refused, withdrawn, or allowed to lapse, friend that it is now under anxious and twenty cases are at present under consideration. Illegal Trawling in the Moray Firth. MR. SUTHERLAND (Elgin Burghs): I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland, whether it was owing to insufficient evidence or on other grounds that, out of nineteen vessels reported from July, 1907, to the end of January this year for illegal trawling in the Moray Firth, only one prosecution took place. MR. SINCLAIR : The reason why prosecution has not followed detection of trawlers engaged in fishing in the Moray Firth is in many instances that the persons so engaged were not British subjects. Convict Joseph Hume. MR. ANNAN BRYCE (Inverness Burghs): I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland in connection with the case of Joseph Hume, sentenced to be executed at Inverness on Wednesday next :-(1) Whether he has received from Inverness a petition for reprieve signed by nearly 4,000 persons or a sixth of the population-including many prominent citizens. (2) Whether the case for the Crown required that the murder, if committed by Joseph Hume, must have been committed on the evening of 24th September, while several witnesses deposed to their belief in having seen the murdered man on the following day; (3) Whether it is true that, although the verdict was said to be unanimous, the jury were absent from court for a whole hour, whether this long absence was due to some of them having held out for a recommendation to mercy, and only given way on an assurance from the foreman that there was no likelihood of a death sentence being carried out; and (4) Whether the evidence having been entirely circumstantial, he is disposed to give favourable consideration to the petition in view of the recent notorious case where reprieve was granted although the crime had been committed. in the presence of witnesses. MR. SINCLAIR: I am aware of the strong public interest which this case has aroused; and I can assure my hon. consideration. The petition to which he refers has been received. I am unable to follow my hon. friend into a discussion of the remaining points now raised by him. Mullingar Labourers' Cottages. MR. MOORE (Armagh, N.): I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland if he is aware that three men named respectively Hugh Duck, Mike Donnelly, and Michael Coleman, occupiers of labourers' cottages near Rathowen, in the Mullingar Union, under the Labourers Acts, have been served with notices to quit by the Mullingar Rural Council, the offence charged being that they have continued to work for two owners of property who have incurred unpopularity by refusing to sell their land on terms demanded; and if the Local Government Board are prepared to sanction such action of the rural council. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY, Liverpool, Exchange): I am informed that notices to quit have been served by the Mullingar Rural District Council upon the three men mentioned in the Question, but I have no information as to the grounds of the action of the council other than a newspaper statement that the council did not feel bound to provide cottages for the servants of landlords or their agents. The tenancies of the labourers' cottages referred to are regulated by agreements which enable the council to terminate them after due notice. The Local Government Board have no power to interfere with the action of the council in the matter. MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.): Is it not the fact that proceedings have been taken against these men because one of them has not been in occupation of the house for a considerable time, another has not cultivated the plot of land allotted to him, and the third is not an agricultural labourer at all? MR. CHERRY: I have no information. MR. MOORE : Will the right hon. Gentleman inquire the reason for this action by a so-called public body? [ Is it not part of a general conspiracy to boycott these men and turn them out on the roadside? Will he take steps to protect them? MR. CHERRY: If any evidence is brought before me showing breach of the criminal law I will prosecute. CAPTAIN J. CRAIG: Is it necessary for the tenant of one of these cottages to cultivate the ground as a condition of occupation? MR. CHERRY: I really do not know what the conditions imposed by the guardians are. Irish School Building Grant. MR. JOHN O'CONNOR, (Kildare, N.