Written Answers of 30 April 1946

EMPLOYMENT

  Wales
  Mr. Mainwaring
  asked the Minister of Labour the number of registered females unemployed at the following employment exchanges on 1st April, 1946: Ferndale, Porth, Tonyrefail, Tonypandy and Treorchy, respectively.

  Mr. Isaacs:
  At 11th March, 1946, the latest date for which figures are at present available, the numbers of unemployed insured females, suitable for ordinary employment, on the registers of the employment exchanges in question were as follows: Ferndale 551; Porth 508; Tonyrefail 374; Tonypandy 781; Treorchy 564.

  Mr. Mainwaring
  asked the Minister of Labour how many female unemployed persons have left the employment exchanges at Ferndale, Porth, Tonypandy and Treorchy, respectively, for work elsewhere since 1st January, 1946; and what number have exhausted their statutory benefits in the same period.

  Mr. Isaacs:
  The numbers of unemployed women and girls placed in work in other districts since 1st January are as follows: Ferndale 64; Porth 47; Tonypandy 53; Treorchy 26. I understand from my right hon. Friend the Minister of National Insurance that the numbers of women registered at the exchanges in question who have exhausted their statutory benefits since 1st January, 1946, were: Ferndale 35; Porth 34; Tonypandy 24; Treorchy 49.

  Disabled Persons
  Mr. Warbey
  asked the Minister of Labour how many persons in Luton and Dunstable have registered under the Disabled Persons Act; how many of these were unemployed at the time of registration; and how many of those who were unemployed at the time of registration have subsequently obtained employment.

  Mr. Isaacs:
  The number of persons registered as disabled under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act on the 18th March, 1946, at Luton and Dunstable was 2,539 and 285 respectively. Statistics relating to the second and third parts of the Question are not available, but the number of registered disabled persons un
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  employed at these two offices at the above date was 123 and 14 respectively.

  Mr. Warbey
  asked the Minister of Labour how many persons have registered under the Disabled Persons Act; how many of these were unemployed at the time of registration; and how many of those who were unemployed at the time of registration have subsequently obtained employment.

  Mr. Isaacs:
  The number of persons registered as disabled under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act at the 18th March, 1946, was 402,190. Statistics relating to the second and third parts of the Question are not available, but the number of registered disabled persons unemployed at the above date was 51,816.

BRITISH ARMY

  Wives (Baggage Entitlement)
  Brigadier Low
  asked the Secretary of State for War what arrangements there are to assist foreign born wives of British soldiers to bring with them their luggage and property when they travel from their country of origin to England to join their husbands.

  Mr. Bellenger:
  Foreign born wives of British soldiers are entitled to the same allowance of baggage which may be conveyed at public expense as British born wives. My right hon. Friend gave full details of the scales at present in force in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport (Mr. Peter Freeman) on 19th February, but the whole question of baggage entitlements is under review in the light of postwar requirements.

  Iraq Command (Python)
  Mr. Paget
  asked the Secretary of State for War the period of foreign service for Paiforce; and whether men in Paiforce are being relieved in time to enable them to get home within the period of foreign service.

  Mr. Lawson:
  Paiforce no longer exists as such. Iraq Command is part of M.E.F. where the qualifying period for Python is now three years nine months. Until 1st April, 1946, it was four years, and as I

  3
  stated in my speech on the Army Estimates the process of reduction will be complete by the end of June. So far as I am aware there is no undue delay in the despatch of Python personnel from Iraq.

  In addition to the Python scheme, there is an arrangement under which personnel serving in Iraq are crossposted within M.E.F. after two hot seasons. This crossposting is carried out whenever possible although in the case of certain specialist personnel it has not, unfortunately, always been practicable owing to lack of suitable men of the required types.

  Civilian Lecturers, Woolwich
  Mr. G. Williams
  asked the Secretary of State for War what compensation is paid to prewar civilian lecturers at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, who are now unable to be reinstated.

  Mr. Bellenger:
  When reinstatement is not reasonable and practicable no compensation is payable.

  Quartermasters (Pay)
  Mr. Hollis
  asked the Secretary of State for War how soon the statement of the pay and allowances of quartermasters, promised in Section 65 of the White Paper on Army Pay and Allowances, will be issued.

  Mr. Lawson:
  This matter is still under consideration and I regret that I cannot yet forecast the date on which it will be possible to announce a decision.

  Personal Case
  Lieut.-Colonel Byers
  asked the Secretary of State for War why 14702013 Lance-Corporal J. P. Coombes, 14 I.T.C., Hampshire Regiment, The Barracks, Northampton, an agricultural worker who has served for 2½ years has not been offered Class B release under the block system; and whether he will expedite this release.

