on promotion; one technical instruction (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) inspector, £155 on promotion from post The annual volumes of Licensing Statisof junior inspector to that of inspector tics (see, for instance, page 5 of the of technical instruction. One agricul- volume for 1907), show that a total sum tural inspector, £29 on promotion from of £2,301,583 4s. 10d. was paid in compost of junior inspector to that of agri- pensation for licences extinguished in cultural inspector. the years 1905, 1906, and 1907, and that, of the money which was paid in the years 1906 and 1907, a total sum of £241,004 9s. 3d. went to licence holders, and £1,947,343 19s. 8d. to other parties interested. I am unable to give figures distinguishing between licence holders who were tenants and those who were not, or between tied" and other houses. The Ameer of Afghanistan and the Anglo Russian Convention. MAJOR ANSTRUTHER-GRAY (St. Andrews Burghs): To ask the Secretary of State for India, whether His Majesty's Government has now received the views of the Ameer of Afghanistan with regard to the Anglo-Russian Convention of August 1907; and whether he has signified his assent to the Afghan clauses of that treaty. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) The Answer is in the negative. Kilpatrick Cemetery. MR. DUNDAS WHITE (Dumbartonshire) : To ask the Secretary for Scotland whether the Old Kilpatrick Parish Council has recently had to purchase land for a cemetery; and, if so, when was the purchase effected, what was the area of the land, what was the annual value of it as entered in the valuation roll, and what was the price which the parish council had to pay for it. (Answered by Mr. Sinclair.) I am informed that the parish council resolved to make the purchase on 24th March. The area is 9 acres. There is no entry in the valuation roll showing the value of this subject per acre, but it is believed to be about £2 5s. The price agreed upon was £460 per acre. Licensing Compensation. MR. W. T. WILSON (Lancashire, Westhoughton): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state the total amount of compensation paid for the licences that were extinguished in the years 1905, 1906, and 1907; the amount paid to licence holders who were also the tenants; the amount paid as compensation to the owners of tied houses; and the amount paid to the tenants of those houses, and to other parties interested in them. 66 MR. CLOUGH (Yorkshire, W.R., Skipton): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state how many licensed houses in the petty sessional divisions of East Staincliffe, West Staincliffe, Ewecross, and Bolton by Bowland, in the West Riding, have been closed under the Licensing Act, 1904; what amount was paid for compensation in respect of each house; what proportion of the money went to the owner of the house and to the tenant respectively; and what is the ratio of public-houses to population and the density of population in each of those areas. In (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The annual volumes of Licensing Statistics show that no licences were refused subject to compensation in any of the districts named in 1905 or 1906. 1907, five alehouse licences in the East Staincliffe district were so refused, and four were paid for and closed before the termination of the year, the total amount of compensation being £3,651, of which a total sum of £550, or 15.06 per cent., was paid to licensees, leaving £3,101 for other parties. I am unable to give figures for individual houses. In the Ewecross division in 1907 one alehouse licence was refused and paid for, the amount of compensation being £826, of which the licensee was awarded £82 12s., or 10 per cent. (Licensing Statistics, 1907, page 91). Pages 68 and 69 of the same volume show the numbers of onlicences on 1st January, 1907, and the population and acreage (according to the Census of 1901) in these petty sessional divisions, from which the following | Owing to the nature of the case all such per acre. assistance must be only of temporary Persons utility. The Department cannot at present render immediate assistance at Courtown, as the steam crane which was formerly used there is engaged elsewhere, but they will communicate with the county council and see if any relief of the situation can be arranged for. ratios result : ·09 • 28 ⚫06 Clubs struck off the Register. MR. CLOUGH: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will issue forthwith a Return of all clubs where intoxicants were sold that have been struck off the register throughout England and Wales, under the provisions of the Licensing Act, 1902, and showing under which particular provisions of the Act they were struck off the register. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The numbers of clubs struck off the register are shown for every licensing district in the Annual Volumes of Licensing Statistics, Table V., and are summarised in the Introduction. I do not possess the further information asked for in the Question, and, after making inquiry, I find that I could not now obtain the information necessary to make a complete or useful Return. Importation of Carcases of Calves from Holland and Belgium. MR. FIELD: To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that carcases of calves are im ported from Holland and Belgium with the skins on; whether his experts consider it safe to allow this importation from a country where cattle disease exists; and whether he will make inquiries and regulations regarding it. (Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The subject to which my hon. friend refers has been frequently under consideration, but it has not been thought necessary or practicable to place restrictions on the trade in dead meat. The carcases in question seldom, if ever, come in contact with animals, and no outbreak of disease has been circumstantially traced to them. Exchequer and Audit Department Staff. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the members of the old examiner class in the Exchequer and Audit Department at the time of the 1905 reorganisation were informed by the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral that facilities would be given them if they wished to retire, as they could expect to derive no benefit from the then contemplated reorganisation; if so, whether he will explain how the holding out of these facilities and of no prospects of advancement were in the interests of these officials; and whether he will further explain how this procedure can be reconciled with the subsequent promotion of two members of this class. (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) I beg to refer the hon. Member to my replies of 24th June and 6th August last, to which MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary of 28th August last. To that reply I to the Treasury why Messrs. Baker have nothing to add except to express M'Kown, Hunt, Corbet, Adams, and Pool my regret that the forms of the House were recently passed over in making should be used to cast an imputation, promotions in the Exchequer and Audit which I believe to be wholly unfounded, Department; and whether, having regard on an official of so high character and to the discontent caused in departments with so distinguished a record as the generally, and in this department in Assistant Comptroller and Auditor. particular, since the appointment of see no reason for the suggested inquiry. the present Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, by the present system of selection in making promotions, he will endeavour to induce the Government to set up a special Court of Appeal to whom aggrieved Civil servant; may refer their cases when they think heads of Departments have acted vindictively or unjustly towards them. MR. FIELD : To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that Messrs. Knowles, Hurley, and Brown, of the Exchequer and Audit Department, were passed over for promotion on 1st November last, that their principal clerks admitted that they had not been consulted with reference to such promotions from 1st November, 1906, to 1st November, 1907, and that the comparative merits of members of any Department can be known only by the respective chiefs under whom they immediately serve, he will now cause an independent inquiry to be made into the subject of such promotions in the Exchequer and Audit Department. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will explain the system of promotion in the Exchequer and Audit Department under which Messrs. Reynolds, Day, Rainbott, Litten, Borthwick, Cope, Varian, Cato, and Smith have recently been passed over; and, seeing that the passing over of capable and efficient officers causes much unrest amongst these and other members of this Department and militates against its efficiency, and that a reference to the Comptroller and Auditor-General will merely produce a defence of his own action, will he cause independent inquiry to be made, with a view to the securing of an impartial judgment on the subject. (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) For an Answer to these three Questions I must refer the hon. Member to my reply MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the son of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's private secretary failed to pass the preliminary examination for the Second Division, which consisted of three subjects, handwriting, orthography, and simple arithmetic, the examiners being the Civil Service Commissioners; if so, will he say what were the subjects of the educational test this nominated gentleman passed on entering the old Colonial Audit Branch, and who were the examiners; and whether this gentleman has now the option of serving in the newly amalgamated Audit Branch and Exchequer and Audit Department on similar duties to those performed by his open-competition contemporaries, but with nearly twice the salary of any one of them. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in reference to a request for investigation into the casesof men in the Exchequer and Audit Department who have been passed over for promotion, and which involved the mention of their names, he will say if any of these men have spontaneously come forward and expressed disapproval of this request for investigation; and, seeing that the future career of all the men passed over is largely in the hands of their principal clerks, and that the principal clerk of the Fifth Division of the Exchequer and Audit Department sent for certain of these men who work under him and asked them whether they disapproved of this request for investigation, will he say whether it is intended to attach any importance to any expression of disapproval obtained under such circumstances; and whether the MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that the present Comptroller and Auditor-General on his appointment entered into a compact with the Treasury to retire at the age of sixty-five, he will say if the terms of this compact further included the stipulation that he was to act as the nominal head of the Exchequer and Audit Department, and that the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor should be (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) I have nothing to add to the numerous replies already given on this subject. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state the actual hours of attendance of the principal clerk of the Fifth Division in the Exchequer and Audit Department, his actual hours of attendance as secretary to the Royal Almoner, and the annual emoluments he receives for each of those two positions. no (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) This officer, like all other members of the Department, is required to give a daily attendance of seven hours. The scales of pay of principal clerks in the Exchequer and Audit Department are shown in the Parliamentary Estimates. I have information as to the emoluments of the secretary of the Lord High Almoner, which are not provided out of voted moneys, nor as to the attendance required, which, as I have previously informed the hon. Member, is performed outside the regular office hours. Auditing of Irish Public Accounts. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that the present system of auditing the Irish public accounts in London causes duplication of work and waste of public money, and that Ireland loses £10,000 per annum by having this Irish work done in London, he will further consider the advisability of having this Irish work done in Ireland. (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) I have nothing to add to the previous replies which I have given on this question. Wages of Government Workers in Dublin. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, seeing that, with reference to the Report of the Board of Trade on the subject of rents paid and the general cost of living in certain large towns in Great Britain and Ireland as they affect the working classes, the combined figures of rent and prices of commodities being taken as 100 in London, the figures for Dublin are ninetyfour, or only 6 per cent. below London, Dublin Customs have only 21s. a week, the Dublin park workers only 16s. a week, the A. O. D., Dublin, only 20s. a week, whilst the London Customs watchers get 24s. a week, the London park workers 24s. to 26s. a week, and the A. O D.., Woolwich, 23s. a week; and why the wages of Government workers in the London area are from 15 to 33 per cent. higher than those paid in Dublin. of the religious creed of the children was correct. The attention of the Local Government Board was called to the case. They pointed out the effect of the section to which I have referred, but they did not refuse to permit the guardians to bring up the children as Roman Catholics, nor do they propose to interfere in the matter. Public Health Act, 1907-Regulations. (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) Having MR. FIELD: To ask the President of regard to the general level of wages the Local Government Board whether he in Dublin I think that the rates paid is in a position to say when the regulato the several classes of employees tions in connection with the Public referred in the Question are adequate, Health (Regulation of Foods) Act, 1907, and I cannot enter into a comparison will be published. with the rates paid in London. Religious Education of Pauper Children. MR. W. BENN (Tower Hamlets, St. George's): To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been directed to a case which recently came before the board of guardians of St. George's in the East, in which the father of three children admitted to the workhouse desired that they would be brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, that being the faith of their mother and that in which they themselves had been baptised; whether, because the father was described as Church of England on admission, the Local Government Board refused to permit the guardians to bring the children up as Roman Catholics; and whether the guardians would be able, under the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1868, to bring up the children in the faith the father desired. (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) Section 17 of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1868, requires in regard to any child in a workhouse under twelve years of age, that the master of the workhouse shall enter in the creed register as the religious creed of the child the religious (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) The regulations are in an advanced state of preparation, and I hope they will shortly be issued. Inspection of Imported Meat. MR. FIELD: To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the Glasgow veterinary surgeon is of opinion that all meat imported from over seas ought to be presented for examination in such form the previous work of inspection and as would enable inspectors here to revise thus form a fair idea as to the wholeboneless meat or scrap should be entirely someness for human food, and that all excluded; and whether the Government will consider the advisability of appointing and paying such a staff of inspectors. (Answered by Mr. John Burns.) My attention has been called to this Report. I propose that the regulations under the Public Health (Regulations as to Food) Act which I have in preparation should Other matters relating to the wholesomedeal with imported boneless scrap meat. ness of imported meat are receiving my attention, but I do not think that inlast part of the Question would be practicspection of the kind referred to in the able at the present time. creed of the father, if the master knows Drainage of the River Robe. MR. JOHN O'DONNELL: To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware |