CONSENT SIGNIFIED). rewarded; and he must, if he considers SALFORD CORPORATION BILL (KING'S the question, see that it involves distinct difficulties. All I can say is that it is being duly considered. Nobody doubts as to the excellence of the services rendered by the captains of all the transports engaged in connection with the war; indeed, I think it is one of the most magnificent records which the mercantile marine, even of this country, has ever shown-the manner in which the transport has been conducted. House adjourned at five minutes before Five o'clock, to Monday next, a quarter before Eleven o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Friday, 2nd May, 1902. The House met at Three of the Clock. PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS. DERBYSHIRE AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE ELECTRIC POWER BILL. Lords Amendment considered, and agreed to. BIRKENHEAD CORPORATION BILL. Read the third time, and passed. [New Title.] LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 2) BILL. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 3) BILL. Read a second time, and committed. LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 1) BILL. Read the third time, and passed. LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL (GENERAL POWERS) BILL. Reported, with Amendments; Report to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL (ELECTRIC SUPPLY) BILL. Reported [Preamble not proved]; Report to lie upon the Table. YORK CORPORATION BILL. Reported, with Amendments; Report to le upon the Table, and to be printed. MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS. That they have passed a Bill, in tituled, "An Act to make provision as to the application of the moneys arising from the markets held within the Read the third time, and passed. [New borough of Tiverton, in the county of Title.] BOURNEMOUTH GAS AND WATER BILL. BRYNMAWR AND WESTERN VALLEYS RAILWAY (VESTING) BILL. CALEDONIAN RAILWAY BILL (KING'S CONSENT SIGNIFIED). CAVEHILL AND WHITEWELL TRAMWAYS BILL DARTFORD IMPROVEMENT BILL. Read the third time, and passed. NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY (GENERAL POWERS) BILL (KING'S CONSENT SIGNIFIED). Read the third time, and passed. [New Title.] NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY (STEAM Read the third time, and passed. Devon, and as to the payment of the sums secured by mortgage on such markets; and for other purposes." Tiverton Market Bill [Lords]. And also a Bill, intituled, "An Act for incorporating and conferring powers on the Rickmansworth Gas Company." Rickmansworth Gas Bill [Lords]. TIVERTON MARKET BILL [LORDS], RICKMANSWORTH GAS BILL [LORDS]. Read the first time; and referred to the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills. PETITIONS. EAST INDIA (FAMINE AREAS). Petition from London, for the adoption of the recommendations of the Famine Commission of 1900; to lie upon the Table. EDUCATION (ENGLAND AND WALES) BILL. William T. Archer, Royal Laboratory, Petition from Margate, against; to lie Civil Service Certificate through inupon the Table. EDUCATION (ENGLAND AND WALES) BILL. advertence on the part of the Head of his Department [by Act]; to lie upon the Table. Petition from Moss Side, for alteration; NON-COUNTY BOROUGHS (POPULATION to lie upon the Table. OVER 10,000) AND OTHER URBAN OVER WALES, Return presented, relative thereto [ordered 1st May; Mr. Grant Lawson]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed. [No. 171.] BOARD OF EDUCATION. Copy presented, of Regulations for Secondary Day Schools (from 1st Petition from Eccles, in favour; to lie August, 1902, to 31st July, 1903) [by upon the Table. PUBLIC HOUSES (HOURS OF CLOSING) (SCOTLAND) ACT (1887) AMENDMENT BILL. Petition from Longside, in favour; to lie upon the Table. RATING OF MACHINERY BILL. Command]; to lie upon the Table. ULTIMUS HÆRES (SCOTLAND) (ACCOUNT AND LIST OF ESTATES). Return ordered, "of Abstract Account of the Receipts and Payments of the King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer in Scotland, in the year Petitions against: From Widnes and ending the 31st day of December, 1901, Stockton; to lie the Table. upon ROMAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN IRELAND. Petition from Selkirk, against establish ment; to lie upon the Table. SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS ON Petitions in favour: From Dronfield; in the administration of Estates and Treasure Trove on behalf of the Crown." "And of Alphabetical List of Estates which fell to the Crown as Ultimus Hæres in Scotland, administered by the King's and Lord Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, in the same year.”