be contrary to the intention of the Act' MR. GLADSTONE: I believe that is of 1904. When the interest earned is so. 1 insufficient to meet the charges on the funds, the deficiency is made good by Vote of Parliament. An Estimate has just been presented to the House of the sums required to meet the deficiencies incurred in 1906. MR. GEORGE FABER: Is it not the fact that the depreciation of these securities amounts to an immense sum? MR. ASQUITH: The hon. Member can raise the matter on the Estimates, for, as I have already said, there is power to make good the deficiencies of the year out of money provided by Parliament. MR. GEORGE FABER: But the total deficiency-not the deficiency of the year? MR. BYLES (Salford, N.) asked when the Government would give facilities for the consideration of the Spurious Sports Bill. MR. GLADSTONE: That is a question for the Prime Minister. AN HON. MEMBER: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the country of the Berks and Bucks Hunt six stags have been killed since November 26th last? MR. GLADSTONE: I am not aware of that. Hackney Carriage Table of Distances. *MR. REES: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department MR. ASQUITH: Ah! That is another whether he will consider the propriety of matter. Berks and Bucks Stag Hunt. MR. MARNHAM (Surrey, Chertsey): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a stag hunt in which members of the Berks and Bucks issuing a new table of distances for hackney carriages in lieu of the obsolete publication of 15th May, 1896, a copy of which, exhibited at the Palace of Westminster, omits to give the distance to more than one railway terminus in London. MR. GLADSTONE: A revised Table Hunt took part on Thursday 28th ultimo, will be prepared for the place which the when a stag, bleeding from cuts, was hon. Member mentions. chased into the village of Windlesham, | Surrey, where it sank down from exhaus- Alleged Electoral Intimidation at Rye. tion and was ultimately strangled by the villagers who attempted to drag it by rope to a stable near by; and whether he will consider the matter of introducing such legislation as will put a stop to the hunting of carted animals. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADSTONE, Leeds, W.): I have made inquiry, and am informed that the animal, when recaptured, was accidentally strangled in its struggles to escape. It was bleeding only from a slight scratch on one hind leg. I think that the hunting of carted stags is open to objection, but to prohibit it would require legislation which I am not prepared to undertake. *MR. REES: Is it not the case that the strangling of the stag was due to the ignorant conduct of the villagers, and not to the huntsman ? MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the police authorities in the Rye Division of Sussex have forwarded to him any Report as to intimidation in that constituency at the last general election; if not, whether such information can be obtained from any other source; and whether he has received any assurances from the Nonconformist electors in the Rye Division that none of them was boycotted or otherwise injured in business as a result of their supporting the Liberal candidate. MR. GLADSTONE: The Chief constable of East Sussex reports in reply to my inquiry that no complaint of intimida. tion in the Rye division has been received by the police. No communication on the subject has reached me from the Nonconformist electors. Ancoats Mill Fire. MR. CLYNES (Manchester, N. E.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has seen a report of the fire on Wednesday last at the mill of Messrs. M'Connell, Ancoats, Manchester, showing that to effect an escape windows were smashed by a large number of frightened women and girls, who, for safety, jumped into the street; and whether he can ascertain if proper and sufficient means of exit, in case of fire, were provided at this mill, on the fourth floor of which many girls were employed. MR. GLADSTONE: I have received a report on the circumstances of this fire. The fire broke out on the fourth floor and the girls employed on that and the two higher floors escaped without difficulty by an emergency exit and down a flight of steps into the yard. Some windows on the ground floor in a different part of the building not affected by the fire were broken by the crowd which had assembled in the street, and five or six girls employed in that part got out through them; this I suppose gave rise to the report referred to in the Question. The mill is provided with sufficient means of exit, to the satisfaction of the local authority and the factory department. Match Factories-Special Rules. MR. ARTHUR HENDERSON (Durham, Barnard Castle): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the special rules for match factories deal with cases in which a worker is in such a state of health as to incur danger from his work; if so, why, in the recent fatal case, a man, stated to have long been known to have the seeds of necrosis in his system, was exposed to phosphorus poisoning, and at what point the dentist had first referred the case to the certifying surgeon; and whether at any time this man was reported by His Majesty's inspector of factories as having the seeds of necrosis in his system. MR. GLADSTONE: Yes, Sir. The rules provide for periodical examination. by the dentist, whose duty it is to suspend the worker whenever he finds danger of necrosis by reason of bad teeth or exposure of the jaw, and moreover to report to the certifying surgeon, if there be inflammation or necrosis of the jaw, or such a state of health as to involve danger of necrosis. As regards the second part of the Question, I perhaps conveyed a wrong impression in the reply I gave to the right hon. Baronet