being in Italian Somaliland, the Italian Government were requested to co-operate with the British Government in expelling him. EARL PERCY: It is quite true that later on the Mullah was in Italian territory; but at the beginning he was in British territory. MR. BRYN ROBERTS: Shall we have an official history of this war also? The Macedonian Gendarmerie. MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any, and if so what, number has been fixed for the European commissioned officers of gendarmerie who are to act in the vilayets of Macedonia; whether any non-commissioned officers are to be appointed; what is the size of the whole area for which the officers are to be appointed; what powers have been secured to these European officers of exercising control and giving orders without interference by Turkish authorities; how many British officers are to be sent to Macedonia; and what area has been specially allotted to them. EARL PERCY: No definite number of officers has been fixed. Twenty-five commissioned officers will be employed in the first instance and have already proceeded to Salonica. The Powers have insisted on the right of General Giorgis to raise the number to sixty, in addition to a smaller number of non-commissioned officers if their services are required. The area covered by the re-organisation scheme is approximately 19,350 square miles. The European officers will not be subject to the orders of anyone but the Italian General, and any attempt to interfere with them in the exercise of the powers necessary for the effective discharge of their duties would compel the Powers to reconsider their demands in regard to the position of these officers. A reservation to this effect was made by the AustroHungarian and Russian Ambassadors. Five British officers have been sent out and will be employed in the Sandjak of Drama. MR. BRYCE: Will these officers have full powers of giving orders that must be practices are carried on with the cognisance of and under the supervision of Government officials, he will give instructions to the officials to report such proceedings to their superior officers and to the public prosecutor. THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY (Mr. VICTOR CAVENDISH, Derbyshire, W.): The primary duty of revenue officials is to see that there is no fraud upon the revenue. It is not possible for them in the execution of that duty to safeguard the consumer, who has his own remedy and is other wise protected against fraud or misdescription of goods sold to him. I have already explained that any attempt on the part of the Inland Revenue authorities to regulate the trade description of goods in bond would be useless because they have no means of enforcing a similar regulation after the goods have passed out of bond. It would be misleading to create an impression that the fact of goods being dutiable is equivalent to a Government guarantee of their quality. MR. MACVEAGH: What I want to know is whether it is a fact that these frauds are perpetrated under the supervision of Government officials, and whether these are the officials who are asked to report upon the matter. MR. VICTOR CAVENDISH: I have every reason to believe that the Customs House officers carry out their duties in 3 proper manner. Court; and what action he proposes to take in the matter. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERSDOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's): I have inquired into this case and find no ground for action on my part. The offence charged was the failure to have the child vaccinated within six months of his birth. The medical certificate produced did not relate to that period; and no exemption had been asked for. The father did not appear in answer to the charge. The magistrate was ready to take a lenient view of the case in accordance with his usual practice if he could have received any assurance of readiness on the part of the defendant to comply with the requirements of the law; but there was no doubt that the offence had been committed and the penalty incurred. MR. CROOKS: Will the right hon. Gentleman be good enough to make further inquiry and see if the certificate does not show that the child was suffering from rickets and debility? [No answer was returned.] Vagrants in Hyde Park. MR. COGHILL (Stoke-upon-Trent): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, having regard to the complaints that have been made with reference to the use made of Hyde Park by persons of the habitual vagrant class, he intends to propose any legislation this session for giving the Anti-Vaccination Prosecution at Thames police further powers than they now Police Court. MR. CROOKS (Woolwich): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of a man, named Ward, who was summoned at the Thames Police Court for non-compliance with the Vaccination Act, on the 5th April, and to the fact that, after he had produced a doctor's certificate as to the child's unfitness for vaccination, the man was fined, the magistrate deciding against the man because he would not pledge himself to have the child vaccinated when it recovered, and afterwards declined to state a case for the High possess to deal with such persons. MR. AKERS-DOUGLAS: This is a matter for the First Commissioner of Works rather than for myself and I understand that it is under his immediate consideration with a view to providing some remedy for the existing state of things. Railway Level Crossing at Halbeath. MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty): On behalf of the hon. Member for West Fifeshire, I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the railway level crossing at Halbeath Station, Fifeshire, is a the particulars asked for as regards the source of danger to the public; and, other local authorities referred to in the seeing that it is on the main line and Question. numerous express trains pass over it daily, will he consider the advisability of communicating with the North British Railway Company with a view to suitable protection being provided. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD or TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central) There is no record of any accident having occurred at the level crossing in question within the past twenty-five years and the crossing is not one in regard to which the Board of Trade have any statutory powers. I have, however, communicated with the railway company on the subject of the hon. Member's Question and am informed by them that the crossing is provided with gates interlocked from the signal cabin and these gates are invariably closed in good time to prevent the possibility of anyone using the crossing in such a way as to be endangered by an approaching train. It is added that there is a foot-bridge at the station so that no passenger need use the level crossing to go from one platform to another. Cost of Small-Pox Outbreak. MR. COGHILL: I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can state what has been the total or approximate cost to the different local bodies of the outbreak of small-pox in 1903 in London and the metropolitan district and in the rest of England and Wales respectively. THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG, Bristol, S.): There was no epidemic small