MR. JOHN BURNS: According to figures which I have obtained from the Commissioners of Customs the quantity of fresh milk imported into the United Kingdom during the nine weeks ended 1st February, 1908, and during those ended 2nd February, 1907, was. 499 cwts. and 94 cwts. respectively. Samples of imported milk, as of any other milk, may be taken under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts with a view to their being analysed and dealt with under those Acts. Moreover, samples of imported milk are from time to time taken by the officers of Customs and sent to the Government Laboratory under the same Acts. If adulteration is discovered, the cases are reported to the Commissioners, who institute legal proceedings where this seems to them desirable. Further, I am arranging to have some samples of imported milk examined as to bacterial contamination and the presence of dirt.

MR. JESSE COLLINGS: When will the result of the examination be made public?

MR. JOHN BURNS: As soon as it is completed.

Mortality among Manufacturers of Temperance Drinks.

MR. BOTTOMLEY: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will grant a Return showing the relative mortality of persons engaged in the manufacture of ginger beer, lemonade, soda water, and other aerated drinks, as compared with those engaged in breweries and public-houses?

MR. JOHN BURNS: Perhaps I may be allowed to answer this Question. I am afraid I could not assent to the proposed Return. I have communicated with the Registrar-General with regard to it, and I find that his records do not show separately the mortality of persons engaged in the manufacture of aerated drinks. Consequently great labour and expense would be involved in getting the particulars necessary for arriving at this mortality. I may add that the number of persons engaged in the manufacture of aerated drinks is too small to afford a

MR. BOTTOMLEY: Is it not a fact that the right hon. Gentleman has gone to the trouble and expense of giving the comparative mortality of people engaged in the brewery trade, and would it be more costly a proceeding to do the same in regard to people employed in the aërated water trade?

MR. JOHN BURNS: That is a perfectly natural and proper question to put, but the whole of the information to which the hon. Member refers has been for some time in the hands of the RegistrarGeneral. It costs no money to secure, and very little trouble to compile.

MR. BOTTOMLEY: Is it not possible to supplement the Annual Report of the Registrar General with information on this question of mortality?

MR. JOHN BURNS: I shall be pleased to communicate with the Registrar-General on the subject.

MR. CROOKS (Woolwich) asked whether a Return could be got out giving the number of lunatics in proportion to the two trades.

MR. GEORGE FABER (York): Can the right hon. Gentleman give a Return of the number of women engaged in the

manufacture of aërated waters !

MR. JOHN BURNS: I will look into the matter. I shall be very pleased to satisfy hon. Members' curiosity.

Political Organisations in the Post

Office.

MR. STANLEY WILSON: I beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether the publie demonstration of the Civil Servants Socialist Society at Lambeth Baths, on Friday, 27th March, was held with his approval; whether he is aware that a postal servant took the chair, and whether he is aware that the objects of this society are to preach Socialism amongst Civil servants.

THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Pop

meeting to which the hon. Member draws my attention. It was apparently a meeting which the public, and not public, and not merely members of the Service were invited to attend. I have pointed out to the chairman of the meeting, who was a Post Office servant, and to the secretary of the society in question, that when such societies hold or organise public meetings with the object of advancing certain political views among the public in general and not merely among members of the Service, there is an infringement of the Regulations on the part of the members of the Service responsible for such action.

MR. STANLEY WILSON: May I ask whether in view of the privileges which are allowed to Socialists in the Post Office, the right hon. Gentleman will now alter his decision, and either allow equal rights to all political organisations or do away with then entirely?

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON. I am sorry that I have been so singularly unsuccessful in convincing the hon. Member on more than one occasion that I have dealt in exactly the same way and on identically the same lines with all these various Post Office associations.

MR. STANLEY WILSON: Will the right hon. Gentleman appoint a Committee of this House to go into the whole question?

MR. T. F. RICHARDS (Wolverhampton, W.): A Committee of one hundred.

[No Answer was returned.]

Premium Bonds and the Lottery Acts. MR. BOTTOMLEY: I beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether the Post Office authorities have recently intimated to various newspaper publishers that copies of their publications will not be permitted to be sent through the post if containing advertisements offering premium bonds for sale; and, if so, what is the ground for this new regulation.

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: I have been advised that the premium bonds in question, the distinctive feature of which is the distribution of large prizes by ballot, are in the nature of a lottery, and that the transmission through the post

Selby, are of an unsatisfactory character; and whether he will instruct one of His Majesty's Inspectors of schools to report fully on these premises.

seventy-six new council schools to provide accommodation for 22,520 children; and, if so, in how many cases, during 1904, 1905, and 1906, the Board of Education decided that the proposals were unreasonable, and that new schools were unnecessary.

MR. RUNCIMAN: According to the Board's records, the West Riding County Council, between the dates named, issued eighty-six notices under Section 8 (1) of the Act of 1902, ten of which were subsequently for various reasons withdrawn or held in abeyance. The remaining seventy-six related to the provision of accommodation for 22,546 children. No decisions to the effect that the proposals were unreasonable or that the schools were unnecessary were given during the years specified.

Selby Schools.

MR. CLOUGH: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the accommodation of school places in the Wesleyan, Abbey Church, and St. Mary's Roman Catholic Schools, Selby, are 582, 1,023, and 234 respectively, or a total of 1,839, and that the average attendance during 1907 was 439, 673, and 200 respectively, or a total of 1,312; whether this excess of 527 school places is the outcome of denominational proselytising zeal or caused by decaying industries; whether the local education authority is in any way responsible for this excess of accommodation; and whether the Board can suggest any means by which this unnecessary accommodation may be dispensed with, in view of the extra burden thus thrown upon the ratepayers.

MR. RUNCIMAN: The Answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. I have no information as to the second. The local education authority is not in any way responsible for this excess of accommodation. The obligation of the local education authority to maintain existing schools which are not necessary for the school supply of the district can only be removed by legislation.

MR. RUNCIMAN: There has been some criticism of the premises of the Wesleyan School, but I am not aware of any objections to the buildings of the two other schools referred to. His Majesty's Inspector will be asked to report on the premises when next he visits the school.

MR. CLOUGH: Do I understand that the Inspector will confine his attention to the Wesleyan School?

MR. RUNCIMAN: No, Sir. So far as his ordinary duties are concerned he will, of course, inspect the other schools as well. But objections have only been received in respect of the Wesleyan School.

Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster, Schools.

MR. CLOUGH: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the Brodsworth Colliery Company have sunk a pit at Woodlands, Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster, where school places are non-existent; whether the West Riding local education authority have given notice to provide a school for 960 children; and, if so, whether the board have given consent to this proposal; and whether the Board can suggest a cheap method by which the 527 excess school places can be transported from Selby to Woodlands in order to relieve the burden that is about to be thrown upon the ratepayers.

MR. RUNCIMAN: The local education authority gave public notice of their intention to provide a new school for 600, which was subsequently increased to 960, children. The provision of 600 places has been sanctioned by the Board, the statutory period of notice in respect of the remaining 360 has not yet expired and no decision has therefore been given. The Answer to the last part of the Question is in the negative.

Heighington Fen School Attendance Prosecution.

Walsall School Dispute.

MR. RUNCIMAN: The law requires that parents shall cause their children to attend school unless there be reasonable excuse for their non-attendance. It rests with the magistrates to determine what is a reasonable excuse. I am not prepared to initiate legislation conferring on the parent the right of deciding whether the education provided at a particular school is or is not suitable to his children. This would be, in practice, equivalent to the abolition of compulsory school attendance.

MR. LUPTON. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the magistrates in deciding this case expressed sympathy with the defendant and were of opinion that his children were being well educated at home, but by reason of the peculiar by-laws which differ from the general Act they felt it necessary, against their own judgment, to inflict a fine.

MR. RUNCIMAN: That has not been brought to my attention. Of course no local magistrate can be allowed to abrogate the general law.

Medical Inspection in Elementary Schools. MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education if he will lay upon the Table an authorised copy of his recent statement as to the cost of medical inspection in elementary schools.

MR. RUNCIMAN: I think the only point of public interest in the statement to which the hon. Member refers was to the effect that, at a time when the amalgamation of the existing grants is to be undertaken, the Government could not propose a special grant for medical inspection or any increase in Exchequer aid towards the expenses of Local Education Authorities under the Elementary Education Acts in anticipation of the additional sum to be provided in connec

MR. T. F. RICHARDS: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education, whether his attention has been called to the case of a young man named Jellyman, nineteen years of age, and attending Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall, and who it is alleged has been guilty of smoking a cigarette in the precincts of the Walsall Railway station; whether he is aware that the head master offered as a punishment for the affair either a flogging before the whole school or his immediate resignation; and whether he can take such action as will modify such punishment under the circumstances.

MR. RUNCIMAN: From unofficial information which I have received I gather that the Governors of the School investigated the case referred to and decided unanimously to confirm the action of the head master. I further understand that the matter has been placed by the friends of the young man in the hands of lawyers, and I do not therefore propose to initiate any official inquiry into the circumstances of the case.

MR. T. F. RICHARDS: It is not the case that the friends have placed the matter in the hands of solicitors; there fore I ask for an Answer to my Question.

MR. RUNCIMAN: I am afraid that the information I have clashes with that of my hon. friend.

MR. T. F. RICHARDS: My informant is the father, and therefore the statement cannot be denied.

MR. RUNCIMAN: If the hon. Member cares to send further information I will consider it.

MR. LUPTON: Is it a common practice in this school publicly to flog young men of eighteen?

[No Answer was returned.]

Kirkburton Grammar School. MR. CLOUGH: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether the endowment of the foundation