asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies, in considering the operation of loans granted under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts to Bailey, Malta, Ltd., what information he has, for the year ended 31st March, 1964, regarding the amount of the company's net profit or loss, as the case may be, after provision has been made for the payment of £150,000 as managing agents' fee, £200,000 to the Leased Assets Reserve, £200,000 for depreciation, and £30,000 as rent to the Admiralty under the terms of the lease.

The accounts for the year ending 31st March, 1964, are not yet ready. The company cannot complete its accounts for the year ending 31st March 1963, until C. H. Bailey Ltd. provide certain information which the company has sought from them. The issue of loans within the approved total for the development of the dockyard does not depend on the profit or loss at a given time.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies if he is aware of the ambiguity of the question to be put by referendum to the Maltese people and, in view of his decision to be guided by the referendum if it is fair and free, what information he has as to whether its wording will be open to prior amendment by the Maltese Parliament.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies what steps he is taking to ensure that the referendum in Malta is conducted on a fair basis, particularly as regards facilities for broadcasting and the holding of political meetings.

I have no responsibility for the conduct of the referendum or for the choice of the question to be put to the electors. I shall, however, do my best to assess from the results the wishes of the Maltese people. As I have already told the House, in order to assist me I propose to appoint observers to advise as to whether the referendum was held under conditions which were fair and free.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies what advance has been made in providing a satisfactory airport for the Gambia.

The British Government provided a special grant of £146,000 in 1963 for the reconstruction of the runway. Work was completed during the period April-June, 1963.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies how many family planning clinics are established in Mauritius which give instruction in birth-control techniques involving contraceptives.

One.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies what assistance Her Majesty's Government are giving to Fiji for relief measures after the recent floods.

The Fiji Government have opened a flood disaster fund to which the British Government have made a contribution of £7,500. In view of the urgency, this amount was issued from the Civil Contingencies Fund, and will be repaid in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and for the Colonies if he will approach the Government of Antigua and ask whether they wish the enlarged Admiralty jurisdiction conferred upon the High Court of the United Kingdom by the Administration of Justice Act, 1956, and the terms of the Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act, 1958, respectively, to be extended to Antigua by Orders in Council.

The Administrator of Antigua is being consulted and I will write to the hon. and learned Member as soon as his reply is received.

asked the Minister of Aviation if he will give the total cost of the Bloodhound missile and separate figures for Mark I and Mark II.

It would not be in the public interest to give this information.

asked the Minister of Education if he is aware that Gateshead has a considerable number of Roman Catholic parents who are compelled to send their children on long journeys to obtain their grammar school education in other towns, and that the local authorities' proposals for the Old Durham Road Grammar-Technical School would obviate the necessity for these long journeys and would complete the authorities' reorganisation of secondary education; on how many occasions proposals have been submitted by the local authority for the inclusion of this project in the local authority buliding programme; on what dates they were submitted; and if it is intended to include this school in the 1965–68 programme.

A proposal for a Roman Catholic grammar school in Gateshead has been among those submitted by the Authority for consideration for major building programmes on ten occasions since 1951. I am well aware of the circumstances, but places are available for the Roman Catholic children in county schools in Gateshead, and in direct grant schools, independent and aided schools in neighbouring areas. I have not therefore been able to include this project in the school building programme from 1965–67 in preference to other well justified projects in Gateshead and elsewhere in the country. Two other new Roman Catholic secondary schools have been included in the Gates-head authority's programmes since 1961.

asked the Minister of Health if he has received the detailed proposals of the Board of Governors for the subsequent stages of the rebuilding of St. Thomas' Hospital, S.E.; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. The board's proposals include a revision of the outline design displayed in 1959 and are under consideration. If the proposed revision is acceptable in principle, I will arrange for it to be displayed to the House.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many housemaster grade posts there are in approved schools under voluntary management; and how many such posts are at present unfilled.

On 1st April there were 228 such posts, 48 of which were unfilled.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what were the amounts spent in interest charges by the county borough of Gateshead for each of the years 1950 to 1963.

The figures^* which of course are cumulative are as follows:

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what information he has concerning the amount of land acquired by local authorities and by stated authorities; in what years such acquisitions took place; for what purposes the land was acquired; and what were the actual moneys paid and the average price per acre of land for each stated transaction.

Such information as is available is insufficiently comprehensive to be of any value for the purpose suggested.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the amount of land taken over by the county borough of West Ham for housing, schools and other public purposes in the year 1951–52, and in each subsequent year to date; what were the total costs involved for each of these years; and what was the average price paid per acre of land for each year, respectively.

I regret I do not have the information asked for.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the average cost of interest charges per week for each council house in 1951 and in 1963, respectively, for the county borough of West Ham.

I do not have this information.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he is aware that local authorities in England and Wales who build houses to let do so for those in most urgent need, the majority of whom cannot afford to purchase, and that production of council dwellings has decreased from a total of 202,835 in 1953 to 97,015 in 1963; and what further action he proposes to take to reverse this trend.

Local authorities in England and Wales now own over 3½ million dwellings—a quarter of the total housing stock. This is 50 per cent. more than in 1953. They therefore have available—assuming only a 2½ per cent. turnover—about 90,000 dwellings for reletting. In addition the Government are giving every encouragement to local authorities with urgent problems of slum clearance and other needs to build more houses and to share in the rising programme of housebuilding.

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what proposals he has for special financial help to those areas where the slum clearance and rehousing problem is particularly serious.

As I told the hon. Member for Oldham, East (Mr. Mapp) on 24th March, I have not yet completed the review of housing subsidies which I am undertaking in consultation with the local authorities. In the meantime I have no evidence that local authorities cannot continue building under present arrangements and still let their houses at rents within the means of their tenants, so long as they adopt rent policies that channel subsidies to those most in need.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development what information he has about the indices of tonnages and average f.o.b. prices per ton of, respectively, iron and steel tubes, pipes and fittings, exported from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy for the years 1953 to 1962, on the basis of 1953 equals 100, of steel plates from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and of cold reduced sheets from the same countries.

Details of exports of iron and steel tubes, pipes and fittings, were given to the hon. Member on 3rd March. Information about steel plates and cold reduced sheets is not available in exactly the form requested, but I am writing to the hon. Member giving him certain figures which I hope will be helpful.

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance whether he will recommend the introduction of legislation to amend the trade dispute disqualification embodied in Section 13 of the National Insurance Act, 1946, to ensure that workers temporarily unemployed against their will, as a consequence of a trade dispute to which their own trade union is not a party, cannot be deprived of their entitlement to National Insurance unemployment benefits.

No. I have explained in a letter to my hon. Friend why it would not be feasible to amend the trade dispute disqualification in the way he suggests.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what schemes to improve the marketing of farm produce have been put into operation following the grant of £1½ million introduced in 1962 for that purpose; and how many of these schemes related to Aberdeenshire.

Since the inception of the Market Development Scheme, 117 proposals involving grant of approximately £525,000 have been approved in respect of projects throughout the United Kingdom. The proposals cover a wide variety of projects for the promotion of efficient marketing. Three of the approved proposals relate to Aberdeenshire, the amount of grant involved being approximately £9,800. Two of these projects are concerned with the marketing of cattle and the other with the marketing of potatoes.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many grants for improvements under the Horticultural Improvement Scheme have been approved in Aberdeenshire; and what was their value.

By 31st March, 1964, nine applications for grant had been approved in Aberdeenshire at an estimated cost of £4,050.