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland can he state what steps have been taken to use the £40,000 per annum for three years granted in respect of school buildings in Ireland; in how many cases have new school-houses been approved by the Commissioners, and in how many have much; in how many cases have manathey advanced money, and, if any, how gers submitted special plans, and in how many cases have the Board of Works submitted special plans; has there been any delay in the consideration of the former and in the preparation of the latter; and, if so, what is the cause of the delay; and whether, if there are any arrears in prospective school building, steps will be immediately taken to clear off the same. MR. CHERRY: Since the month of April last, when a settlement was arrived at upon the general questions affecting school buildings and grants, new plans for seventeen types of schools and the specifications thereof have been settled between the Commissioners of National Education and the Board of Works. The Commissioners have provisionally approved of the erection of new schoolhouses in 266 cases, and have sanctioned grants to the amount of £26,571 in In these latter fifty-six of these cases. cases leases of the sites have to be pre pared and executed before advances can be made, and the work is being proceeded with as rapidly as possible. The advances are made by the Board of Works by instalments as the work of building proceeds. Since 1st April advances have been made in eighty-three cases, the amount advanced being £3,981. In fifty-four cases special plans have been submitted by managers to the Commissioners of National Education. Board of Works do not submit special plans, but they prepare and issue to the managers the standard official plans and specifications. No avoidable delay The has occurred in the examination and consideration of special plans. Any delay which may have occurred is due to the fact that in very many cases the plans have had to be returned to the managers' architects for revision. Full provision has been made in both Departments for dealing without delay with the work in connection with school building. Motor Speed Limits in Ireland. MR. CATHCART WASON: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state how many applications for a speed limit on motors in Ireland have been received from the local authorities; and how many have been granted and how many refused. MR. CHERRY: Three applications have been received from county authori ties for a speed limit under Section 9 cf the Motor Car Act, 1903-one from the Belfast County Borough Council for a speed limit of ten miles an hour, upon which the Local Government Board have not yet adjudicated; and the other two from the county councils of Wicklow and Kildare for speed limits of six and eight miles an hour, respectively. In the two latter cases the Board pointed out that they would be prepared to consider a reduction to ten miles an hour as contemplated by the Section, but these councils have not proceeded further in the matter. Fair Rents in County Galway. MR. JOHN ROCHE (Galway, E.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a number of tenants in the Mountbellew, county Galway, district have served notices with the object of having fair rent fixed upon their holdings; and will he see that the Sub-Commissioners hold a court there with as little delay as possible. MR. CHERRY: The Land Commission inform me that a Sub-Commission sitting for the Mount Bellew district was held last October when all cases which arose prior to 1st September were listed for hearing. Since then only thirteen applications to fix fair rents have been received from that district. A further sitting will be held at as early a date as may be consistent with the claims of other districts, but the Land Commission cannot at present fix a date. VOL. CLXXXV. [FOURTH SERIES.] Necessitous Schools in Ireland. MR. N. J. MURPHY (Kilkenny, S.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether in the case of schools in necessitous districts or in districts where, owing to local circumstances, it is extremely difficult to obtain funds for educational purposes, there is any provision to empower the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to award to the managers of such schools grants sufficient to cover the entire cost of the erection of new buildings; and whether buildings so erected may be vested in local trustees. MR. CHERRY: In needy and congested districts the Commissioners of National Education may, when in a position to certify that no local aid can reasonably be expected or that a less contribution than one-third wil