LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE EAST INDIA (CONTAGIOUS DISEASES). INSURANCE COMPANY BILL. [H.L.] [STAMP DUTIES.] Resolution reported— Against State Regulation: From London; to lie upon the Table. HABITUAL INEBRIATES BILL. That it is expedient to authorise the imposition of the following stamp duties upon certain memorials under any Act of the present Session relating to the Liverpool and London and the Table. Globe Insurance Company, viz., For and upon the first memorial enrolled of the names of persons who shall be deemed held and taken to be trustees of the company, the sum of five pounds, and upon every other such memorial in which the name of any person shall for the first time be inserted as a trustee of the company, the sum of five pounds." Resolution agreed to. Ordered, That it be an Instruction to the Committee on the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company Bill [H.L.], that they have power to make provision therein pursuant to the said Resolution. LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT (1894) AMENDMENT BILL. In favour: From the British Medical Association; to lie upon the Table. LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS ON SUNDAY BILL. FOREIGN JURISDICTION ACT, 1890. In favour: From Goonbell, Newburn, the 19th May, 1898, regulating the Morpeth, Clayton-le-Moors, Battersea, coinage of the British East Africa ProWirksworth, Bamber Bridge, Vauxhall, tectorate [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. Diss, Wymondham, East Dereham (2), Saint Day, Mount Horam, Chacewater, Admington, Crosscoombes, Hull, and Navenby; to lie upon the Table. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT ACTS, 1844 TO 1886. Copy presented of Order in Council of the 19th, May, 1898, extending to the Republic of Hayti the provisions of the Order in Council of 7th March, 1898, which gives effect to the Additional Act to the Berne Convention respecting Copyright [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ACT, 1878, LOCAL AUTHORITIES (ENGLAND AND AND WEIGHTS AND MEASURES (METRIC SYSTEM) ACT, 1897. Copy presented of two Orders in Counc.l of the 19th May, 1898; (i.) approving new denominations of Metric Standards, and (ii) making a Table of Metric Equivalents in substitution for the Table in Part I. of the Third Schedule to the Weights and Measures Act, 1878 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. TRADE REPORTS (ANNUAL SERIES). Copies presented of Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Annual Series, Nos. 2107, 2113, and 2114 [by command]; to lie upon the Table. WALES) (TECHNICAL EDUCATION). Return ordered, "showing the extent to which, and the manner in which, local authorities in England, Wales, and Ireland have applied, or are applying, funds to the purposes of technical education (including science, art, technical, and manual instruction) during the years 1896-7 and 1897-8 under the following Acts: Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890; Technical Instruction Acts, 1889 and 1891: Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889; and Public Libraries Acts." Sir John Gorst.) NEW BILL. EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) (GENERAL Copies presented of General Reports by the chief inspectors of the Western and of the Southern Divisions of Scotland for the year 1897 [by command]; to lie upon the Table. WAITRESSES BILL. "To amend the law relating to the employment of waitresses in restaurants, ordered to be brought in by Mr. Kemp, Mr. Drage, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. McKenna, Mr. Davitt, and Mr. Pym; presented accordingly, and read the first time; to be read a second time upon Thursday next, and to be printed. [Bill 244.] BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (AGRICUL- Copy presented of Agricultural Returns for Great Britain, with Statistics for the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries for 1897 [by command]; to lie upon the Table. QUEENSLAND IMMIGRATION. Address for "Return relating to Immigration into Queensland, the mortality in the Colony, and the return to their native islands of Polynesian Islanders during the years 1886 to 1897, inclusive (in same form and in continuation of Parliamentary Paper No. 148 of Session 1895)." (Mr. John Ellis.) QUESTIONS. TELEGRAPHIC DELAYS IN CORK. MR. SMITH-BARRY (Hunts., Huntingdon): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that serious complaints have been made as to the delays to telegrams received at the Cork office; is he aware that Press telegrams frequently occupy from two to three hours in transmission between the Central Telegraph Office in London and Cork, and that on the 18th ultimo a Press message reporting the proceedings of the House of Commons was handed in in London at 6.5 p.m. addressed to the Cork papers, to which it was not delivered until past 9 p.m.; also that a short message of sporting news handed in at Hamilton on the same day at 6.55 p.m. was not delivered to the Cork Constitution until 9.42 p.m.; whether the bulk of the delay complained of takes place within the Cork office itself; whether he will cause a Return to be prepared showing the time at which each message was received after 6 p.m. in the Cork office, and the time at which it was sent to the delivery room, and the time at which it was despatched by messenger to the addressee, such Return to apply to all the messages received during the week ended 21st ultimo; whether he is aware that there is an unusual proportion of learners, pail and unpaid, in the Cork office; and, whether he will cause steps to be taken to reduce the delays on telegrams in the Cork office, and to provide a staff adequate to deal with the telegraphic work promptly and efficiently? THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY, Preston): Complaints such as those to which the right honourable Member refers have been made; and Press telegrams do, in the case of long messages, sometimes occupy from two to three hours in transmission between London and Cork. The delay sustained by the two messages to which the right honourable Member more particularly refers was to some extent caused by the great pressure which existed on the 