The Croydonian

Mr. ASHLEY asked whether, during the late manœuvres, a trial was made of a new type of travelling kitchen; and, if so, what was the substance of the report furnished to the War Office upon it?

Mr. HALDANE A trial was made, but the report has not yet been received by the War Office.

Mr. WEIR asked the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that the villagers of Inver, Ross-shire, from time immemorial have been in the habit of grazing their ponies on part of Morrich Moor, in the immediate vicinity, and also securing there from dried grass for thatching purposes, as well as turf for covering potato pits; will be explain under what circumstances these ancient rights have been divided between the Town Council of Tain and the Cadboll estate; and will he take such steps as may be necessary to secure to the people of Inver a restoration of their rights?

The LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. Alexander Ure) My hon. Friend is already aware of the facts from the answers which he has received to his earlier questions upon this subject, to which I can add nothing. Any complaint which the people of Inver or my hon. Friend wish to make should be addressed to the Town Council of Tain, the Cadboll estate, and the other parties to the recent agreement. The Government have no right to intervene in the matter.

Mr. HENNIKER HEATON asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that a foreign merchant residing in France can send 504 circulars in open envelopes to English clients resident in England for £1, whereas the English merchant can send only 480 circulars in open envelopes to his customers for £1; whether he is aware that French firms having branch offices in this country actually post these circulars in France, thereby, under the Postal Union law, England does all the work and France takes the whole of the postage receipts for these circulars; and seeing that this arrangement is prejudicial to the postal revenue of this country and gives the foreigner an advantage over his English rivals in trade, whether he will take steps for an alteration?

Mr. BUXTON I am aware that 25 francs is equivalent to 500 five centimes, and that £1 sterling is equivalent to 480 halfpence. Perhaps, however, my hon. Friend is not aware that, in consequence of the difference in weight between two ounces and 50 grammes, the English halfpenny prepays about 14 per cent. more than the French five centimes. Thus, while the advantage in numbers is with the French poster, the advantage in weight is with the English poster. Until my hon. Friend has been able to arrange international standards of money and weight, I fear these slight differences of postage must remain.

Lord Monk Bretton:  "....The object of this Bill is to provide for uniformity of pensions all over the country, and to provide security of pensions to all asylum workers. I do not think in your Lordships' House, where so many of your Lordships have experience of local government and through your visiting committees know much of asylums, that it is necessary I should say much as to what a deserving class this is for which this Bill is intended. It is a dangerous profession and one very trying to the nerves, and there are a great many breakdowns among asylum workers. This Bill is intended to provide similiar conditions for these asylum workers as is already enjoyed by the prison service and the police.

"I should like to tell your Lordships two stories from Ireland with regard to it, and which, I think, are better than any argument. There was an attendant in an asylum in Ireland who got a crack on the head. In consequence of that he became an epileptic. Being obliged to retire he applied for a pension but was only given a gratuity of £25. The poor man eventually lost his reason and became a patient in the asylum in which he had formerly been an attendant. In the same asylum there was another man of about the same age and service, and he took to drink. The visiting committee wanted to get rid of him so they gave him a pension for the rest of his life. This is the other story. There was a doctor of an asylum who thought it his duty to condemn the meat brought to the asylum as being putrid. A member of the visiting committee was the contractor who supplied the meat. The contractor told the doctor that he would take care that he suffered for what he had done, and if this Bill does not pass I have no doubt he will".

Lord Belper "....With regard to the scales in the Bill, let me only say that a very strong case has been made out for those officers who are in direct contact with lunatics, especially dangerous lunatics, and who are exposed to all the disagreeable circumstances as well as the danger of their profession. I think a very strong case can be made out for a pension for those officers, and, if it is proved to be necessary, a compulsory pension. But when you come to include, as von (sic - a typo, but what of? C) include in this Bill, every labourer, every clerk, every man who works in the garden, every woman who works in the asylum, you are setting a precedent for compelling county councils to give pensions to all their officers in every branch of the work

The Archbishop of Canterbury "....There has been, and we are all very thankful for it, a great improvement in recent years in the management of asylums in this country. That improvement has been due in part to the painstaking efforts of the leaders of medical and mental science who have dealt with this particular problem, but not less to the officers and the subordinate officers of the asylum who have to perform one of the most trying and unpleasant tasks that it is possible to imagine—a task requiring that those who undertake it should be relieved from all the anxiety which we can relieve them of when their health has broken down and they have worn themselves out in the service.

LORD ASHBOURNE  My Lords, as this Bill extends to Ireland and as I have taken great interest in this subject and paid many visits to lunatic asylums and seen the unfortunate people confined there and those who administer to them, I would like to say a word with regard to it. 

