§ Mr. DUNCAN MILLARasked the Comptroller of the Household, as representing the National Health Insurance Commissioners, whether, in allocating the mileage grants for medical practitioners in Scotland for the current year, the pre-war basis of allocation will be adhered to; and whether he can give an assurance that there will be no alteration meantime in the present system of allocation of the grants?
§ Sir EDWIN CORNWALLThe mileage grants for insurance practitioners practising in sparsely populated areas in Great Britain have always been distributed between England, Scotland, and Wales on a basis of allocation determined in 1913. That basis, has been adhered to for the current year, an increased grant for war conditions having been made available, as in 1917, for distribution by means of a uniform percentage addition to the doctors concerned—i.e., 42 per cent. in England, 42 per cent. in Scotland, and 42 per cent. in Wales.
810W
QUANTITY OF HOPS IMPORTED in the years 1907–1914, inclusive. Country from which Consigned. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. Foreign Countries— Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Austria-Hungary 2,987 1,625 7,987 2,843 816 9,556 1,114 71 Belgium 15,065 9,989 4,355 11,658 38,394 35,958 23,087 6,092 Denmark — — 2 — — 95 — — France 730 643 202 323 415 1,156 1,139 1,054 Germany 52,362 69,002 45,730 52,879 26,016 73,399 31,110 9,485 Mexico — — 764 — 6,190 164 676 — Netherlands 1,821 1,213 651 599 732 119 1,446 36 Norway — — — — — 1 2 — Russia 3 13 38 314 157 804 236 — Sweden — — — 2 6 — 4 2 Switzerland 112 — — — — — — — United States of America 126,142 190,987 77,978 88,326 88,315 95,664 187,229 79,860 Foreign Countries—Total 199,222 273,472 137,707 156,944 161,041 216,916 246,043 96,600 British Possessions— Australia 5 166 369 103 92 396 104 108 Canada 2,684 6,025 2,072 17,940 7,596 25,274 14,196 239 Natal — — — — — 2 — — New Zealand 413 263 629 1,794 455 1,295 1,841 359 British Possessions—Total 3,102 6,454 3,070 19,837 8,143 26,967 16,141 706 Total 202,324 279,926 140,777 176,781 169,184 243,883 262,184 97,306 In addition, a small grant has been obtained for both years for:
- (a) Rural districts not hitherto within the "sparsely populated" definition, but in which there is considerable travelling outside the 3-mile limit.
- (b) Extra payments under the scale for treatment of temporary residents.
- (c) Extra payments under the scale for treatment of discharged soldiers.
In the case of this extra grant, as in the case of an extra grant obtained in 1915 for Scotland only, no question of the reapportionment of the original grant arises by the provision of the additional sum, in view of its purpose to meet circumstances other than those for which the original mileage grant was provided.