MR. CHURCHILL: The needs of matter before deciding whether any Nyassaland will certainly be taken into further action is necessary. consideration when there is any opportunity of improving communications with the East Coast of Africa, but, as I said on Tuesday last in reply to a Question by my hon. friend the Member for the Chippenham Division, the negotiations with this object have not up to the present been successful. I have no information with regard to the cases of delay in the delivery of mails to which the hon. Members refers. Chinese Labour Ordinance. MR. LONSDALE: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Government will lay upon the Table the correspondence which passed between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Transvaal Government with reference to the continuance of the Chinese Labour Ordinance up to the formal sanction given to the Ordinance in December last year. MR. CHURCHILL: Yes, Sir. The Nairobi Incident. SIR GEORGE SCOTT ROBERTSON (Bradford, Central): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been drawn to the recent incident at Nairobi, where Lord Delamere and a Mr. Baillie seem to have compelled the Governor against his wish to receive them and others as a deputation on the local labour question, and to promise to receive a second deputation on the following day, but that before the second interview could take place the Governor suspended Lord Delamere and Mr. Baillie, and has petitioned His Majesty the King to remove them permanently from the Governor's Council; can he say whether he has any official information on the subject; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter. MR. CHURCHILL: The facts are substantially as stated by the hon. Member. The Secretary of State has expressed his approval of the Governor's action in suspending Lord Delamere and Mr. Baillie from the exercise of their functions as members of the Legislative Council. He proposes to await the receipt of the Governor's despatch on the MR. ASHLEY: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can make any statement with reference to the labour question in British East Africa and the recent meeting at Nairobi; and what white force is available in the Protectorate to maintain the authority of the Governor. MR. CHURCHILL: Differences between the Governor and a section of the white settlers on the subject of the regula tions for native labourers have led to a disorderly demonstration; but pending the arrival of the Governor's despatch the Secretary of State is not aware of the exact points at issue. There is a force of some twenty white policemen in Nairobi and the neighbourhood. MR. ASHLEY: Is it true the Governor took the chair at one of these meetings? MR. CHURCHILL: I understand he met a deputation and discussed the question at issue with it. They came in a body to the Governor's house. MR. ASHLEY: The suggestion is that the Governor took the chair at a public meeting to discuss this very question. MR. CHURCHILL'S reply was inaudible. SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Lord Delamere and Mr. Baillie have been removed from the Legislative Council of British East Africa; and, if so, on what grounds this action was taken; and whether Papers will be laid. MR. CHURCHILL: The persons whom the hon. Member names have been suspended from the exercise of their functions as members of the Legislative Council because the Governor reports. that they took part in an organised demonstration of an insulting and disorderly character against His Majesty's Representative in the Protectorate. The Secretary of State is awaiting a despatch. Papers will be laid in due course. Trade at Gibraltar. SIR GILBERT PARKER: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in view of the depression of trade in Gibraltar, due to the reduction of the garrison and the handing over of the commercial mole to the Admiralty, whether the Government is satisfied that the increase in the General Sanitary Purposes Rates for 1908 is justified in the circumstances; and whether it is intended to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the annual expenditure of the Commissioners. MR. CHURCHILL: The Secretary of State intends to obtain further information before forming an opinion on the question whether, in view of the depression of trade, the whole of the increase in the rates was immediately necessary; but he is advised that there is no sufficient justification for the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry. Anglo-Russian Convention. MR. REES: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the German Government has been informed of the fact that the Russian Foreign Minister gave a declaration in writing to the effect that the AngloRussian Convention does not affect British rights in the Persian Gulf. THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. RUNCIMAN, Dewsbury; for Sir EDWARD GREY): The text of my right hon. friend's despatch to His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg, of the 29th of August last, taking note of the declaration of the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs on this subject, was communicated to the German Government together with the text of the Anglo-Russian Convention. This despatch was published with the Convention in the Parliamentary Paper (Russia, No. 1, 1907). Mecca Pilgrims. MR. RUNCIMAN: My right hon. friend has nothing to add to the information he gave to the hon. Member for Blackpool on the 26th inst. No report has since been received. Probation of Offenders Act. MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, under the probation of Young Offenders Act, he can empower the probation officers to receive fines by instalments; whether he will recommend Courts of Summary Jurisdiction to adopt this course; whether, under part 3 of Clause 1 of the Probation Act, the words compensation for loss may be taken to include restitution of money stolen; and, if so, whether the services of probation officers can be utilised in collecting the same during the time the offender may be on probation. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADSTONE, Leeds, W.): Where the Justices deal with an offender under the Probation of Offenders Act, there is no conviction, and consequently there can be no fine. The Justices may, however, order the offender to pay compensation for loss, which I am advised includes restitution of money stolen; and by Section 7 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, the Justices may direct the is within the powers of the Justices payment to be made by instalments. It under that section to direct the instalments to be paid to the probation officer, and there may be cases where they might properly be required to do so; but there are officers attached to the Courts whose duty it is to receive sums which the Court orders to be paid, and in cases under the Probation Act I think it would be undesirable to do anything which would make the offender look on the probation officer as a collector of debts rather than as his friend and adviser. Dock Accident. MR. JOHN WARD (Stoke-on-Trent): MR. WEDGWOOD (Newcastle-under- I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Lyme): I beg to ask the Secretary of the Home Department whether, in the State for Foreign Affairs whether any, Bill proposed to be introduced this and, if so, what steps are being taken to session dealing with accidents upon docks secure the safety of the Egyptian pilgrims during construction, it is intended to proceeding to Mecca; and whether he retain the power to hold courts of inquiry anticipates any danger for those now at into the cause and circumstances of in Section 3 of the Notices of Accidents | quarries in Norway which supply the Act, 1894, which it is proposed to repeal. stone to the Admiralty works at Haulbowline and Keyham dockyard. MR. GLADSTONE: Yes, Sir; it is proposed to apply the provisions of the Factory Act with regard to accidents, which include a provision similar to that in the Act of 1894, empowering the Secretary of State to appoint a court of inquiry into the causes and circumstances of an accident if he thinks it expedient to do so. Suppressed Licences in Staffordshire. MR. JOHN WARD: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what number of licensed houses have been closed under the Licensing Act, 1904, in the county of Staffordshire during the years 1905-6-7; what was the total sum paid in compensation for such closing; and what sum was paid to the licence-holders and what sum to the other parties. MR. GLADSTONE: All the available information is contained in the annual volumes of licensing statistics, but for the hon. Member's convenience I have had the following figures extracted from them. In the county of Staffordshire 163 licensed premises have been closed under the Act of 1904. A total sum of £102,780 was paid in compensation, of which £6,294 or 6-12 per cent. went to the licence holders. Social Conditions in Germany. MR. DU CROS (Hastings): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade when he expects to be in a position to publish the Report of the three investigators sent to Germany for the purpose of collecting information upon rent, wages, employment, and other matters. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. LLOYD - GEORGE, Carnarvon Boroughs): I hope that the Report containing the results of investigations as to conditions and cost of living in German towns will be published in the course of a few weeks. Norwegian Granite. MR. FELL: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he can now supply the information promised with regard to the wages and hours of work of the men engaged in the granite MR. LLOYD-GEORGE: I am informed that in the granite quarries in Norway the usual hours of labour amount to fifty-seven per week, ten hours on five full workings days, and seven on Satur days. The work appears to be generally undertaken by contract, and calculating on the basis of three hundred working days in the year, the wages usually earned are stated to be four kroner or five kroner (4s. 6d. or 5s. 7d.) per day. MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.) asked whether the right hon. Gentleman could give the name of the Norwegian firm selected by the Admiralty to send granite. into Ireland. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE said it was not in his Department, but he was informed that there was no such firm. MR. T. M. HEALY: Where did they get the granite from. [No Answer was returned.] Granite Freightage. MR. JOHN WARD: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the cost of railway carriage per ton for Enderby granite from Leicester to Surbiton; and how such railway rates compare with the cost of freight for the same article from Norway to London. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE: I am obtaining particulars of these rates and will communicate with my hon. friend as soon as I have received them. Examination for Trawl Fishermen. MR. PIRIE (Aberdeen, N.): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he would state what staff of examiners there is in Aberdeen for examining trawl fishermen under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1906; and if he can explain why the last examination of such candidates in Aberdeen was postponed from the date: originally fixed. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE: There is one examiner of fishermen at Aberdeen. Owing to the illness of the examiner during the examination the last examination was unavoidably postponed until a substitute could be obtained, but I understand that no inconvenience was caused to the three candidates who attended. MR. PIRIE asked if, according to the rules of the Board of Trade, there should not be three examiners, and why that regulation was not complied with in the case of Aberdeen ? MR. JOHN BURNS: My attention has been called to the report of the inquest referred to. It is competent for a sanitary authority, with the consent of the Local Government Board, to make cases of anthrax and glanders in man compulsorily notifiable in their district. I may, however, state that glanders is a rare disease as regards human beings. Cases of anthrax in man chiefly occur in factories and workshops, and as regards these cases arrangements are made by MR. LLOYD-GEORGE said he would my right hon. friend the Secretary of look into the matter and let his hon. friend know. Danish Bacon. MR. LAURENCE HARDY (Kent, Ashford): I beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, in view of the exposure of the