PIERS AND HARBOURS (PROVISIONAL ORDERS).

Report by the Board of Trade of their proceedings under the General Pier and Harbour Act, 1861, and the General Pier and Harbour Act, 1861, Amendment Act.

PRIVATE LEGISLATION PROCEDURE (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1899 (MOTHERWELL AND BELLSHILL RAILWAY (ABANDONMENT) ORDER).

Report by the Board of Trade respecting the above Provisional Order and the objects thereof.

Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

NEWCASTLE CHAPTER (AMENDMENT) BILL [H.L.]

Read 3a (according to order), and passed, and sent to the Commons.

House adjourned at half-past Four o'clock, to Thursday next, half-past Ten o'clock. VOL. CXXX. [FOURTH SERIES.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Tuesday, 1st March, 1904.

The House met at Two of the Clock.

KING'S SPEECH (ANSWER TO
ADDRESS).

The Comptroller of the Household reported His Majesty's Answer to the Address, as followeth :

"I have received with great satisfaction the loyal and dutiful expression of your thanks for the Speech with which I have opened the present session of Parliament."

UNOPPOSED PRIVATE BILL

BUSINESS.

PRIVATE BILLS (STANDING ORDER 62 COMPLIED WITH).

Mr. SPEAKER laid upon the Table Report from one of the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills, That, in the case of the following Bill, referred on the 62 has been complied with, viz. :First Reading thereof, Standing Order London Port and Docks Bill. Ordered,

That the Bill be read a second time.

PRIVATE BILLS (STANDING ORDER 63 COMPLIED WITH).

Mr. SPEAKER laid upon the Table Report from one of the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills, That, in the case of the following Bill, referred on the First Reading thereof, Standing Order 63 has been complied with, viz. :Amersham, Beaconsfield, and District Water Bill. Ordered, That the Bill be read a second time.

Southend Water Bill. Read the third time, and passed.

Clyde Navigation (Works) Bill; London and India Docks Company Bill; London and North Western Railway Bill; Saddleworth and Springhead Tramways (Abandonment) Bill. Read a second time,

and committed.

Gas Light and Coke and other Gas Companies Acts Amendment Bill (by Order). Order for Second Reading read, and discharged. Bill withdrawn.—(Mr. Caldwell.)

2 Z

LAND REGISTRY (NEW BUILDINGS)
АСТ, 1900.

Account presented, showing the Money issued from the Consolidated Fund, under the provisions of the Land Registry (New Buildings) Act, 1900, and of the Expenditure; the Money expended and borrowed and the Securities created under the said Act, for the period ended the 31st March, 1903; together with the Report of the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral thereon [by Act]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 80.]

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) CODE (1904). Copy presented, of Code of Regulations for Day Schools, 1904, with Appendices [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND).

Copy presented, of Return showing the Expenditure from the Grant for Public Education in Scotland in the year 1903, with Statistics [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) (GENERAL REPORT).

Copy presented, of General Report by the Chief Inspector of the Northern Division of Scotland for the year 1903

Carriage of Early Potatoes from Kerry.

MR. BOLAND (Kerry, S.): To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is now in a position to state what special arrangements for the carriage of early potatoes from Cahirciveen and other parts of Kerry have been made with the railway company by the Congested Districts Board and the Department of Agriculture.

(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The rates given by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company for new potatoes (packed) in casks, barrels, hampers, or peds, by goods train service with Kingsbridge Station, Dublin, areFrom Cahirciveen 19s. 10d. a ton, Valentia Harbour 20s. 1d., Skibbereen 21s. 7d., Bantry 21s. 9d., Clonakilty 20s. 5d., Durrus

the rates given last year. The Department is in communication with the company with a view to obtain a continuance of similar concessions as regards the rates from some other stations, viz., Tralee, Ardfert, Miltown-Malbay, and Ennistymon. There is also a special rate in force of 18s. a ton from Clonakilty to Liverpool via steamer from Cork port. The agricultural business of the Congested Districts Board has been transferred to the new Department.

Cypher Telegrams from Macedonia. MR. CHARLES ALLEN (Gloucestershire, Stroud): To ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the European assessors in Macedonia are permitted or forbidden by the Turkish authorities to send telegrams in cypher.

(Answered by Earl Percy.) The foreign assessors in Macedonia are permitted to send telegrams in cypher. A temporary difficulty arose in consequence of an existing regulation that only foreign representatives in Turkey are allowed to telegraph in cypher; but the assessors were freed from all restrictions in this respect when the matter was represented

to the Porte.

Landing of British Subjects in America. MR. BRIGG (Yorkshire, W.R., Keighley): To ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make inquiries. of the British Consul at New York with respect to two British subjects, John Atkinson Wright and Robert Atkinson Wright, both of Bradford, Yorks, who landed at New York from the White Star s.s. "Cymric," on the 17th of January last, and after being detained by the American authorities on the charge of having broken the contract laws, were finally sent back to England, although they had not entered into any illegal labour contract; whether there is usually any representative from the British Consulate present to give assistance to British subjects on their landing; and, if there is not, will he inquire into the desirability of such a course.

(Answered by Earl Percy.) We have no information about this case, but His Majesty's Consul-General at New York

he proposes to suspend the operation of the Sinking Fund in the next Budget.

(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) I am not prepared to anticipate the Budget discussions.

Crystal Palace Gas Bill.

MR. RITCHIE (Croydon): To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to a Bill promoted by the Crystal Palace District Gas Company; and whether, having regard to the expense to which the local authorities were put last session in connection with a similar Bill, and to the fact that a Departmental Committee of the Board has been appointed to investigate the questions dealt with in the Bill, he proposes to object to it being allowed to proceed this session.

(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) I have intimated to the promoters that, if the Bill is proceeded with before the Departmental Committee have made their Report, I shall move an instruction to the Committee of this House to omit the clauses relating to illuminating power, power testing, and price of gas.

Closing of St. Nicholas Schools,
Whitehaven.

(Answered by Sir William Anson.) The remedy for the action of the vicar lies with the local education authority, for it is the duty of the managers, under Section 7 (1) (a) of the Act, to carry out the instructions of the local authority as to the times for closing the school; and by failing to perform this duty the managers are endangering the continued maintenance of the school. It lies with the managers to prevent their chairman from acting without consulta

writing to the local educational authority and the managers to the above effect.

Promotion in the Telegraph Department, Glasgow.

MR. JOHN WILSON (Glasgow, St. Rollox): To ask the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the fact that vacancies exist in the clerks' class and supervising classes in the Telegraph Department, Glasgow, and of the dearth of promotion, he will announce the appointments as soon as possible.

(Answered by Lord Stanley.) The postmaster's recommendations are under consideration, and my decision will, I hope, be announced in a day or two.

Service at Queensferry.

MR. MCCRAE (Edinburgh, E.): To ask the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been called to the numerous complaints as to the service given at Queensferry; and, if so, will he take steps to secure that the services are performed in accordance with statute.

(Answered by Mr. A. Graham Murray.) I am aware of one complaint as to the adequacy of the Sunday service. The railway company maintain that they fulfil the statutory requirements. The matter is not one for the action of the Secretary for Scotland who has no title to apply to a Court of Law by whom alone the question can be decided.

Roman Catholic Prayers at Lectures for Teachers.

MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.): To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the national school teachers of Drimoleague, county Cork, of all denominations are attending lectures in needlework, arranged by the National Board, and held at the Convent, Skibbereen, and that at the lecture held on the 20th February last, Roman Catholic prayers were gone through in the middle of the lecture without an opportunity being given for those of a different faith to retire; and, if so, will he say if this is in accordance