the Judges [by Act]; to lie upon the Table.

TERRITORIAL AND RESERVE FORCES ACT, 1907.

Copies presented, of Three Orders in Council, dated 19th March, 1908, viz.: (1) For the transfer of the Yeomanry and Volunteers to the Territorial Force; (2) Relating to the Property of the Honourable Artillery Company; (3) Applying certain Enactments relating to the Militia, Yeomanry, or Volunteers to the Territorial Force [by Act]; to lie upon the Table.

NAVY ESTIMATES, 1907-8 (PROGRAMME OF SHIPBUILDING, REPAIRS, MAINTENANCE, ETC.).

Copy presented, of Statement showing the propable effect on the Programme due to Re-appropriation of cash, provision, etc. [by Command]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed." (No. 108.)

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE OBSERVATORY.

Copy presented, of Reports of the Astronomer to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for the years 1906 and 1907 [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.

ARMY.

Copy presented, of General Annual Report on the British Army for the year ending 30th September 1907 [by Command; to lie upon the Table.

TREATY SERIES (No. 7, 1908). Copy presented, of Convention between the United Kingdom and France respecting Commercial relations between Erance and Barbados. Signed at London 9th January 1907. Ratifications exchanged at London, 18th March 1908 [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.

PANAMA CANAL (BRITISH WEST
INDIAN LABOUR).

Copy presented, of Despatches from His Majesty's Minister at Panama, respecting the employment of British West Indian Labour in the Panama Canal zone [by Command]; to lie upon the Table. TESTAMENTARY BEQUESTS (FOREIGN COUNTRIES).

Address for "Return showing the limitations imposed by Law upon Testamentary Bequests in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the United States of America."-(Mr Holt).

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CIRCULATED WITH THE VOTES.

Customs Port Clerks Class.

MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham): To ask the Secretary to the Treasury how many vacancies have occurred on the port clerks class in the Customs Department during the past eight years; how many of these vacancies have been filled by promotions from the new class of assistant clerks in the Statistical Office, and how many by men not in the service; what is the number of new class assistant clerks employed in the Statistical Office, and how many of these are eligible for promotion to port clerkships; how many clerks class; and what is the total vacancies, at present exist on the port number of promotions to grade made from the new class of assisa superior tant clerks in the Statistical Office during the past ten years.

(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) The information asked for in the Question is as follows:

(1) Number of vacancies for port clerkships in the past eight

- 237

2*

220

(b) Men not in the service Number of assistant clerks (new class) in the Statistical Office 150 Number qualified so far as regards length of service for promotion to port clerkships

64

15

2*

(Answered by Sir William Robson.) The Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal have made a rule dealing with the point raised in this Question as follows:-For the purpose of Section 16 of the Act proceedings at the trial shall mean the evidence and any objections taken in the course thereof, any statement made by the prisoner, the summing up and sentence of the Judge of the Court of trial, but unless otherwise ordered by such Judge shall not include any part of the speeches of counsel or solicitor. This rule awaits the approval of the Lord Chancellor. I believe the Lord Chancellor will arrange for the appointment of expert shorthand writers.

Indian Fever and Opium.

MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs): To ask the Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the fact that the mortality from fever in India is so greatly in excess of that occasioned by other diseases, and of the fact that opium is a recognised specific, and an absolute necessity to certain races and tribes of Indians, for the treatment of this disease, he will, in arrangements that are made for reducing the cultivation of opium, safeguard the supply of sufficient quantities for use for medicinal purposes.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) I have no doubt that in any further regula tions which the Government of India may make for the restriction of the opium habit in India, the special circum stances of particular tribes or races, necessitating a supply of the drug for medicinal purposes, will receive due consideration.

Indian Imperial Education Service. MR. HART-DAVIES (Hackney, N.): To ask the Secretary of State for India whether, in filling up vacancies in the Imperial Education Service of India, he will take into consideration the claims of Indian graduates who have dis

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) As I have stated before in reply to similar Questions, the conditions of the Indian Educational Service are fixed with a view to the position of officers serving away from their own country. They are therefore not appropriate in the case of natives of India, with a view to whose recruitment, on the other hand, the conditions, of the Provincial Educational Service are adjusted.

War Office Land at Cloch Point. MR. DUNDAS WHITE (Dumbartonshire): To ask the Secretary for Scotland if he can say what is now taken as the annual value for rating the land near Cloch Point, which was purchased by the War Office for £13,050 in 1905 and resod for £10,000 in 1907; or, if it is not entered in the valuation roll as a separate subject, by what amount the annual value as stated in the valuation roll of the subject in which it is now included has been increased in consequence of its inclusion.

(Answered by Mr. Sinclair.) The subject in question is entered in the valuation roll separately at the annual value of £20.

Gambling in Brewery Stock.

MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the depreciation on the London Stock Exchange in the prices of brewery and other allied stocks; whether he is aware that this has affected insurance and other large public companies with money invested, likewise causing losses to investors; and whether, seeing that the gambling agencies' transactions causing this depreciation have been based on the financial aspects of the Licensing Bill,. the Government proposes to take any measures to restrain such gambling and bear operations in the London and other British stock exchanges, with a view of protecting bona-fide investors.

(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The hon. Member is probably right in his conjecture that recent market fluctuations in the class of securities to which he

refers have been to some extent due to speculative manipulation, but the matter does not appear to me to be one which could with advantage be dealt with by legislation.

Irish Land Purchase Finance. MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether there is any good reason for restricting the benefit conferred by Section 10 of last year's Finance Act to loan capital merely; whether the hardship which that section was intended to remedy equally exists in the case of the consolidation of share capital; and whether he will consider the propriety of extending the benefit of the section to share capital also.

(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The case referred to is presumably that in which loan capital is issued for the purpose of the conversion of existing share capital. I cannot agree that in such a case any hardship arises through a charge for loan capital duty being made at 2s. 6d. per cent. This duty is practically in substitution for the stamp duty which would be payable on a mortgage for the same purpose, which duty in the case in question would be at 2s. 6d., not 6d. per cent.

able to discontinue the fees for insurance on which the safety of the system of conclusive registration depends, or to consider the question of reducing them until after further experience of the working of the system.

Irish Land Deeds-Stamp Duties. MR. T. M. HEALY: To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the stamp duties payable on the registration of a deed under The Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891, are considerably higher than those charged in the old registering of deeds, with the result that for certain classes of con veyances, such as family deeds or settlements, the new procedure instead of being cheaper is considerably more expensive than the old; whether, in the case of large holdings, the registry fees in the local registry run to £3 or £4 as against the fixed fee of 10s. 6d. in the old registry of deeds; and whether he will represent to the proper authorities that a maximum fee should be fixed in the local registry somewhat approximating to the fee in the registry of deeds.

(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) Stamp duty is regulated by the Stamp Acts, and is, therefore, necessarily the same in the registry of titles and the registry of deeds. On the other hand the fees payable in the registry of deeds are regulated by 2 and 3 Will. 4, c. 87 (Schedule B), and depend on the length of the memorial, the number of grantors, and the number of denominations affected; whereas the fees payable in the registry of titles depend on the value of the land or charge affected by Section 8 of the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891. proper comparison can accordingly be made between the two sets of fees, but it may be pointed out that the minimum fee in both offices is 8s., while there is no It is the maximum fee in either office.

Νο

fact that the more valuable the land the higher the fees in the registry of titles, but it should be remembered that registration in that office gives a conclusive title, which is not the case in the registry of deeds. Also in the registration of charges in the registry of titles there is not the expense of a memorial, nor is any special fee allowed to the solicitor for the registration in that office. It follows