be forthcoming, be empowered to a larger proportion of the cost of the erection of new buildings than twothirds, provided that in the case of localities not officially scheduled as congested districts, the Commissioners of National Education and the Board of Public Works, with the aid of the Locɛl Government Board, agree upon a suitable criterion of poverty for determining what districts should be put in this category. Conferences are being held between representatives of the Boards referred to, but a final decision has not yet been arrived at on the subject. Buildings for which grants in excess of two-thirds of the estimated cost are allowed must be either vested in the Commissioners or leased to trustees for school purposes, the Commissioners being in every case a party to the lease. Irish Primary Education Grant. MR. N. J. MURPHY: I beg to ask tenant of Ireland whether he is in a the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieuposition to state the amount of the proposed new grant for primary education in Ireland; and whether the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland have yet submitted to the Irish Executive proposals for the alloca tion of this grant. MR. CHERRY: My right hon. friend is not yet in a position to make a statement on this subject. C Irish Teachers' Pension Fund. but I will take care that the hon. Member's MR. N. J. MURPHY: I beg to ask the suggestion shall receive consideration in Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant the proper quarter. of Ireland whether it is the intention of the executive Government and the Treasury to remedy the financial condition of the Irish Teachers' Pension Fund, as disclosed by the report of the auditors who investigated this fund in 1906; and whether, in the case of any revision of the scale of pensions awarded under this fund, he can give any assurance that these pensions will be substantially increased. MR. RUNCIMAN: It is not the intention of the Government to take any steps in the matter at present, but the assets and liabilities of the fund will be carefully watched, and its solvency will be safeguarded. The state of the fund does not permit an increase of the scale of pensions. Irish Land Stock. MR. HAYDEN: I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the disproportionately low price of Irish Guaranteed Land Stock is in some measure due to its lack of a free market and infrequent circulation; and whether the Lord Chancellor of Ireland might influence the Court of Chancery in Ireland, who invest about £500,000 annually, mainly in Consols, to make a practice of ordering investments to be made in Land Stock, a security equally good to all intents, and paying a higher interest. MR. T. L. CORBETT asked whether the fall in the price of the Stock was not really due to the attitude of the Government towards Home Rule. Ireland and the Education Bill. MR. KETTLE (Tyrone, E.): I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, having regard to the fact that an additional grant of £1,400,000 per annum is provided for elementary education in England and Wales under the Education Bill lately introduced, and to the need for increased expenditure under this head in Ireland, he will take steps to allocate, by way of equivalent grant or otherwise, a corresponding and adequate grant-in-aid of Irish elementary education. MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON (Lanarkshire, N.W.): To what purpose will the corresponding equivalent grant for Scotland be applied ? MR. ASQUITH: I do not recognise any question of equivalent grant in either case. The new grant in England will not have effect until the year 1909-10. It would therefore be premature to consider the question on the basis suggested, at present. The requirements of elementary education in Ireland are, however, receiving the most careful consideration of His Majesty's Government upon their own merits. Belfast Sub-Post Offices. MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.): I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he can state under what circumstances the exhibition of a sign showing that telegraph business is conducted at town sub-post offices has been discontinued in Belfast. CAPTAIN NORTON (for Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON): It was decided in 1905 to discontinue in general the supply of notice plates indicating the various classes of business transacted at post offices, as it was found that such plates had ceased, except in cases where the circumstances are abnormal, to serve any very useful purpose. Window notices are in use in all offices. Existing plates, however, were to be allowed to remain, and this course, I understand, is followed at Belfast. 