REGULATIONS). Ordered, that Standing Orders, 223 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (BUTTER and 243 be suspended, and that the Bill be now read the third time.-(The Chairman of Ways and Means.) Copy presented, of Final Report of the Departmental Committee appointed (King's consent signified), Bill accord-by the Board of Agriculture to inquire ingly read the third time, and passed, with Amendments. MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS. They have agreed to Amendments to South Staffordshire Tramways Bill [Lords]. Liverpool University Bill Lords]. Bradford Corporation Bill Lords. Bury and District Joint Water Board Bill [Lords]. Preston, Chorley, and Horwich Tramways Bill [Lords]. Salford Corporation Bill [Lords]. Shropshire and Worcestershire Electric Power Bill [Lords]. Bangor Corporation Bill [Lords]. Hastings Harbour District Railway Bill [Lords]. Mid-Yorkshire Tramways Bill [Lords]. North Western Electricity and Power Gas Bill [Lords]. Scottish Central Electric Power Bill [Lords], without Amendment. PETITION. LICENSING LAW (COMPENSATION FOR RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC. LONDON (EQUALISATION OF RATES) ACT, 1894 (ACCOUNTS UNDER SECTION 1 (7) OF THE ACT). Return presented, relative thereto [ordered 7th August; Mr Grant Lawson]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 338.] into and report upon the desirability of Regulations for Butter, with copy of the Minute appointing the Committee [by Command]; to lie upon the Table. Return presented, relative thereto [ordered 6th July; Sir Howard Vincent]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 342.] PACIFIC CABLE ACT, 1901. Account presented, showing the money issued from the Consolidated Fund under the provisions of The Pacific Cable Act, 1901, and of the money received, expended, and borrowed, and securities created under the said Act to the 31st March, 1903 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 343.] SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE. Account presented, of receipts and expenditure of the Paymaster-General on behalf of the Supreme Court of Judicature in respect of the funds of suitors of the Court in the year ended 28th February, 1903, and of account of the National Debt Commissioners for the same period in respect of funds held by them on behalf of the Supreme Court of Judicature, with the Report of the Comptrollor and Auditor General thereon [by Act]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 344.] COLONIAL REPORTS (ANNUAL). Copy presented, of Colonial Report, No. 393 (Hong-Kong, Annual Report for 1902) [by Command]; to lie upon the Table. RAND MINES (NATIVE MORTALITY). Return presented, relative thereto [Address 7th August; Mr. Trevelyan]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 345.] NAVAL SAVINGS BANKS. Account presented, of deposits in Naval Savings Banks, and the payments thereof, and the interest thereon, etc., during the financial year 1901-1902 [by Act]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No 346.] WORKMEN'S TRAINS. Return ordered, "showing (1) the number of Werkmen's Trains running on all Railways within the Metropolitan area; (2) the distance run and the fares charged on each particular train (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 187, of session 1900.")—(Mr. Lough.) CYPRUS. Return ordered, "(1) of all sums paid in each year, 1900-1901, 1901-2, by direction of His Majesty's Government, out of moneys arising from the revenues of Cyprus, in discharge of the interest upon the Turkish Loan guaranteed by this country under the Statute 18 and 19 Vic., c. 99; and (2) of all sums voted by Parliament during the same period in aid of the Administration of Cyprus ; and also of the surplus remaining in each year over and above the payments made out of such revenues on account of the said Turkish Loan and laid aside by way of sinking fund, together with the interest thereon (in continuation of Parliamentary Papers, No. 42, of Session 1899, and No. 4, of Session 1902)."(Mr. Pierpoint) Customs Service-Promotion in the Waterguard Department. Mr. LUKE WHITE (Yorkshire, E.R., Buckrose): To ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Board of Customs will consider the advisability of employing preventive officers on duties at present performed by examining officers, in order to relieve the stagnation in promotion in the waterguard department. (Answered by Mr. Elliot.) It is not contemplated to employ preventive officers, generally, on duties at present performed by examining officers, who belong to a different branch of the outdoor service of the Customs. Dogs for Vivisection Purposes. SIR JOHN ROLLESTON (Leicester): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the source from which the dogs are obtained which are used by vivisectors for experiments; and, if not, will he cause inquiry to be made as to this. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) I have no information as to the Sources- -no doubt many and various -from which dogs are obtained for the purposes of experiments; and I do not think that any good purpose would be served by my attempting to make inquiry on the subject. Woman Inspector in the Pottery Trade. SIR CHARLES DILKE: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he can state what steps have been taken to carry out the promise to consider the appointment of a district woman inspector for the Potteries, which was given by Mr. Roskill on behalf of the Home Office on Wednesday the 1st July, the seventh day of the arbitration on the use of lead, held under the Factory Act, 1891. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) This matter, as the right hon. Baronet is aware, involves questions of considerable difficulty. I cannot do more than promise to take it into very careful consideration after the publication of the award and in connection with any review of the staff of inspectors which be necessary for the purposes of may next year's Estimates. In the meantime arrangements have been made to secure for the Potteries district the largest share of the attention of the women inspectors which is possible without interfering with the efficiency of the staff in its present organisation.. Motor-Car Accidents. are MR. BAILEY (Newington, Walworth): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether cases of accidents by motor-car reported by the police, if so, can he state what number of accidents have occurred to vehicles and what number of persons have been injured during the year 1902; and whether any proceedings have been taken by the police against the drivers. