Or, excluding ships in commission | years, coast and port guard ships, the with nucleus crews, and, in previous figures would be as follows :—

recommissioning is as material as a commissioning of a ship which had paid off a month or a year previously into a reserve division (old system) or into dockyard hands. These lists include all classes of ships. Ships employed as tenders have been counted.

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(2.) As it has been assumed that ships placed in full commission may be taken to mean ships "commissioned with full complement," it is assumed that, for the purposes of this reply, "paid off " may be taken to mean ceased to be in commission with full complement." For 1905 and 1906 the numbers (179 and 148) therefore include cases of vessels reduced from full complement to nucleus crew complement, e.g., in 1906 only 101 were, strictly speaking, "paid off," the other forty-seven were reduced to nucleus

crew.

Repairs to H.M.S. "Commonwealth."

MR. ERNEST LAMB (Rochester): To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether H.M.S. "Commonwealth " can be be temporarily repaired at Gibraltar for the purpose of the passage Home, and then sent to Chatham Dockyard for permanent repair.

(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) Arrangements have already been made for the Commonwealth to be temporarily repaired at Gibraltar for passage Home to Devonport Dockyard, that being her manning port, where the permanent repairs will be carried out.

(1.) It is assumed that the list asked for is not intended to include ships commissioned with nucleus crews. In 1905, when the nucleus crew system came into force, there were 234 cases of commissioning, or recommissioning of ships with nucleus crew complement. When a ship with a full complement has been recommissioned with a full complement, the recommissioning has been counted; similarly, the paying off involved in this ask the President of the Board of recommissioning has been counted. Such Trade whether he is aware that the

Railway Combine to Maintain Freight
Rates.

MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick): To

railway companies of the three kingdoms | Infant Mortality and Medical Assistance. are arranging a combination which will MR. MORRELL (Oxfordshire, Henley): practically prevent competition as to To ask the President of the Local rates, and that preferential cheap rates are given to importers and foreign manufacturers at a lower rate than is granted to native producers and manufacturers; whether he is aware that complaints have been made by traders respecting owners' risk rates; and whether he will inquire into those matters.

(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) I am aware that the railway companies have entered into an arrangement to put an end to a practice under which certain agents have allowed, out of the remuneration received from the railway companies, rebates to traders for the purposes of securing traffic. I am now making inquiries as to this matter. The preferential treatment of foreign merchandise over home traffic for the same or similar services is directly prohibited by Statute, but if the hon. Member will furnish me with any specific instances of the infringement of the Law I will have inquiry made into them. I have received complaints with regard to the conditions attached to owners' risk rates. A Bill dealing with the subject is set down for discussion on Friday, 15th March.

Expenditure of the Unemployed Fund on Emigration.

MR. BRIDGEMAN (Shropshire, Oswestry): To ask the President of the Local Government Board how much of the grant of £200,000 for the unemployed has been spent on emigration; how many persons have been assisted to emigrate; and to what parts of the world they have gone.

(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) Only one payment has, up to the present time, been made in aid of emigration out of Parliamentary grant, viz., one of £4,000 made last week to the West Ham Distress Committee. As the payment was so recently made, I am not yet in a position. to give the particulars asked for in the last part of the Question, but I may say that the destination of the persons assisted to emigrate would usually be Canada.

Government Board whether his attention has been called to the statement recently made by Dr. G. Danford Thomas, one of the coroners for London, to the effect that much of the infant mortality is due to the failure to call in medical advice early enough; whether he will issue a circular to boards of guardians advising them to facilitate the calling in of the Poor Law doctor by poor people who cannot pay a doctor themselves; and further advising those boards of guardians which have a rule or practice making the cost of all medical relief a debt in the first instance, and those boards of guardians which require a father (or, if he is dead, the mother) of an infant who is receiving medical relief to appear before the board, to abolish such rule or practice in the case of infants under one year of age.