  Mr. Lawson:
  Lance-Corporal Coombes has not been offered Class B release as he is not recorded as an agricultural worker on enlistment. If, however, his release as an agricultural worker is recommended to the War Office by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labour I should be prepared to consider the case on its merits.

  ANTI-NAZI GERMAN PRISONERS
  Mr. Edelman
  asked the Secretary of State for War when he intends to repatriate the anti-Nazi German prisoners of war who, after carrying out special duties such as radio broadcasters in the B.B.C. prisoner of war programme, have been awaiting repatriation for over six weeks at Transit Camp 186, Colchester.

  Mr. Bellenger:
  They are due to embark today.

NATIONAL FINANCE

  Cost-of-Living Subsidies
  Mr. Erroll
  asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what commodities the cost-of-living subsidies are applied; and the amount by which each commodity has been so subsidised during the most recent convenient accounting period.

  Mr. Dalton:
  The commodities affected by the cost-of-living subsidies, and the approximate cost in the financial year 1945–46, are shown in the following table. Before 1st September, 1945, no loss was incurred on Lend-Lease foodstuffs.

  £ Million.

  Bread, flour and oatmeal

  60.1

  Eggs, fresh, frozen and dried

  28.5

  Meat

  28.5

  Milk

  24.0

  Potatoes

  22.9

  Sugar

  19.1

  Cheese

  10.8

  Butter

  8.5

  Dried and condensed milk

  4.2

  Dried fruit

  3.9

  Tea

  3.5

  Bacon

  2.6

  Margarine, cooking fats, oils, net

  1.0

  Pulses and soya products

  0.5

  Net gain on other foodstuffs, etc.

  cr. 0.8

  National milk and milk-in-schools schemes

  20.0

  Other welfare schemes

  3.4

  Animal feeding stuffs

  18.1

  Fertilisers

  6.5

  Contribution to New Zealand subsidies

  4.0

  Total foodstuffs, etc.

  269.3

  Clothing

  4.9

  Raw Materials

  2.1

  Coal transport

  1.0

  Total, all items

  277.3

  Foreign Exchange Allowance
  Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenport
  asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that those wives of

  5
  officers who cannot live on their husband's pay and who cannot obtain sufficient foreign exchange, are unable to live with them abroad; and whether he will increase the present allowance of foreign exchange to more than £100 per annum, if such wives can show that it is necessary to enable them to live with their husbands overseas.

  Mr. Dalton:
  I cannot accept the hon. and gallant Member's suggestion that the pay and allowances of an officer serving abroad are insufficient to enable him to support his wife without recourse to other funds, but I shall always be ready to consider exceptional cases not satisfactorily met by existing facilities.

  Anglo-French Financial Agreement
  Mr. T. Macpherson
  asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any statement to make on the conclusion of a financial agreement between this country and France.

  Mr. Dalton:
  An Agreement was signed yesterday. It prolongs the existing mechanism for payments between the Franc and Sterling Areas until 31st December, 1946.

  The French Government paid £40 million in gold on 28th February and thus reduced to £110 million the credit of £150 million granted to them by His Majesty's Government under Article I of the Financial Agreement of 27th March, 1945. The balance will be repaid under the new Agreement in agreed instalments over the next three years. The Agreement also provides for the financing of current purchases from the sterling area during the rest of this year.

  The text of the Agreement will be presented to Parliament and copies will be available in the Vote Office on Thursday.

  PERFORMING ANIMALS (REPORTS)
  Mrs. Manning
  asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on what date, approximately, the 1921 and 1922 Select Committee's Reports on Performing Animals ceased to be purchasable at H.M.S.O.; why they were not reprinted; and, in view of the widespread feeling against cruelty to animals and the belief
  6
  that performing animal acts can be produced without cruelty, he will arrange for both Reports to be reprinted with a reliable index, and sold at a low price.

  Mr. Glenvil Hall:
  The 1921 Report has not been available since 1930, and the 1922 Report since 1935. In neither case has there been a sufficient subsequent demand to warrant reprinting.

  FAR EASTERN VOLUNTEER FORCES
  Sir J. Lucas
  asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that there are serving in England a number of ex-prisoners of war of Asiatic origin, who were imprisoned in Japanese hands from such units as the Singapore Volunteers, who have been wrongfully sent to this country and should be repatriated to Malaya; and what steps are being taken for their immediate return.

  Mr. George Hall:
  A number of British subjects of Asiatic origin belonging to the Far Eastern Volunteer Forces came to this country with Europeans of the same force sent here for demobilisation. All these persons will be provided with free passages to their home countries if they so desire, and in every case which has been brought to notice the individual concerned has been informed to that effect. Some have already left. If the hon. and gallant Member has information regarding individual cases in which difficulty has arisen I shall be glad if he will furnish me with particulars. Aliens in this category, of whom there are also a few, are repatriated as passages can be made available for them unless permission is given for them to remain in this country for special reasons.