the Member for the Forest of Dean, on on the 26th February. No suspicion of necrosis arose in the case referred to until after the extraction of a tooth on the 19th December last, when the necrosis was found, and the case was at once referred by the dentist to the certifying surgeon. It was the discovery then made, when taken in connection with the history of the fracture of the man's leg, which led to the conclusion that phosphorus had begun to affect his system long before. Payment of Telegraph Messengers. *MR. ESSEX: I beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether the docket (or piece-work) system of payment to telegraph messengers still obtains at any telegraph office; and, if so, in how many. THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar): The system of paying telegraph messengers a docket or piece-work rate of wages with a fixed minimum obtains at about 415 of the larger telegraph offices of the United Kingdom. As a rule it is only at the small offices that a fixed rate of wages is paid. Sunderland Postmen's Christmas MR. SUMMERBELL (Sunderland) : I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he is aware that payment for overtime worked by the postmen of Sunderland during the snowstorm in December has not yet been made; and, if so, will he see to the payment of the same as early as possible, especially in view of the fact that the payment is now over two months overdue. MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: The payment is now being made. Fence Houses Mail Cart Driver's Hours of Duty. MR. SUMMERBELL: I beg to ask the Postmaster General if he is aware of the hours devoted to duty daily by the + See (4) Debates, clxix., 1414. rural mail-car driver of Fence Houses, county Durham, namely, that he has to be up at 4.45 a.m. each morning and be at the call of the post office till 8 p.m., making a daily record of fifteen and a quarter hours, which includes two and three-quarter hours for meals; and, if so, if he will favourably consider the case of such men, with a view to an improve ment in their conditions of labour. MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: If the Question refers, as it apparently does, to the rural postman who drives a cart between Fence Houses and Cox Green the hours of duty given are not correct. The man in question comes on duty for the first time at 6.15 a.m. and goes off duty for the day at 6.20 p.m., and he has intervals of about five hours between those times, so that he has seven hours of actual duty only. MR. SUMMERBELL: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the man has to go to the stable and harness his horse before he starts work? MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: I have communicated all the information I have. If the hon. Member has further information I will inquire into it. New Zealand Mails. MR. FELL (Great Yarmouth): I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if the mail to New Zealand which should have been despatched on Saturday 9th March, via San Francisco, was cancelled, and a mail via the Suez Canal substituted in its place; and, if so, what is the cause of this irregularity in the mail service and how long is it likely to continue. that the hours of the rural postman between Sunderland and Cleadon are from 4.45 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., out of which he has to spend three hours and forty minutes wherever he can at Cleadon, no accommodation being provided for him, and that when he applied for the provision of a shelter, he was asked by the postmaster if he could not make the stable serve him, and further, that he has to pay stable rent out of his own pocket; and, if so, will he undertake to provide a shelter for the man and make an allowance for stable rent. MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: I have called for a Report on this subject and will send the hon. Member an Answer in due course. Cheltenham Teachers' Training College. MR. O'GRADY (Leeds, E.): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to the case of Miss James, a pupilteacher studying at the Thoresby High School, Leeds, who applied for admission to the Teachers' Training College, Cheltenham, a college subsidised from public funds, and who was refused admission on the ground of social status; and, if so, will he give instructions that this college is no longer subsidised from public funds. *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD oF EDUCATION (Mr. MCKENNA, Monmouthshire, N.): I am aware of the incident referred to, but, inasmuch as the action of the Training College authorities was not contrary to the existing regulations, I am not in a position to refuse the grant. I am considering the conditions governing the admission of students to training colleges in connection with the forthcoming regulations, and will bear in mind the case referred to by the hon. Member. MR. O'GRADY: Is it a fact that the MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: No mail for New Zealand via San Francisco was despatched on the 9th instant because of the temporary withdrawal for repairs of the American Contract Packet appointed college is subsidised by public funds, and to leave San Francisco for Auckland on the 21st instant. Correspondence for New Zealand was sent by way of Suez on the 8th instant. I am not aware how soon the repairs to the packet will be completed. Cleadon Rural Postman's Hours of Duty. MR. SUMMERBELL: I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he is aware that want of social status is a bar to admission? *MR. MCKENNA: If the hon. Gentleman is referring to the past, that is so. a fact MR. O'GRADY: Is it not that the college is still subsidised from public funds and that that bar still exists? *MR. MCKENNA That is so at this stantly examining the ruins with that moment. New School Grant. SIR F. BANBURY (City of London): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education upon what principle it is proposed to distribute the grant of £100,000 specially provided for new schools. MR. MCKENNA: I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave yesterday to the hon. Member for the Oswestry Division of Shropshire.