aspects of this problem. The Government recognise that the prevention of noise is an important factor in the preservation of amenity in our environment, and welcome the Report as a major contribution to public understanding of the problem and of ways to mitigate it. The whole subject is clearly one of interest and concern to the Government, although much of the responsibility for mitigating the problem lies with local authorities, industry, members of the professions and the public. They have, therefore, already given preliminary study to the recommendations in the Report.

The Report places particular emphasis on noise from motor vehicles and aircraft. As the House will remember, the Committee presented an Interim Report last summer on noise from motor vehicles, recommending the fixing of statutory limits. My right honourable friend the Minister of Transport proposes to give effect to nearly all these recommendations in new regulations, which he has recently circulated in draft for comment to the organisations concerned. These regulations would lay down maximum permissible noise levels for motor vehicles when used on the roads. They would also prescribe the instruments to be used for roadside tests and specify the conditions under which such tests must be carried out.

As regards aircraft, my right honourable friend the Minister of Aviation will maintain the present strict control over movement and activity of aircraft in and near airports and will continue to support research into ways of reducing aircraft noise at source and to investigate other aspects of the problem. In this way, he aims at keeping the amount of aircraft noise to a minimum consistent with the needs of increasing air travel. My right honourable friends the Ministers of Education and Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland will seek to ensure that new schools and hospitals in the close vicinity of airports are designed to minimise noise inside the buildings and will continue to seek to reduce noise in existing buildings. The Government are, however, unable to accept the Committee's recommendation that grants should be paid towards the cost of soundproofing private houses near Heathrow. The Government are not satisfied that the situation at Heathrow justifies this recommendation. They believe it would be impossible to limit such grants to houses near airports and difficult, if not impossible, to distribute them within clearly defined categories of houses and in a manner which was fair both to the recipients and the rest of the community, who would have to meet the substantial cost.

The Government have decided to accept a number of the recommendations relating to the need for additional research, for improved methods of disseminating information about the results of research and for making industry and the public aware of the need to avoid making unnecessary noise. My right hon. friends and I are already implementing some of these recommendations and are considering how the others should be implemented. For example, the Medical Research Councl and the National Physical Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are co-operating in a joint project, sponsored by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, to survey the effects of industrial noise on the hearing of workers by means of mobile laboratories whch will visit factories of various types.

The Report contains a large number of recommendations covering other aspects of the problem of noise. In so far as they come within the direct responsibility of the Government, they will be dealt with by individual Minsters. Other recommendations will be discussed with local authorities and others concerned. Some require legislation. The Government cannot take a decision on these before consultation. This will be undertaken as soon as possible.

asked the First Secretary of State if he will give the figures of political disorders or incidents and the number of people fatally injured in these incidents in the past six months in Northern Rhodesia.

In the absence of the First Secretary of State, I have been asked to reply.Between 1st January and 25th June there were 1,257 incidents with some political implication. The bulk of these, however, were of a comparatively minor nature. Incidents of a serious and clearly political nature amounted to 108. Twenty persons have lost their lives as a direct result of political disturbances, and seven more in incidents which may have had a political origin.The Government of Northern Rhodesia announced on 25th June the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to ascertain the causes of unrest in the urban areas of the Western Province and to recommend the means of bringing this unrest to an end.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what consultations took place with the Government of Kenya before British troops were despatched from Kenya to Swaziland.

The Governor of Kenya was consulted and raised no objection.

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give details of his proposals to increase the flow of immigrants into the United Kingdom from Malta.

At the request of the Government of Malta, I put them in touch with a recently retired official of the Ministry of Labour whom they are now employing to assist in finding jobs for Maltese in Britain within the framework of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act.

asked the Minister of Defence what recent reassurances have been given by Her Majesty's Government to the United States Administration as to improvements in British security arrangements for defence matters common to both countries.

None: neither have any been asked for. Close liaison is maintained with the United States Authorities in these matters.

asked the Minister of Health what plans he has to bring into use the new ward now ready at Cashes Green Hospital, Stroud.

One of the two upgraded wards is in use now and the other should be fully so by the end of September.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance how many men and women who were diagnosed to be suffering from pneumoconiosis died of unrelated causes, including coronary thrombosis; and if he will give a table of cases for the past five years.

I regret that, for reasons which I am explaining in a letter I am writing to the hon. Member, this information is not available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the total floor area of new buildings for the manufacturing industry completed in the London and south-eastern region and the northern region, respectively, in each of the periods 1945–49 inclusive, 1950–54 inclusive, 1955–59 inclusive, and since 1960.

The figures are as follows:

New factories and extensions, for manufacturing INDUSTRY, GIVEN LOCATION APPROVAL FROM 1ST JANUAKY, 1945
	Area: thousand sq. ft.
Period	Completed in Period
	London and South Eastern Region	Northern Region
1945–1949	3,031	11,262
1950–1954	19,559	13,436
1955–1959	36,884	15,164
1960–30th September, 1962*	17,663	8,903
* Information on schemes completed after 30th September, 1962 is not yet fully available.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the total floor area of new buildings for manufacturing industry authorised in the London and south-eastern region and the northern region, respectively, in each of the periods 1945–49 inclusive, 1950–54 inclusive, 1955–59 inclusive, and since 1960.

The figures are as follows:

New factories and extensions, for manufacturing INDUSTRY, GIVEN LOCATION APPROVAL from 1st January, 1945 to 31st May, 1963
	Area: thousand sq. ft.
Period	Approved in Period
	London and South Eastern Region	Northern Region
1945–1949	19,105	21,924
1950–1954	38,401	13,824
1955–1959	61,189	19,118
1960–31st May, 1963	24,781	12,809
Notes:
1 Schemes for replacement of buildings destroyed by fire or enemy action are excluded prior to July, 1948.
2 Industrial building approved from 1st January, 1959, follows the definition of manufacturing laid down in the revised"Standard Industrial. Classification, 1958".

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the quantity and value of solid fuel burning appliances exported by the United Kingdom annually, together with similar figures for oil-fired appliances and equipment.

Information is not available in the precise form requested by my hon. Friend, but I will write to him as soon as possible giving what details are available.

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what specific arrangements are made inviting scientists to apply for posts in the administrative class in Government service; how many have done so; and how many administrative posts have been filled by scientists in the past 12 months.

The Civil Service Commissioners have made it clear in all their dealings with the universities that science students are welcome as candidates for the administrative class. Twenty-six candidates with science degrees entered the administrative class competition in 1962 and 18 in 1963. Three were successful and appointed in 1962. The 1963 competition is still proceeding, but so far two scientists have been declared successful.

asked the Minister of Power what estimate he has made of the number and value of the following equipment installed in the United Kingdom in the past year, with comparable figures for the past four years, namely, oil-fired boilers, warm air heating equipment and convector heating both employing petroleum products.

The information required to form such an estimate is not available.