Mr. WEDGWOOD BENN asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has appointed a British Commissioner for the Argentine Centenary Exhibition of 1910; if so, who has been selected; and what money will be put at his disposal for ensuring a display of British products commensurate with the importance of our commerce with the Republic?

Sir E. GREY  Mr. C. E. Akers has been appointed British Commissioner for the Argentina Exhibition, 1910. He will proceed to Argentina in the course of the next few days, and will furnish His Majesty's Government with a report. I am not in a position to state the amount of the sum to be put at his disposal. I understand that the Board of Trade have been in communication with the Treasury on the subject.

Mr. BELLAIRS  asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the support which the Foreign Office has given in important negotiations to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and the recent action of the bank in connection with a proposed railway loan...the Government will make it a condition of future British support that the members of the committee in London, the directorate in Hong Kong, and all holding positions of trust in the bank should be British subjects?

The UNDER-SECRETARY for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. T. McKinnon Wood) The rule in such cases is that support is given, when it otherwise appears desirable, to companies in which the preponderance of shares is held by British or naturalised British subjects. I am, therefore, unable to make the condition desired.

Mr. GRETTON  asked how many battleships of the "Dreadnought" type have been launched for the British Navy, and at what date will the last launched be in commission and ready to take her place with the battle fleet, respectively?

Mr. McKENNA The answer to the first part of the question is eight, and to the second, probably January, 1911.

Mr. KILBRIDE Is any part of the delay due to the unreadiness of the brewers to contribute?

Mr. McKENNA No, Sir.

Mr. GRETTON asked how many battleships of the "Nassau" type are now building in Germany, and if these battleships are superior to the "Dreadnought" type in displacement or armament; and whether the number of heavy guns is greater and the size of the secondary guns heavier?...Have any ships been laid down in Germany since the date of that Return?....asked if the German Government commenced last year to build battleships superior in nearly every respect to the "Dreadnought" type; how many battleships in Germany are nearing the time for launching; and how many German battleships are now laid down and in hand or to be laid down in the immediate future?

Mr. JOHN WARD Could not the hon. Gentleman suggest to our representatives, especially in Germany, that they should get someone to put similar questions in the German Parliament, so that we might get all the information from them that they get here?

Sir Henry Cotton asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he can state the total number of cases in which whipping has been inflicted as a gaol punishment in each province in India during the years 1906, 1907, and 1908?

Mr. ASHLEY asked whether the German cruiser which was laid down in 1907, at the same time as the British "Invincible," is of considerably greater displacement and fighting power than the British vessel, and whether the German Government have, during the last year and the present year, laid down two more cruisers still larger and more powerful?
 
Mr. McKENNA  The details with regard to the "Von der Tann," which is assumed to be the vessel referred to in the first part of the question, have not been made public, but it is not anticipated that the comparison suggested with regard to our "Invincibles" will be found to be justified. It has been stated in the Press that the two cruisers laid down subsequently by the German Government will be larger and more powerful than the "Von der Tann."

Mr. ASHLEY  Is it not a fact that the German cruisers have twelve big guns and ours only eight?

Mr. McKENNA It may be well known to the hon. Gentleman, but we have no official information on the subject.

Mr. ASHLEY Then are we to understand that these battleships are going on the scrap heap?

Mr. McKENNA The hon. Gentleman is quite wrong.

Mr. ASHLEY If that is not so, why have these battleships not got a proper complement of men?
 

Mr. McKENNA It is rather difficult to explain the organisation in answer to a question across the floor of the House, but the fourth division of the Home Fleet has nothing to do the scrap heap.

Captain FABER  May I ask the right hon. Gentleman if Admiral Sturdee was Lord Charles Beresford's Chief of Staff?

Mr. McKENNA Yes, Sir; I believe he was when he was captain.

Mr. ASHLEY May I ask if this officer received a warning that if he remained with Lord Charles Beresford he might find himself unemployed?

Mr. McKENNA The statement made by the hon. Gentleman is absolutely without warrant, and he has no right whatever to make any such statement in public.

Dr. RUTHERFORD (Lib, Brentford) asked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Chiswick Urban District Council paved Barrowgate-road in 1901, subsequently took legal proceedings against one of two frontagers who refused to pay their apportionments, abandoned these proceedings, and then in the middle of the night of 20th May, 1909, tore up 300 to 400 feet of paving stones fronting the premises of the person against whom they started legal proceedings; and whether he proposes to hold a public inquiry into this expenditure of public money on legal proceedings and in regard to this destruction of public property?

Mr. BURNS I have received a Memorial on this subject from some of the ratepayers of the district. It is not one, however, with respect to which I am empowered to direct an inquiry at the present time. The only jurisdiction I should have in the matter would be on an appeal from the decision of the auditor as to the legality or otherwise of the expenditure incurred. It will be competent for any ratepayer to raise this question before the auditor at the audit of the accounts in which the expenditure is charged.