pox in London in the year 1903, the previous outbreak having in effect come to an end by Michaelmas, 1902. The expenditure of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in the year to Michaelmas, 1902, in respect of the removal, care, and treatment of patients consequent upon the epidemic is estimated at £132,381. This is in addition to a capital expenditure of about £492.000 for accommodation and transport facilities, which are practically still available. I am not in a position to give Pauper Aliens. MR. MCKENNA (Monmouthshire, N.): I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he can state the number of aliens who have become chargeable to the common funds of the Poor Law unions of the United Kingdom for each year during the last ten years; the proportion which such pauper aliens bear to the whole alien population of the United Kingdom; and the proportion which pauper British subjects bear to the whole British population of the United Kingdom. MR. WALTER LONG: I obtained last year some information as regards aliens in England and Wales in receipt of relief on the 1st July, 1903, but I am not in possession of the particulars desired as regards the previous years. The number of aliens relieved on the 1st July, 1903, was 1,753, or '79 per cent. of the alien population according to the last census. The paupers of all classes in receipt of relief on that date were 2-4 per cent. of the estimated population. These figures only relate to England and Wales. As regards Scotland and Ireland, the matter is one for the Scottish and Irish Departments. Motors in Hyde Park. MR. BULL (Hammersmith): On behalf of the hon. Member for North Islington I beg to ask the hon. Member for Chorley, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he is aware that in some of the roads in Hyde Park motorsare not allowed, but that such roads are only indicated by a regulation in small type on a general notice board; and whether to avoid constant mistakes by motorists coming for the first time to the park, he will cause conspicuous notice boards to be placed at each end of these prohibited roads stating clearly that motors are not allowed. *MR. SCOTT DICKSON: The information asked for in the first part of the hon. Member's Question is contained in Command Paper 1970 (pages 172-173). Iam not in a position to give the information asked for in the second part. Lloyd's Estate, King's County. MR. REDDY (King's County, Birr): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that the farm on the estate of J. J. Lloyd, of Glouster, near Shinrone, King's County, formerly in the possession of Amos J. Doolan, has been purchased by the agent of the property under the Land Purchase Act of last year, and that since the eviction of Doolan this farm has been let on the eleven months' system; and, if so, will he say on what date did this agent become tenant, and on what terms as to rent and tenure; whether he is aware that the Estates Commissioners received an application for re-instatement from Amos J. Doolan; and, if so, will he state the result of this application, and did the Estates Commissioners communicate with the evicted tenant and this agent before sanctioning the sale, and will he supply a copy of the correspondence. THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRE LAND (Mr. WYNDHAM, Dover): No application has yet been made to the Commissioners for the sale of this estate; but an application for re-instatement in his former holding has been received from Amos Palmer. I am unable to say, at present, whether he is identical with the ex-tenant named in the Question. I am making further inquiry, however, on this and other matters. Instruction in the Irish Language. MR. THOMAS O'DONNELL (Kerry, W.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the National Board will sanction the MR. WEIR: I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland if he will state how many teachers are employed in the Highland payment of qualified pensioned teachers crofting counties, and how many retiring to teach Irish outside ordinary school teachers other than old parochial teachers have been granted pensions by School Boards since the passing of the Elementary Teachers Act of 1898. + See (4) Debates, cxxxi., 1257. hours. MR. WYNDHAM: The Commissioners inform me that Article 179 of their Code prohibits an ex-national school teacher who is in receipt of a retiring gratuity or pension from being readmitted to the quence of epidemic; and, if so, whether service of the Board. Irish Legislation. MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland when he proposes to introduce the measure dealing with the housing of the working classes in towns in Ireland, promised last session. MR. WYNDHAM: I am unable to name a day until I see what progress is made with other Irish measures. It is, in my opinion, necessary to pass the Land Bill and Labourers Bill, a Bill for transferring certain savings in the Supreme Court to the Development Grant, and a Departmental Bill rendered obligatory by the scheme for reducing the police force. I undertook to consider the question of housing in towns in addition to the labourers question. The result of consideration convinced me that the latter ought to have priority, but it is doubtful whether any substantial advance can be made in respect of the former at a time when it is impossible either to extend the period of repayment of loans or to lower the interest upon them. the teacher's salary is liable to be reduced in consequence of such closing. MR. WYNDHAM: A medical officer of health may recommend the closing of a school on the ground stated. The published regulations of the Commissioners expressly provide that in such circum. stances a teacher's salary shall not be liable to reduction, except in cases where a school is closed for a very prolonged period. Salary without abatement may be paid for four consecutive quarters. An epidemic would hardly continue for more than a year. Cusack Estate, County Longford. MR. J. P. FARRELL (Longford, N.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the present position of the sale proceedings of Cusack Estate, county Longford; whether he is now able to give a Return showing the names of intending purchasers of this estate, and how many of same are evicted tenants or the sons of former evicted tenants on this property. affairs in respect of this estate has not MR. WYNDHAM: The position of altered, so far as I am aware, since I replied to the hon. Member's previous Question of the 3rd March.† The solicitor having carriage of the sale has been communicated with, however, and if the Question is repeated on Monday next I may be in a position to give further information. Drummeel Bog. County Longford. MR. J. P. FARRELL: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in view of the fact that the Estates Commissioners are bound to become public trustees for large tracts of bog sold under the Act of 1903 which are not in direct occupation of tenants, will he say if any application has been made to them to assume this position in connection with the Drummeel, county Longford, bog on the Granard Estate. been necessary to enable the CommisMR. WYNDHAM: Local inquiry has sioners to identify the particular bog-land + See (4) Debates, cxxxi., 69. |