HOUSES (EXCLUSION OF CHILDREN) (SCOTLAND) BILL. Dock (forty-three); Stapleford; Staveley; | PUBLIC shire; Stocksfield; Stoke Newington Petition from Chryston, in favour; Tonbridge; RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC. BANKRUPTCY ACT, 1883 (PROCEEDINGS). ceipts and Expenditure on account of Account presented, showing the ReBankruptcy Proceedings during the year ended 31st March, 1908 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 124.] Tongue; Torpoint (two); Tow Law; Tregaron; Tremar Coombe; Trevelmond; Trisant; Troon; Turnchapel; Turvey; Two Mills; Tynemouth; Uddingston (three); Upper End; Upper Holloway; Upper Parkstone; Upper Weston; Veryan; Warrington; Warsash (two); Weaster: Wellfield; Wem; West Cramlington; Westgate; West Kirby ; West Looe; Westminster; West Woodburn; Whitehall; Whitehill; COMPANIES (WINDING-UP) ACT, 1890. Whiting Bay; Whitley Bay (two); Whixall; Wick; Widdington; Wigan; and Expenditure on account of ProceedAccount presented, showing Receipts Wilmslow; Wishaw; Woodborough ; Woodseats; Worcester; Worksop (three); Yardley Hastings (two); Yeadon (two); Yealmpton; York; and Ystradmeurig; to lie upon the Table. LICENSING BILL AND ĮLIQUOR TRAFFIC (LOCAL OPTION) (SCOTLAND) BILL. Petition from Coatbridge, in favour; to lie upon the Table. LIQUOR TRAFFIC (LOCAL OPTION) (SCOTLAND) BILL. ings during the year ended 31st March, ARKLOW HARBOUR. Copy presented, of Report of the Arklow Harbour Commissioners and Statement of Accounts for 1907 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. EVICTED TENANTS (IRELAND) ACT, 1907. Copy presented, of Regulations made by the Treasury under The Evicted April, 1908 [by Act]; to lie upon the Tenants (Ireland) Act, 1907, dated 14th Table. Petitions in favour: From Aberdeen (two); Airth; Bainsford; Bridgeton (two); Buckie; Chryston; Coatbridge (two); Dalmellington; Falkirk (three); SHERIFF COURTS (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1907Girvan; Glasgow (six); Govanhill; Greenock (two); Jamestown; Kilsyth ; Ladybank: Lochwinnoch ; Lauder; Copy presented, of Act of Sederunt anent Procedure Procedure in Appeals, under Rothesay; St. Kiaran; Stirling; and Sections 5 and 30 of The Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act, 1907 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. Uddingston; to lie upon the Table. during the month of May, 1907 [by Com- | Power, and Armaments, reduced to one mand]; to lie upon the Table. common scale (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 184, of Session 1907)." (Sir Charles Dilke.) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CIRCULATED WITH THE VOTES. Adulterated Calf Meal. MR. HALPIN (Clare, W.): To ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) whether he can state the number of samples of calf meal the inspectors have analysed for the six. months ending 1st March, 1908, and the number of samples that were adulterated; and whether the inspectors have taken proceedings against those who sold the adulterated stuff. (Answered by Mr. T. W. Russell.) The Department have analysed, during the period mentioned, thirteen samples of meals sold in Ireland for calf-rearing purposes. This period does not, however, include the season when such materials are in general use. The Department have most serious grounds of complaint that proprietary meals are often in very bad condition, and even when of the guaranteed composition, though they cannot strictly be regarded as adulterated, they are generally most unsuitable for calf-rearing purposes, and in every respect too expensive as compared with the materials recommended by the Department. In many cases the proprietary calf-meals are not sufficiently nutritious, with the result that when calves are fed on them they become sickly, and in some instances have died. In two instances in County Kerry, where after most careful inquiry the Department had every reason to believe that the use of protoid milk substitute, sold by the Protoid Company, of Liverpool, had actually caused the death of calves, they advised the purchasers to sue the company for damages. The purchasers took steps to do so, but the Department were subsequently informed that, owing to the death of the agent who sold the meal, the proceedings. would have had to be taken in Liverpool, a course the farmers were not prepared to adopt. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) It is not considered to be in the interests of the public service to give to the whole world the detailed information required by the Question, but I shall be happy to show my hon. friend, or any other hon. Member, the details confidentially. Alleged Frauds on Irish Farmers. and each subsequent year, including the MR. VINCENT KENNEDY (Cavan, provision made in the current financial W.): To ask the Vice-President of year; and what was the average sun the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) voted and staff allowed for the three whether it has been brought to his notice years prior to the South African War. that a man named Thomas James Turner, trading as Canning Russell and Company, of 40 to 48, Charterhouse Street, London, has for some time past been obtaining considerable consignments of farm products on credit from poor Irish farmers all over Ireland; is he aware that, in the course of certain legal proceedings against Canning Russell and Company, it was ascertained by Mr. H. S. A. Foy, of Bush Lane House, Cannon Street, solicitor for a judgment creditor in Ireland, that large numbers of Irish producers had never been paid for the goods they had supplied which had been disposed of in London by this man Turner; and, seeing that a large number of Irish farmers are being and have been victimised, will he take steps to safeguard the interests of Irish agriculturists and members of co-operative societies against the continuance of this firm's misrepresentations. Education of Army Officers. MR. BELLAIRS: To ask the Secretary of State for War whether there has been a satisfactory improvement recorded. in the Reports on the examinations for promotion of officers in the Regular Army since the 1904 Report, circulated by General Hutchison, commented on a regrettable feature of the examination being that a large number of candidates spelt badly and were unable to express themselves clearly, so being unable to impart instruction of any value to noncommissioned officers and men in one of the most important duties of rendering he can state if there has been a marked improvement since 1904, when the Report stated that the results could only be described as indifferent. (Answered by Mr. T. W. Russell.) One complaint respecting the firm mentioned was recently received, from which it reports, and in regard to military engineerappeared that legal proceedings for non-ing, tactics, and topography; and whether payment of debts had been more than once instituted against the firm. Mr. Foy's name was not mentioned in the communication sent to the Department. With regard to the