18th ultimo. It does not appear that the bulk of the delay takes place in the Cork office, and there is not an unusual proportion of learners in that office; it appears, however, that the force of the office requires strengthening, and proposals on the subject are under consideration. In the meantime, authority has been given for some addition to the staff. It is not possible to prepare the Return as suggested, but the Postmaster General has obtained particulars of the time occupied in dealing with messages in the Cork office, and he will cause such steps to be taken as may be possible to prevent avoidable delay. It must be remembered, however, that, in the case of Press messages, the Department is called on to do so much that it would not be reasonable to expect that they should be disposed of in anything like the same time as ordinary messages. Mr. Smith-Barry. INLAND REVENUE RETIREMENTS. MR. HAZELL (Leicester): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the proposed enforced retirement before the age of 65 of about 20 inspectors and surveyors of taxes and other officers of the Inland Revenue; whether he is aware that many of these gentlemen are perfectly fit to perform their duties, and desire to continue to do so until they reach the age of 65; whether this enforced retirement is intended to facilitate the promotion of younger men; and whether, as this arrangement will increase the cost by £12,000 during the current year, and ultimately and permanently by £36,000 a year, he could state the advantage to the public anticipated from this procedure? MR. HANBURY: I understand that the Board of Inland Revenue have fixed the age for retirement for all officers of their Department at 63 during the current year, and in subsequent years at 62. They are aware that some of their officers are still fit to perform their duties at 62, or even at 65, but they must be guided in this matter by a general rule, and looking to the Department as a whole, they consider that the new rule will have the effect of materially increas ing the general efficiency of the Service. I do not understand how the honourable Member's estimate of the cost of this The result arrangement is arrived at. will no doubt be to increase the charge for superannuation, but this will be largely counterbalanced during the cur rent year by a saving on the charge for salaries. The net increase will not exceed £2,000 in the current year; and this increase in connection with a salary list amounting to more than a million a year does not seem an excessive price to pay for the increased efficiency of the Service. HERRING BRAND FEES. SIR W. WEDDERBURN (Banffshire): I beg to ask the Lord Advocate what total amount was received last year o account of herring brand fees, and how much surplus out of that amount will be available for expenditure by the Scottish Fishery Board upon fishery harbours. and whether the Secretary for Scotland | the new cordon, which has so far been will favourably consider the great need attended with great success. for such harbours when Scotland's equivalent grant for the £750,000 per annum given to Ireland is received? THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire): The total amount received last year from brand fees was £3,594, none of which, however, will be available for harbours, as the estimated cost of collecting the brand fees exceeded the amount received. In allocating the grant referred to fishery interests will receive consideration along with others. MR. DILLON: Will the right honourable Gentleman kindly answer the last paragraph of the Question? Did Colonel Chermside threaten that if his proposal were not accepted he would let loose the Turkish garrison? MR. CURZON: I did answer that. I said the statement of Colonel Chermside was that if the Christian chiefs did not approve the new arrangement, the status quo ante which had been in existence for a year would be reverted to. THE CORDON AT CANDIA. MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.): I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the cordon round Candia has recently been extended, and the regular Turkish troops allowed to occupy positions in advance of those previously occupied by them; whether this has been done in spite of the protests of the Christian chiefs; and whether Sir H. Chermside has addressed a letter to the Christian chiefs in which he states that, in the event of the new arrangements not being accepted, the English troops would retire behind the walls of Candia, and that the two elements of the population would be free to occupy the positions which each judges agreeable to its interests; the Turks shall be at liberty to employ auxiliary forces? THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. CURZON, Lancs., Southport): I answered the first Question on Monday. The extension of the cordon was not effected in spite of the protests of the Christian chiefs, but after having been fully explained to them. A misunderstanding subsequently took place, the chiefs being under the impression that the new cordon extended much beyond its actual limits. They then protested against it, whereupon Sir Herbert Chermside offered if they disapproved of the new arrangement, which had been devised in the common interest, to revert to the status quo ante. The misapprehension having been removed, the chiefs have sent a written acceptance of MR. CURZON: From the reports received of this incident it appears that the man arrested was not Mr. Evans' servant, but a muleteer, whom Mr. Evans had induced, contrary to the regulations, and notwithstanding his reluctance, to accompany him into Candia without a permit. The man was detained by the Governor at the police office for his own safety, and not in prison, and was eventually handed over to Sir H. Chermside, and by him sent back beyond the outposts, as he was found to have been ar employee of the Sitia Government at the time of the massacre of Mussulmans there in 1897. Sir H. Chermside did not, so far as we are aware, make the statement mentioned in the Question. He said that the Turkish Governor was not under his orders, and that his province was to ensure the co-operation of the local government in preventing disorder. |