69 Selection (Standing Committees {27 FEBRUARY 1908} and Chairmen's Panel). NEW MEMBER SWORN. John Lloyd Morgan, esquire, K.C., for the County of Carmarthen (Western Division). SELECTION (STANDING COMMITTEES AND CHAIRMEN'S PANEL). Sir WILLIAM BRAMPTON GURDON reported from the Committee of Selection; That they had nominated the following Members to serve on the three Standing Committees for the consideration of all Public Bills, not relating exclusively to Scotland, which may be committed to a Standing Committee Standing Committee A. Mr. Arthur Allen, Sir William Anson, Mr. Ashley, Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Godfrey Baring, Sir John Bethell, Mr. Boland, Mr. Bowerman, Mr. Cave, Sir Frederick Cawley, Mr. Evelyn Cecil, Mr. Clive, Mr. Cobbold, Sir William Collins, Mr. Charles Corbett, Mr. Charles Craig, Mr. David Davies, Mr. Ellis Davies, Mr. Timothy Davies, Mr. Devlin, Mr. Arthur Dewar, Sir Walter Foster, 'Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Goulding, Mr. Gwynne, Mr. William Edwin Harvey, Mr. Holt, Mr. William Hope, Mr. Hudson, Sir John Jardine, Lord John JoiceyCecil, Mr. William Jones, Mr. Joyce, Mr. Lambton, Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Maclaren, Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Lloyd Morgan, Mr. M'Killop, Mr. Morrell, Mr. Nussey, Mr. O'Shaughnessy, Mr. Parkes, Mr. William Pearce, Dr. Pollard, Mr. Raphael, Sir John Randles, Mr. Walter Rea, Mr. Rendall, Mr. Thomas Richards, Mr. Thomas Frederick Richards, Mr. Ridsdale, Mr. Charles Roberts, Earl of Ronaldshay, Mr. Rose, Mr. Rothschild, Mr. Herbert Samuel, Mr. Seaverns, Colonel Seely, Dr. Shipman, Mr. Smeaton, Mr. Smyth, Mr. Waldron, Mr. Walrond, Mr. John Ward, and Mr. Cathcart Wason. Standing Committee B. Mr. Akers-Douglas, Mr. Beauchamp, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Black, Mr. Bridgeman, Mr. Bright, Mr. Burns, Mr. Butcher, Mr. Byles, Viscount Castlereagh, Lord Robert Cecil, Mr. Cleland, Mr. Cochrane, Dr. Cooper, Sir Edwin Cornwall, Sir Henry Cotton, Mr. Courthope, Mr. Cowan, Mr. Curran, Mr. Ferens, Mr. Flynn, Mr. 70 Gill, Mr. Haddock, Mr. Leverton Harris, Mr. George Hardy, Mr. Harwood, Mr. James Haslam, Mr. Lewis Haslam, Mr. Hazleton, Colonel Sir Ivor Herbert, Mr. Higham, Mr. William Johnson, Mr. William Jones, Mr. Kelley, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kettle, Sir Henry Kimber, Mr. Lane-Cox, Sir Joseph Leese, Sir Macnamara, Mr. M'Arthur, Mr. Meehan, Maurice Levy, Sir Francis Lowe, Dr. Mr. Mond, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Murray, Mr. Nannetti, Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Nolan, Charles Price, Mr. Rainy, Mr. John Mr. Paulton, Sir Francis Powell, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Soares, Mr. Solicitor-General, Mr. Austin Taylor, Mr. Theodore Taylor, Mr. David Alfred Thomas, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Walton, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Llewelyn Williams, Mr. Wiles, and Mr. Wyndham, Standing Committee C. Mr. William Abraham, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Alden, Mr. Harmood-Banner, Mr. Barran, Mr. Beckett, Mr. Bowles, Mr. Brace, Mr. Bramsdon, Mr. Branch, Mr. Carlile, Mr. Cave, Mr. Cheetham, Mr. Herbert Craig, Sir William Cremer, Mr. Cullinan, Mr. Hart-Davies, Mr. Dickinson, Sir Frederick Dixon-Hartland, Mr. Duckworth, Mr. James Duncan, Mr. Clement Edwards, Sir Frank Edwards, Mr. Denison Faber, Mr. Findlay, Mr. Harrison-Broadley, Mr. Hayden, Mr. Healy, Mr. Howard, Mr. Kearley, Mr. Lehmann, Mr. Lloyd-George, Mr. Long, Mr. Lynch, Sir Philip Magnus, Major M'Micking, Mr. Jeremiah MacVeagh, Viscount Morpeth, Mr. John Murphy, Mr. Myer, Mr. Napier, Mr. O'Grady, Earl Percy, Mr. Pickersgill, Mr. William Priestley, Mr. William Redmond, Mr. Rees, Sir George Scott Robertson, Dr. Rutherford, Mr. Abel Smith, Mr. Seddon, Mr. Soames, Sir Edward Strachey, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Verney, Mr. Vivian, Mr. Walker, Mr. Warner, Sir George White, Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Osmond Williams, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, Mr. Wills, Mr. Tyson Wilson, and Mr. Young. Scottish Standing Committee. Sir WILLIAM BRAMPTON GURDON further reported, That the following Members representing Scottish Constituencies are appointed to serve on the Standing Committee for the consideration |