† Welsh Education Department Accounts. MR. VICTOR CAVENDISH (Derbyshire, W.): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education if the new Welsh Department will be subject to the supervision of the Accountant-General of the Board or will have its own AccountantGeneral. MR. MCKENNA: The expenditure of the Welsh Department will continue to be accounted for by the AccountantGeneral of the Board. Holyrood Chapel. MR. MORTON (Sutherland): I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether the ruins of Holyrood Chapel have been and are now being protected; and whether he has taken any professional advice on the matter. THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. HARCOURT, Lancashire, Rossendale): Yes, Sir, and I am glad to say that Professor Lethaby, in his recent report on the ruins of Holyrood, added these words as a postscript: "I examined the tops of the walls and the broken pillars and found that they were carefully kept, having been stopped up with cement in a thorough manner. The roof over the south aisle is also very sound and well kept." object. MR. MORTON: Is it intended to keep whether this is intended to apply in the the building in repair? MR. HARCOURT: Certainly. The principal architect in Scotland is con+ See (4) Debates, clxx., 1262. case of Irish hams; and, if so, what steps he intends to take to safeguard the good name of a valuable Irish product, especially in view of the efforts at present being made to open up direct trade between Ireland and Argentina. The following Questions on the same neighbouring countries. The great bulk subject also appeared on the Paper :- of the export trade from the United Kingdom to Servia is covered by the tariff concessions under the treaty recently concluded, a full list of which was published in the Board of Trade Journal last week. MR. COURTHOPE (Sussex, Rye): To ask the President of the Board of Trade what quantity of British hams and bacon were exported to Argentina during 1906. the MR. COURTHOPE: To ask President of the Board of Trade whether the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture have decided to exclude British hams and bacon from Argentina after 15th April, 1907, unless such goods are accompanied by certificates issued by the British sanitary authorities and endorsed by the Argentine Consulates in England; and what action His Majesty's Government propose to take in the matter. Poor-Law Defects. *MR. ESSEX: I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he has taken any steps to deal with the injustices of the Poor-Law system, as promised by him on 4th August, 1906. THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Dr. MACNAMARA, Camberwell, N.): My hon. friend mentioned two matters in the debate on 4th August last, one, the separation of MR. KEARLEY: I will answer these aged couples in workhouses, the other, Questions together. The Argentine the compulsory contribution by children Ministry issued a decree in October to the maintenance of their parents in last imposing certain conditions upon the workhouse. As regards the former the imports of hams, bacon, bacon, and point, I may observe that, under the other animal products, in the interests of public health. I understand that the regulations apply to products of any origin, native or foreign. The Board of Trade are fully alive to the matter and the Foreign Office is in communication with the Argentine Government. The quantity of British hams and bacon exported from this country to the Argentine during 1906 was 8166 cwts, valued at £36,520. British Trade with Servia. MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON : I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade what were the amounts of our trade with Servia in 1904, 1905, and 1906; and what is the annual value of our exports upon which tariff concessions have been granted in the treaty just concluded between Servia and this country. MR. KEARLEY: There were no direct imports from Servia into the United Kingdom in the years mentioned. The recorded exports from the United Kingdom to Servia amounted in value to £59,637 in 1904 ; to £52,971 in 1905; and to £61,724 in 1906; but there is reason to believe that these figures understate the facts, as some exports ultimately intended for Servia are declared as sent to foreign firms in Austria and certain present law, a married couple above sixty years of age in a workhouse are entitled to live together, and that, if either of them is above that age, they may be allowed to live together. As regards the other point, the subject of the contributions to the maintenance of paupers by their relatives is, I believe, engaging the attention of the Royal Commission on the Poor Law. I may add that my hon. friend is mistaken in thinking my right hon. friend the President made any promise on the occasion to which he refers. My right hon. friend did not take part in the debate. *MR. ESSEX: The promise was made in the "Aye" lobby. LORD R. CECIL (Marylebone, E.): Is it intended to postpone dealing with this question until the Report of the PoorLaw Commission has been received? DR. MACNAMARA: That Question had better be addressed to my right hon. friend. London County Council Indoor Pauper MR. BROOKE (Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley): I beg to ask the President of the Local Government |