Mr. BOWERMAN (Lab) asked the Secretary of State for War whether he would grant facilities to the rank and file of the Army to cater for themselves, as are allowed to the commissioned ranks?

Mr. HALDANE I am afraid that the hon. Member's suggestion is impracticable. In barracks at present, within certain limits, soldiers settle details regarding the cooking of their rations and the expenditure of the messing allowance.

Boycotting and Maltreatment (Alleged), Fawney Cross, North Derry

Mr. GLENDINNING  (Ind Unionist) asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that a Mr. Robert Bailey, residing at Fawney Cross, in the division of North Derry, is the victim of boycotting and intimidation, and that his cattle is being maltreated, causing him considerable financial loss;....
 
Mr. BIRRELL I am informed by the constabulary authorities that Mr. Bailey is not the victim of boycotting or intimidation. He has reported to the police that seven of his cattle have been maltreated during the spring and summer, and that as a consequence four of them have died. After careful investigation the police have been unable to find any evidence in support of his suspicions that these cattle were maliciously injured.

Mr. SHEEHAN  (Irish Nat) asked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if he will state what approximately  was the cost to the Department of its stand for dairy produce at the recent show of the Belfast Industrial Development Association; whether he is aware that the persons who made inquiries at the Department's stand, and whose names were transmitted to the creameries as probable customers were all persons who were financially unsound; is the Department aware that no customers have been secured by the exhibitors as a result of this show; and will the Department take steps to see that only inquiries from distributers who are financially sound will be transmitted to exhibitors?

Then again, maybe not.

Mr. T. W. RUSSELL The approximate cost incurred by the Department in exhibiting Irish agricultural produce at this show was £48. The answers to the other queries are in the negative.

Mr. RENTON  asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will say how many officials, established and non-established, including non-pensionable employés, were in the service of the Home Office on the 31st March, 1906, and on 30th June, 1909, respectively?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Herbert Gladstone) The numbers of officials paid from the Home Office Vote on the dates stated were as follows: On 31st March, 1906, established, 297; non-established, 116. On 30th June, 1909, established, 377; non-established, 157.

Captain FABER asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the period which has taken place between the laying of the keel of the last German super-"Dreadnought" and the launch of the same?

The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Mr. McKenna) I am not aware to which ship the hon. and gallant Member refers under the name of "super-'Dreadnought.'"

Captain FABER asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state why Rear-Admiral Sturdee, who was appointed admiral in September, 1908, has since that date been passed over for promotion by four officers junior to himself?

Mr. McKENNA The hon. and gallant Gentleman is in error in supposing that Rear-Admiral Sturdee has been passed over for promotion. On reaching the top of the Rear-Admiral's list he will be promoted in due course.

Mr. T. M. HEALY asked the Secretary of State for War whether the "Soudan" transport left Malta for China on 23rd September with the Inniskilling Fusiliers and other troops, of whom, in the Fusiliers alone, 300 were Catholics; whether many of the men were married and accompanied by their families; whether, contrary to usage, no Catholic chaplain sailed with the transport; whether the Catholic officers on board complained of the disappointment of their men; whether the presence of clergymen with large bodies of soldiers has been found, both in war and peace, conducive to discipline and good conduct; and what is the explanation of the departure from usage in this case?

The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Acland)  The statements in the first two parts of the hon. and learned Member's question are substantially correct. As regards the third and sixth parts, I must explain that owing to the extended character of the voyages taken and the constant changes in the personnel of the troops on board, it is not the practice of the War Department to place chaplains on board transports conveying Colonial reliefs. As regards the fourth and fifth parts, no complaints have been brought to my notice in this instance, but it is no doubt the case that the presence of clergymen with large bodies of soldiers is conducive, but by no means necessary, to discipline and good conduct, and the Department endeavours to arrange for their presence wherever practicable.

Mr. KEIR HARDIE ...whether he has been informed that Miss Ainsworth...alleges that a steel instrument was used to force open the mouth of those women who have had to be fed by force, and a cork gag was inserted to keep the mouth open;...
 
Mr. BELLOC Before the right hon. Gentleman answers that question I wish to ask whether in this matter anything different has been done to women from what has been done to men in times past without protest from any part of this House?

The HOME SECRETARY (Mr. Gladstone) Of course the treatment has been applied to men without demur. As regards the question put by the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydvil, I only received it ten minutes ago. Perhaps he will be good enough to put it on the Paper.

Mr. H. A. WATT asked the President of the Local Government Board whether he has had any complaints as to the working of the Lights on Vehicles Act of 1907; have the farmers affected by it lodged any objection to its clauses with his Department...
    