last part of the Question, publicity would seem to be the best safeguard against people in business, whether farmers or traders, being taken in by misrepresentations such as referred to. It would not be practicable for the Department to advise Irish traders and farmers as to the financial stability of firms with which they may open accounts. The usual channels for information of this kind, such as Stubbs, are open to them, and, as a rule, are consulted by traders and by farmers, and by farmers' co-operative societies before opening new accounts. Army Maps. are MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis): To ask the Secretary of State for War what sums of money were spent and what staff allowed for the provision of maps (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) There has been a steady and marked improvement in the matters referred to in the hon. Member's Question since 1901. Expenditure per Man on the Territorial COLONEL R. WILLIAMS (Dorsetshire, (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane) Irish Land Purchase Finance. MR. BUTCHER (Cambridge University): To ask the First Lord of the Treasury, with reference to the Report of the Departmental Committee on Irish. Land Purchase Finance, will the evidence taken by the Committee be laid before Parliament, and, if so, how soon will copies of it be obtainable; under the proposal in Paragraph 103 of the Report. would the landlord receive an amount of guaranteed 2 per cent. stock which, if sold at 92 per cent. or any higher percentage of its face value, would produce the amount of his purchasemoney in cash; and, if the market price of the stock were below 92 per cent. and the landlord had to sell a portion of it, for instance, to pay off mortgages and other superior interests, would the landlord have to sacrifice purchase-money to an amount equivalent to the difference between 92 per cent. and the lower market price which he might have to accept for any stock sold by him. (Answered by Mr. Asquith.) A good deal of the evidence taken by the Committee was given on the understanding that it would be treated as confidential, and it would not be to the public interest to publish it. The interpretation placed by the hon. Member on the recommendation made in Paragraph 103 of the Report appears to me to be correct, but there would, of course, if that recommendation Iwere adopted, be no obligation upon the landlord to exercise the option of being paid in stock if he regarded it as not to his interest to do so, Local Authorities and the Explosives Act. SIR F. BANBURY (City of London): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the resolution of the Association of Municipal Corporations passed at their annual meeting held at the Guildhall on 18th March last, to the effect that in the interests of public safety it was urgently necessary that the Explosives Act, 1875, should be amended, with a view to affording greater facilities to local authorities for exercising proper control; and whether he proposes taking any action in the matter, having regard to the rider attached to the verdict of the coroner's jury, to a similar effect, in the recent inquiry into the fatal explosion which occurred in the City of London on 1st January last. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I have received a copy of the resolution referred to by the hon. Member. I hope as soon as the pressure of business admits of it, to appoint a small committee to consider the question of the suggested amendment of the Explosives Act, and other similar questions. The number of accidents is happily small. Licensed Houses in Nottingham. MR. RICHARDSON (Nottingham, S): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state how many licensed houses (off licences and onlicences) there are in the city of Nottingham, and how many transfers have taken place during the last ten years.. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The Licensing Statistics show that on 1st January, 1907, the last date for which exact figures are available, there were 579 on-licences in the city of Nottingham and 468 off-licences; total, 1,047. I have no information as to the number of transfers of licences which have taken place in Nottingham in the last ten years. Removal of Manure from Foreign Animals MR. ROBINSON (Brecknock): To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, if he is aware that manure from the sheds at Avonmouth where the Canadian cattle are housed on landing. is railed away to different parts of the country; and, seeing that this practice is calculated to counteract the value of the restrictive regulations in force with regard to the importation of live cattle, whether the Board will put a stop to the practice. (Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) Manure is not allowed under any circumstances to be removed from a foreign animals wharf until all the animals carried in the vessel from which it is taken have been passed as healthy, and until it has been disinfected to the satisaction of an inspector of the Board. If the inspector considers that the manure may introduce disease it would be destroyed or otherwise dealt with in accordance with instructions given by the Board. We see no necessity for any amendment of the orders on the subject. Army Certificates in Lieu of Examination for Postal Sorters. Το CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.) : ask the Postmaster-General if he can see his way to allow as an equivalent to a civil service examination qualification, MR. RICHARDSON: To ask the in the case of ex-soldiers applying for Secretary of State for the Home Depart-positions in the Sorting Department, ment if he will supply to the Parliamen- Post Office, a first-class Army certificate tary representative of South Nottingham for education and exemplary conduct. a list of the names of the licence-holders in the city of Nottingham, and the length of time that each has held his present licence. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The information desired by the hon Member will, I think, so far as it is available at all, be found in the register of licences required by Section 36 of the Licensing Act, 1872, to be kept by the clerk to the licensing justices. The statute provides that the register is open on the payment of a shilling to be inspected and copied by any ratepayer, and I am afraid I must refer the hon. has already been arranged to accept a (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) It first-class Army certificate in lieu of the qualifying examination for postmen, and also as evidence of the educational fitness of soldiers who have acquired skill in such a craft as telegraphy. But I do not see my way to go beyond this; and soldiers who possess no such special qualifications must compete in the ordinary way for sorterships or other Post Office appointments recruited by a competitive examination. I may add that concessions as regards age are made to ex-soldiers who are desirous of entering |