dangers arising from the export of bacon from Denmark which has been cured from diseased meat, the Board of Agriculture intend to take any steps to prevent the importation of Danish bacon until measures have been taken in that country to secure more effective control over the exports. THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. JOHN BURNS, Battersea): Perhaps I may reply to this Question. Question. As was stated on Thursday last, in reply to a Question put to me by the hon. Member for the Southern Division of Kerry, I do not think any special action is necessary at the present time as regards the importation of bacon from Denmark, but I have in preparation regulations dealing generally with the measures to be taken for the prevention of danger to health from the importation of foreign meat. Anthrax. MR. LAURENCE HARDY: I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the report of the inquest on James Shaw in the City Coroner's Court on 8th February; and whether he will take steps to extend the provisions with regard to the compulsory notifica tion of disease to all cases of anthrax in human beings, arising from any cause, and to all cases of glanders in human State for information of them being given to the local medical officer of health. Notification of Births Act. MR. ALDEN: I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he can state the number of county boroughs, urban dis trict councils, and other local authorities which have adopted the Notification of Births Act; and whether he can make any statement as to the measures that have already been taken by the large industrial centres of population? MR. JOHN BURNS: The Act has been adopted by 132 local authorities. In most of the districts in which it has been adopted there is one or more female health visitors, whose duty it is, in appropriate cases, to visit and advise the mothers of newly-born infants, and in some instances the local authority avail themselves of the co-operation of local voluntary associations. In all cases the health visitors act under the supervision of the medical officer of health. Motor Speeds. *MR. CATHCART WASON (Orkney and Shetland): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board whether, in view of the number of accidents caused by motors being driven at a rapid pace through towns and villages, favourable consideration will be given in the future to applications from local authorities for a reduction of speed limit within their jurisdiction? MR. JOHN BURNS: My best consideration is always given to applications under the Motor Car Act, 1903, for a reduction of speed limits, but I cannot justified in taking with regard to particular applications which may in future be made to me. *MR. CATHCART WASON asked if the right hon. Gentleman was aware that the Motor Car Act, 1903, was only passed on the condition that the local authorities should have power to restrict speed, and that the Local Government Board should only act where regulations were excessive and unreasonable. *MR. JOHN BURNS: As regards the nineteen applications under the Act received since 1st January, 1906, in which a decision has been given, orders have been issued or promised in fifteen of them. I think the Local Government Board is to be commended for its action in the matter. Loss on Press Telegrams. MR. WATT (Glasgow, College): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury how much is the annual loss to the Post Office incurred by the system of cheap rates for newspaper telegrams; what is the advantage derived by the nation in return for this loss; and if he will introduce legislation to put newspapers on the same terms in this respect as the general public. THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar): The present rates for Press telegrams are specifically provided for under the Telegraph Act of 1868. The estimated annual loss involved is about £220,000, in return for which the nation enjoys such advantages as are derived from the dissemination of news at a cheap rate. I am not proposing legislation of the character suggested by my hon. friend. Religious Instruction in Non-Provided Schools. COLONEL WARDE (Kent, Medway): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether, under the terms of the proposed Education Bill, if a nonprovided school is transferred to the local authority and religious instruction is demanded in accordance with the London County Council syllabus, it will be competent for teachers to claim that, inasmuch as there are to be no tests for teachers, they cannot be compelled to give the necessary instruction. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. MCKENNA, Monmouthshire, N.): Yes, Sir. Under Clause. 1, Sub-clause (1), of the Bill no teacher may be required, as a condition of his employment, to give any religious instruction. Education Code. SIR FRANCIS POWELL (Wigan): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education when he proposes to present the Education Code, with a view to the printing and circulation thereof at an early date. MR. MCKENNA: I am not yet in a position to fix a date. Dutch Cheese Frauds. MR. A. L. STANLEY (Cheshire, Eddisbury): I beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he can now say whether he has any information as to the sale of Dutch skim-milk cheeses in this country under the name of either Dutch Cheshire cheeses or factory Cheshire cheeses; and what steps are being taken to put a stop to this practice. THE TREASURER OF THE HOUSEHOLD (Sir EDWARD STRACHEY, Somersetshire, S.): Inquiries have been made. into this matter, but no evidence has been obtained of the sale of Dutch cheeses in contravention of the Merchandise Marks Acts. We should be very glad to receive any further information on the subject which those concerned may be able to supply. MR. A. L. STANLEY: Has the attention of the hon. Gentleman been called to a case in the Midlands in which a seller of this cheese was prosecuted and fined? SIR EDWARD STRACHEY: Yes, Sir; but I think the offence charged in that case had to do with the percentage of fat contained in the cheese. Imports of Peat-Moss Litter. MR. LAURENCE HARDY: I beg to ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether, in view of the risk of infection from the importation of peat-moss litter, |