Mr. GLADSTONE I beg to answer this question on behalf of my right hon. Friend, as the Home Office is the central authority under the Lights on Vehicles Act, 1907. I have received only one objection to the Act from farmers; this was made before the Act came into operation,

Mr. WATT May I ask whether the so-called insuperable hostility of the farmers has been entirely overcome?

Mr. GLADSTONE I do not know anything about the insuperable hostility of the farmers.

Departmental Internet

Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the meaning is of each (a) acronym and (b) abbreviation used on the editorial policy section of her Department's CabWeb intranet site.
Tessa Jowell: I have placed in the Library a document expanding each acronym and abbreviation in the editorial policy section of CabWeb.

Derek Draper and Charlie Whelan

Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many times (a) Mr Derek Draper and (b) Mr Charlie Whelan has visited the Cabinet Office/Downing Street complex in the last six months. [287211]

Tessa Jowell: I am not aware of any meetings involving Derek Draper or Charlie Whelan.

Mr. WATT asked the Postmaster-General, whether he was aware that in most local exchanges of the National Telephone Company in Scotland an operator lived on the premises, slept in the exchange room, roused to every call, and was thus always available day and night; and, if so, whether his Department proposed to continue this system on the taking over of the Company, or to close at the same hour as telegraph offices?

Captain NORTON   My right hon. Friend is aware that the National Telephone Company gives a continuous service at its exchanges. He does not anticipate that the present facilities for night telephone service—so far as they meet any actual need on the part of the public—will be restricted after the transfer of the Company's system to the State. The question of the extent of Sunday use will require special consideration.

Mr. BOTTOMLEY asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in the case of the men who lost their lives in the recent disaster to submarine C11, their clothes and personal effects were sold, and out of the proceeds a week's wages was deducted, on the ground that they had been overpaid to that extent at the time of the disaster; and, if so, whether, having regard to the position of the widows and relatives of the victims, the Admiralty would consider the propriety of refunding the amount of such deduction?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara) The personal effects of the men who lost their lives in C11 were sold in accordance with the custom of the Service. It is not the fact that any deduction has been made from the proceeds. As a matter of fact, although the men had received an advance of pay beyond the amounts due to them, the Admiralty have decided, in view of the sad circumstances of the case, not to recover the over-payment.

Mr. GRETTON asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether any of the four additional ships to be laid down in April of next year are to be large amoured cruisers, or whether all four are to be battleships?
 

Dr. MACNAMARA It is not considered desirable to make any statement at the present juncture.

Mr. J. DILLON (Irish Nat) asked the Home Secretary for what offence Mrs. Anne Cobden Sanderson has been sentenced to a week's imprisonment in the second division; and whether he will take steps immediately to secure that all political prisoners in this country shall be put in the first division or subjected to such treatment as was customary in the case of political prisoners in England a hundred years ago?

Mr. MASTERMAN  On 3rd September Mrs. Cobden Sanderson was convicted of obstructing the police in the execution of their duty, and sentenced to pay a fine of 40s., with the alternative of seven days' imprisonment in the second division. ...
 

Mr. DILLON May I ask the hon. Gentleman, as I think this is an extremely serious business, whether he is now of opinion that the time has come to restore the ancient practice in England of treating political prisoners in a different class from that of common felons?

Mr. J. D. REES (Con) Before the hon. Gentleman replies, may I ask whether the law of England recognises this lady or any other law breaker as a political prisoner?

Mr. DILLON So much the more shame to England.

Lord ROBERT CECIL asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can give any estimate of the value of the investments of French subjects in this country which have been transferred elsewhere in consequence of the agreement respecting Death Duties dated 15th November, 1907?

Mr. HOBHOUSE No, Sir. I should perhaps add that the information at my right hon. Friend's disposal does not indicate that any such transfer as is suggested in the question has taken place.

Mr. JAMES O'KELLY asked the Chief Secretary whether he was aware that Head Constable Gilhooly and Acting Sergeant Nestor had frequently of late stopped respectable inhabitants of Elphin, some of them young ladies, going about their ordinary business, at nine and 10 o'clock at night to ask for their names and the business on which they were abroad; whether he could say if these police officers have any special instructions, and for any, and, if so, what, special reasons to thus interfere with and annoy respectable residents well known to them; and whether he would give instructions that this action on their part should cease?

Mr. BIRRELL  I am informed by the constabulary authorities that, on the occasion to which the hon. Member appears to refer, the two policemen named in the question, hearing a noise in some bushes near the Convent, and having received complaints of damage done to the Convent grounds, examined the bushes and found two persons there who refused to give their names. The head constable lit a match in order to see who they were, and then went away. The Inspector-General is satisfied that the police did no more than their duty. This incident appears to be the only ground for the allegations in the question. No special instructions have been issued to the police on the subject and none are required.