  COAL COMMISSION RESERVE
  Mr. Lennox-Boyd
  asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the purpose of the revocation of the Coal Commission Appropriation to Reserve Regulations, 1943(a).

  Mr. Shinwell:
  The original purpose of the Regulations had already been served in that the Reserve Fund had been built up to a figure in excess of the minimum of £1,500,000 prescribed by the Coal Commission Minimum Reserve Regulations, 1943.

  ILLEGAL OPERATIONS
  Mr. J. Freeman
  asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORTS the number of convictions for performing or assisting at illegal operations in each of the years 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944 under the following headings: convictions of male qualified medical practitioners, female qualified medical practitioners, unqualified males and unqualified females, respectively.

  Mr. Ede:
  The following statement shows the number of qualified medical practitioners and unqualified persons convicted for performing or assisting at illegal operations, or procuring abortion, during the years 1939–1944.

  Year

  Number of Convictions

  Qualified Medical Practitioners.

  Unqualified Persons.

  Male.

  Female.

  Male.

  Female

  Male.

  Female.

  1939—

  With Instruments

  12

  44

  2

  —

  10

  44

  With Drugs

  9

  2

  —

  —

  9

  2

  Total

  21

  46

  2

  —

  19

  46

  1940—

  With Instruments

  19

  27

  1

  —

  18

  27

  With Drugs

  2

  5

  —

  —

  2

  5

  Total

  21

  32

  1

  —

  20

  32

  1941—

  With Instruments

  15

  40

  —

  —

  15

  40

  With Drugs

  6

  5

  —

  —

  6

  5

  Total

  21

  45

  —

  —

  21

  45

  1942—

  With Instruments

  23

  69

  2

  —

  21

  69

  With Drugs

  2

  9

  —

  —

  2

  9

  Total

  25

  78

  2

  —

  23

  78

  1943—

  With Instruments

  33

  117

  3

  —

  30

  117

  With Drugs

  3

  9

  1

  —

  2

  9

  Total

  36

  126

  4

  —

  32

  126

  1944—

  With Instruments

  17

  117

  4

  —

  13

  117

  With Drugs

  4

  11

  1

  —

  3

  11

  Total

  21

  128

  5

  —

  16

  128

  Grand Total

  145

  455

  14

  —

  131

  455

  600

  14

  586

DEMOBILISATION

  Building Operative, Lewes
  Major Beamish
  asked the Minister of Works on what grounds the Service Department concerned refused to approve his representations for the release of 14996525 Lance-Corporal J. S. Parsons, a plumber and decorator, urgently required by G. Parsons and Sons, of Lewes.

  Mr. Tomlinson:
  In considering the release out of their turn of individuals who are claimed to be specialists, regard is paid to the size of the firm, its need for supervisory personnel and the age and experience of the man concerned. The circumstances were not considered to justify the release of Lance-Corporal Parsons who was only 19 when he was called up.

  Out-of-turn Releases
  Mr. Erroll
  asked the Minister of War Transport whether he is aware that certain officers of his Department who responded to his appeal, at the end of 1944, to leave the Fighting Services and return to work of greater national importance in the Ministry have thereby suffered financial loss by forfeiting their rights to leave with pay; and whether, to reimburse them, he will take the necessary steps to increase their present rates of pay, to allow them leave with pay from his Department or to recompense them in some other way for the loss referred to.

  Mr. Barnes:
  These officers were granted indefinite release from the Army to perform important work in my Department, in which they were employed as permanent civil servants prior to their Army service. In common with all other members of the Forces released out of turn they do not qualify for the special leave privileges granted to those released under the normal demobilisation arrangements. I regret that I cannot regard the circumstances in which, at the instance of my Department, they were granted indefinite release from the Army as justifying any special compensation as suggested by the hon. Member.

  INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
  Mr. E. Granville
  asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will propose, as a question of international cooperation, the abolition of the controls over the free flow of news and opinions from one country to another, to include radio and the Press.

  Mr. McNeil:
  His Majesty's Government fully appreciate the desirability of encouraging the free flow of news and opinions from one country to another by Press, radio and other means. They have hastened to abolish wartime controls over information matters in this country and they would welcome any international action facilitating the free interchange of information and ideas as a means of advancing international understanding. The question is under active consideration by the United Nations. Freedom of Information is one of the subjects on which the Commission on Human Rights
  10
  of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations is to report and make recommendations. A proposal to call an International Press Conference is on the agenda for the next meeting of the United Nations Assembly in New York in September and this will no doubt lead to further international study of the promotion of freedom of information. His Majesty's Government will cooperate actively in this work in the hope that positive results will be obtained.

  FRENCH LECTURERS (VISITS)
  Mr. H. Hynd
  asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that several successful visits have been made to France by lecturers from this country at the invitation of the French Government; and whether he is making reciprocal arrangements for French speakers to come here.

  Mr. McNeil:
  My right hon. Friend is aware of the successful visits to France, made at the invitation of the French Government, of lecturers from this country

  The machinery for inviting French speakers to come here has been working for some considerable time, and there is a fairly steady flow of such speakers whose lectures, covering a wide variety of subjects, have been given all over the country under the auspices of the Information Departments, and the British Council, often in cooperation with the French authorities.

FOOD SUPPLIES

  Milk (Heat Treatment)
  Dr. S. Taylor
  asked the Minister of Food what would be the approximate cost of installing and operating machinery to ensure that all milk sold to the public in England and Wales received heat treatment.

  Sir B. Smith:
  It is extremely difficult to make a reliable estimate of the capital cost of installing the plant necessary for the heat treatment of all milk, but it is thought to be of the order of £10 million. The cost of heat treatment of all the milk sold to the public based on the present rates payable by my Department for heat treatment would be about £4 million per annum.
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  Dr. Taylor
  asked the Minister of Food what percentage of milk sold in England and Wales to the public in June, 1945, was receiving heat treatment; and what percentage is receiving heat treatment at the present time.

  Sir B. Smith:
  In June, 1945, some 70 per cent. of the milk sold for liquid consumption was heat-treated; the proportion is about the same at the present time.

  Dr. Taylor
  asked the Minister of Food in which towns with populations of more than 100,000, 90 per cent. or more of the milk on sale to the public is heat treated.

  Sir B. Smith:
  Accurate information is not available of the quantities of heat treated milk sold in all towns with populations of more than 100,000, but so far as can be ascertained in London, Croydon, Derby, Nottingham, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Walsall, 90 per cent. or more of the milk sold is heat treated.

  Wheat Stocks
  Sir A. Salter
  asked the Minister of Food whether, in view of the statements on the subject recently issued in connection with the allocations under consideration by the Combined Food Board, he will now state the amount of the wheat stocks in this country and, on a comparable basis, the stocks at the same season in 1938 and 1939.

  Sir B. Smith:
  I know of no statements made in connection with matters under consideration by the Combined Food Board which would justify any departure from the practice of not making public the amount of the stock of any individual food commodity controlled by the Ministry of Food.

  Temporary Ration Cards
  Mr. E. Granville
  asked the Minister of Food if he is prepared to allow shopkeepers to serve holders of emergency ration cards in the same way that they do their registered customers.

  Sir B. Smith:
  A retailer is expected to serve temporary ration card holders with rationed foods if he has supplies available. He can obtain replacement of the food sold against those cards. A particular retailer may not always be in a position to supply the holder of a temporary ration card but the holder of such card
  12
  should be able to find in any district a shop or shops able to serve him. Temporary ration cards are purposely made available for use at any shop.

  Civilian Ration Standard
  Sir R. Glyn
  asked the Minister of Food by how much and in what essentials does the standard civilian ration in this country today fall below that laid down in 1933 by the Government of that day as being the minimum necessary to support those who were unemployed and receiving relief in a distressed area; and whether he will cause the statistical tables issued last November to be brought up to date.

  Sir B. Smith:
  I am sending to the hon. Member the revised tables and other information which he desires.

  CANARY SEED
  Mr. Channon
  asked the Minister of Food if he will consider controlling the price of canary seed, in view of the fact that whilst in 1938–39 the price was 6d. and 8d. per pound, the price today is 13s. per pound.

  Sir B. Smith:
  I have already considered this matter. No imports of canary seed are allowed and there is only a small quantity of home produced seed which is used in a large variety of bird mixtures. Price control would have to apply to all these mixtures and would create an administrative burden disproportionate to the quantities involved, without increasing the supply. I cannot therefore see my way clear to introduce price control.

  TEACHERS' TRAINING SCHEME
  Mr. Asterley Jones
  asked the Minister of Education whether all civilian candidates who were accepted for the Emergency Training Scheme in 1945 will begin their training during 1946.

  Miss Wilkinson:
  On the present programme for the provision of colleges, and after allowing due priority for candidates released from the fighting services, it is hoped to admit to training before the end of 1946, all the men, and very nearly all the women, civilian candidates who were accepted in 1945.

  INDIAN ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT
  Mr. King
  asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishment is to continue in its present form; and if he will make a statement on the matter in view of the uncertainty and
  14
  anxiety which now exists among chaplains.

  Mr. A. Henderson:
  Chaplains of the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishment are in the same position as members of the All-India Services and I do not think that I can say more at the present time than that their interests have not been overlooked.

  REGISTRATION OF HOTEL VISITORS.
  REGISTRATION OF HOTEL VISITORS.
  WOOL STOCKS.
  WOOL STOCKS.