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) I have no doubt that motorcar accidents are reported by the police to the police authorities of counties and boroughs, but my information in the matter extends only to the Metropolitan Police District in which the Secretary of State is the police authority. In that district 195 accidents were reported during the year 1902, by which one death and personal injury in 194 cases were caused. Accidents are not necessarily due to neglect or other wrongful act; but proceedings are invaribly taken by the police in London when an offence is committed by a motor-car driver within their cognisance. Schools in Rural Districts. SIR MARK STEWART(Kirkcudbrightshire): To ask the Lord Advocate if his attention has been called to the expense incurred by shepherds and other persons who reside in parts of the country remote from schools, for the education of their children; and whether the Government will bring in a Bill next session to allow School Boards, showing good cause, to apply for assistance from the Treasury to enable them to board out their children near a school. (Answered by Mr. A. Graham Murray.) The matter referred to is one which has frequently been before the Department, and every effort is made, in specific cases, to bring about a satisfactory 1000 arrangement, consistent with the pro- is impossible to give any undertaking as visions of the Education Acts. The to the legislation of next session. question of extending the powers of School Boards, by enabling them to pay for the board of children, and still more that of making a Treasury grant for the purpose, are very grave, and I am unable at present to commit the Government in the direction suggested. Assimilation of Boundaries of Parliam en- (Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) I could not at present promise to introduce this Bill next session. Perhaps my hon. friend will allow me to refer to my replies to Questions on this subject in March and April last. I could not hold out any expectation that I should propose a Bill dealing with this matter, unless I was satisfied that it would be treated as an unopposed measure. Accommodation of Bristol Union MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (Yorkshire, Cleveland): To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the infirmary accommodation in the Bristol Union, resulting in the occasional crowding of over 750 sick people in wards in two workhouses certified for 450, and the exclusion of cases of a mild lunacy type, which have consequently been treated at a greater cost in the Bristol Lunatic Asylum; and, whether, seeing that the old infirmary wards were condemned by the inspectors in 1898, and that plans for a new infirmary have been prepared, he will say what steps he proposes to take in the matter. (Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) My attention has been called to the need for further accommodation for the indoor poor of the Bristol Union, and I have for some time past been in communication with the guardians on the subject. pressed them to submit to me a complete accommodation, and I am now expecting scheme for the provision of the necessary to hear from them on the subject. + See (4) Debates, cxviii., 1545. I have Corporal Punishment for a Girl in SIR JOHN GORST (Cambridge University): To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the chastisement of a girl by a Poor Law schoolmistress at Chatham; whether, seeing that the corporal punishment of female children in Poor Law schools is forbidden by the regulations of the Local Government Board, he will state what steps the Local Government Board will take in this case to vindicate the authority of their regulations. (Answered by Mr. Walter Long) newspaper report has been forwarded to me with respect to this matter, and I am making inquiry with regard to it. (Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The declared values of the imports into, and of the exports of British produce from, the United Kingdom in 1873, were as follows: A-Imports, £371,000,000. Exports of British produce, £255,000,000. Approximate values of total imports and of exports of British produce, exclusive of ships, in the undermentioned years, at Board of Trade index numbers, on the 1873 prices, computed according to the assumption that the average value of the articles of our import and export trade have followed the course of general prices-Imports, 1883, £526,000,000; 1893, £611,000.000; 1902, £797,000.000. Exports of British produce, 1883, £295,000,000; 1893, £329,000,000; 1902, £418,000,000. As I stated in reply to the hon. Member for Renfrewshire West,† than in any other year since 1826. the level of prices in 1873 was higher Average Age at Marriage. MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil): To ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can state the mean age at marriage of men and women respectively married in the quinquennial periods 1851-5, 1856-60, 1861-5, 1866-70, 1871-5, 1876-80, 1881-5, 1886-90, 1891-5, 1896-1900. 25·7. (Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The mean ages of marriage were not calculated in the earlier periods referred to. The mean ages in the groups of years from 1867, however, are:-1867-1870 (four years) men, 280; women, 25.7. 1871-1875, men, 27.9; women, 25.7. 1876-1880, men, 27.9; women, 257. 1881-1885, men, 280; women, 1886-1890, men, 28-3; women, 26.0. 1891-1895, men, 284; women, 26.2. 1896-1900, men, 284; women, 26.2. I understand from the Registrar General that in 1867-1870 more than 30 per cent. of the people married did not state their ages, but that there has been a gradual improvement in the statement of ages, until in 1900 only about 11 per cent. did not state their ages. For these and other reasons, however, comparisons between the average ages at marriage in the earlier years with those in the later years cannot be regarded as altogether trustworthy. British Exports and Imports. Paris Tube" Accident. MR. H. C. RICHARDS: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give directions that the Department shall be represented by an expert at any inquiry which may be held by the French authorities on the accident on the underground railway at Paris on Monday last, in order that proper precautions may be recommended by the Board of Trade to similar undertakings in this country with a view to obviate a similar disaster in this country. (Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The Board of Trade will take steps to obtain which may be held. The expert officers a report of the proceedings at any inquiry of the Department have made themselves acquainted with the construction and MR. HERBERT SAMUEL: To ask working of the French railway. the President of the Board of Trade if he 1 + See page 676. |