§ Mr. BEALEasked the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to applications for old age pensions at Cumnock, Ayrshire, and elsewhere, in which the applicants are unable to prove their age by reason of the absence of proper records of baptism during the disturbed period preceding the disruption of the Church of Scotland, and in which applicants desiring to supplement their available evidence by the help of Census Returns, were informed by the Local Government Board for Scotland that the Census Returns were not available for consultation by the applicants; and whether the Local Government Board can, and will themselves, consult the Census Returns in such cases, or procure access thereto for the applicants, or can and will otherwise facilitate proof of age where neglect in the keeping of public records puts the applicants to disadvantage?
§ Mr. UREThe Census Returns of 1841 and 1851 are in the custody of the Registrar-General for Scotland and are already made available under the supervision of the Registrar-General and his staff to the Local Government Board in eases of appeal and where other sources of information have failed. There are difficulties in the way of granting additional facilities of inspecting Census documents, but the question will receive further consideration.