(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I have not seen the statement attributed to Dr. Danford Thomas. As I have stated on a previous occasion, I have no reason to suppose that guardians are unwilling to afford medical relief for infants whose parents are unable to provide it, nor have I any evidence to show that persons properly entitled to receive relief are deterred from applying for it by the consideration referred to in the Question. It does not at present appear to me to be necessary to send a circular to all boards of guardians as suggested.

Books for Ships' Libraries.

MR. BELLAIRS: To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether all books for ships' libraries in the Royal Navy that are bought from the publishing trade are charged to Class 2, Vote 23, Item I, of the Civil Service Estimates; whether any charges in this respect can be incurred by Navy Estimates; and, if so, under what Vote, and what item of that Vote.

(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) All books for ships' libraries in the Royal Navy that are bought from the publishing trade are charged to Class 2, Vote 23, Item I.

London_County Council Election-The are shown, and what rate of interest is Trafalgar Square Meeting. allowed by the Indian Government on MR. HYDE (Wednesbury): To ask this balance; and whether he will cause the Secretary of State for the Home to be republished for the information of Department whether his attention has those interested the original Governbeen called to the fact that men bearing ment Order of 28th December 1872, hods full of bricks were allowed to enter and the regulation then laid down. Trafalgar Square during the meeting last Saturday; whether it was the duty of the police to have stopped the introduction of such missiles at a public meeting; whether the police had powers to interfere to prevent such introduction; and whether he proposes to take any steps in the matter.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I understand that the bricks were brought as emblems, not as missiles, and I am informed that none were thrown. The circumstances were not deemed to be such as to justify police interference.

Separate Courts for Children's Cases. MR. TOULMIN (Bury, Lancashire): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he can give, to date, the names of those petty sessional courts which have established a separate court for children's cases, and separate hearings only of such cases.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I recently issued a circular asking for information as to how children's cases are dealt with in all petty sessional courts in England and Wales. The replies have nearly all been received, and I hope to be able to lay a complete Return upon the Table in a few days.

Indian Military Service Family Pensions. SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central): To ask the Secretary of State for India whether the sixth quinquennial period under the Indian Military Service Family Pension Regulations ended on 31st March 1903, and why it takes four years for the actuaries employed by the India Office to make a valuation which any insurance company in London would do in six months; what is the assumed rate of interest, and under which actuarial table of mortality is the valuation made, under what head in the Indian Annual Accounts the receipts and disbursements on behalf of the fund and the balance to its credit

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) The sixth quinquennial valuation of the assets and liabilities arising under Indian Military Service Family Pension Regulations will show the position of affairs on the 31st of March, 1903. Detailed accounts and statistics have to be received from India before the necessary data can be prepared for the actuary to the India Office, the rates of mortality of subscribers and beneficiaries and the prospects of marriage of daughters, existing or prospective, have to be reassessed in accordance with the wider experience acquired in every quinquennial period, and new tables constructed thereon. Owing to pressure of other work, the valuation cannot be carried on continuously by the actuary, and the date of its completion is somewhat uncertain. The rate of interest assumed in this valuation is 4 per cent. The receipts and payments are recorded. in the Finance and Revenue Accounts, Service Family Pensions," on pages 206 under "Army, Grant 19, Indian Military and 214 of the last accounts presented. There is no balance, as no fund was created when the Regulations issued. In the pro forma accounts of under these Regulations interest is contributions levied and payments made. credited half-yearly at 4 per cent. The rules have been modified from time to time and are published in Indian Army Regulations, but I have no objection to the republication of the original Government Order, No. 1315, dated the 28th December, 1872.

were

Increased Wages for Labourers in Army

Ordnance Department, Ireland. MR. FIELD: To ask the Secretary of State for War whether the labourers of the Army Ordnance Department, Ireland, are to receive increased wages at the rate of 20s. a week from 1st April next; and, if so, whether he will consider the case of the labourers in the Barrack Department, Army Service