—(Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) (3.35.) QUESTIONS. Account. Cleveland; Lee and Lewisham; North Transvaal Colony-Government Banking Kelsey; Trowbridge; Thornaby; Richmond (Surrey); Dacre; Heckmondwike; South Norwood; Backworth and Seghill; Whitchurch; Southampton; Bristol; Eston; Inverness; Brotton; Spotlands; and Colinton; to lie upon the Table. RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC. SUPERANNUATION ACT, 1884. Copy presented, of Treasury Minute, dated 28th April, 1902, declaring that MR. BOLTON (Derbyshire, N.E.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the banking account of the Government of the Transvaal Colony is, to the exclusion of British banks, to be entrusted to the National Bank of the South African Republic, an institution founded with foreign capital; and whether, when the banking account for the Orange River Colony is settled, the claims of a British institution, which has been long established there, will receive due consideration. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.): The communications with Lord Milner on the subject of the position to be held by these two banks are not yet complete. Johannesburg Mines Refugees' Remounts-Captain Cane Hunt. MR. MARKHAM (Nottinghamshire, Mansfield): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that purchases of remounts have been made from a Captain Cane Hunt, a Cheltenham horse dealer, and that most of these horses were purchased by Captain Hunt at the Cheltenham and other repositories at prices varying from fifteen to thirty-one guineas, the average price being twenty-three guineas; and if he will state the number of horses purchased from this dealer, and the average price paid for the same. MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether in October, 1900, he received a communication from the Refugees' Committee in Cape Town protesting against their detention in that city, and stating that there was dissatisfaction at the enforced postponement of THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO their return to Johannesburg; whether THE WAR OFFICE (Lord STANLEY, he is aware that in many instances the Lancashire, Westhoughton): No replaces in the mines of the 120,000 mounts have been purchased from British miners driven out of Johannes- the person mentioned. burg by the war from their work and homes have been filled by Kaffirs; can he state approximately how many of these 120,000 British refugees have been permitted by Lord Milner to return to Johannesburg; and what instructions, if any, has he given to Lord Milner to oppose schemes for the substitution of blacks in the places occupied by whites before the war, in the Transvaal mines. MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN: I received the communication referred to in the Question. Since then, about one-third of the refugees have returned to Johannesburg, and large numbers are going back every month. I have no information to show that in many instances Kaffirs have taken the work previously done by white men, and I see no reason for any special instructions to Lord Milner on the subject. MR. SWIFT MACNEILL: Will you inform me, Mr. Speaker, if a paragraph was deleted from this Question upon your authority? *MR. SPEAKER: The matter has not been brought under my notice before this. MR. SWIFT MACNEILL: Then, Sir, with your permission, I will raise it as a question of order later on. Remounts-Captain Wynne Griffith's Purchases. MR. MARKHAM: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, having regard to the fact that shortly after the commencement of the war Captain Wynne Griffith was asked by the War Office to purchase remounts for its account in the Midlands at the Leicester, Crewe, and York repositories, and that he thus obtained the horses at cost price, whether he can explain why this practice of purchasing horses at the hammer was discontinued; and whether he is aware that agents of the German Government both before and during the war have regularly attended these sales, making purchases for the German Army; and whether in future he will follow the same practice as adopted by the German Government. LORD STANLEY : This officer purchased horses, as stated, at Leicester, Crewe and York, but they proved unsatisfactory and such purchasing was discontinued at the two former places. I have no information as to the latter part of the Question. Colonel G. Davies-Cooke, 2nd V.B., MR. BRYN ROBERTS (Carnarvonshire, Eifion): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that Bryan George Davies-Cooke, honorary Colonel of the 2nd V.B. Royal Welsh that the taking of the Taku Forts, for which Fusiliers and A.D.C. to His Majesty a clasp has been granted, formed part of the King, was, on 1st October, 1901, the operations for the relief of Peking, he adjudicated bankrupt, and that on his can consent to reconsider his decision application for discharge at Chester, on and to recommend the issue of a clasp 17th April, 1902, his discharge was inscribed "Tientsin." in recognition of suspended for four years. Whether he the separate actions which included the is aware that in 1878 this gentleman taking of the Peiyang Arsenal on 27th paid to his creditors 7s. 10d. in the £, June, 1900, and the assault and capture and that in 1889 another scheme for of the native city on 13th and 14th his creditors' benefit resulted in most July, 1900. of them receiving nothing; whether this gentleman has, in accordance with regulations, notified to his Commanding Officer the fact that he was unable to meet his engagements; whether the matter has been brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War by the Commander in Chief; and, if so, what has been his decision; and, if the bankrupt has not complied with the regulations, whether he will be permitted to hold His Majesty's Commission and continue to act as A.D.C. to His Majesty the King; and what steps he proposes to take in the matter Militia Separation allowances. MR. MAJENDIE (Portsmouth): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, will a militiaman called up for training this year (1902) receive separation allowance, the same as a regular soldier ordered away for duty, and therefore separated from his wife and family, or the same as a member of the various permanent staffs of the different militia battalions who will shortly assemble for annual training at Salisbury Plain. LORD STANLEY : The militiamen will not be granted separation allowance. Tientsin operations, 1900-Clasps. THE MASTER OF ELIBANK (Edinburgh, Midlothian): I beg to ask the As *THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. ARNOLD-FORSTER, Belfast, W.: I fear it will not be possible to reconsider the decision which has been already arrived at and acted upon. I informed the hon. Member, it is not proposed to grant a special clasp inscribed Tientsin. The clasp for the Taku Forts was given because the action was one in which ships took part. H.M.S. "Leander." MR. WILLIAM ALLAN (Gateshead): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if, if, seeing that H.M.S. "Leander" is to receive new boilers, he will state what type of boiler is being adopted, who were the manufacturers, what type of boiler is on her at present, and in what year were they fitted on board. *MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER: The old boilers of the Leander" are to be replaced by single-ended cylindrical boilers. The boilers now being inserted are made by Messrs. J. Brown & Co. of Clydebank. The boilers which are being removed are also cylindrical single-ended boilers. They were fitted on board in 1883. MR. WILLIAM ALLAN: May I ask the hon. Gentleman why water tube. boilers were not fitted in this ship, seeing that they are so much approved of? *MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER: Because the ship was built for cylindrical boilers, and no special purpose would be served by the installation of water-tube boilers in her case. H.M.S. "Diadem." MR. WILLIAM ALLAN: I beg to Secretary to the Admiralty whether, seeing ask the Secretary to the Admiralty THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON, Middlesex, Ealing): Currency notes are by law payable only at the office from which they are issued, or at the Presidency town of the Presidency within which that office of issue is situated. This restriction is maintained because, if the currency notes of all circles could be cashed at any one of the currency offices throughout India, it would entail the locking up of much larger balances than at present. British Representatives in Japan. MR. WEIR: I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will explain how the sum of £1,000, which appears in the Diplomatic and Consular Estimates as rent allowances in Japan, is made up. Mr. William Allan. THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE, Rochester): This sum is taken to provide lodging allowances at those stations where there is no Government residence. Church Discipline St. Anne's Church, Buxton. MR. MARKHAM: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Bishop of Southwell has given his sanction to the vicar of Buxton to practice reservation and the ceremonial use of incense in St. Anne's Church, Buxton, and that this sanction was given without the knowledge or wish of any member of the congregation or of the churchwardens, and whether he proposes to take any action in this matter. *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon): I have no knowledge of the facts of the case referred to, nor have I any jurisdiction in the matter. MR. MARKHAM: To what Minister must I address the Question? *MR. RITCHIE: I do not know that any Department has to do with this matter. Children's Out-of-School Labour. DR. MACNAMARA (Camberwell, N.) I beg to ask the Secretary of State fo the Home Department whether he can now say if there is any prospect of the early introduction of the Bill to restrict the out-of-school labour of school children, as suggested by the recent Report of the Employment of Children Committee. *MR. RITCHIE: I think it may be advisable to introduce the Bill, and I therefore propose to do so, although, having regard to the Government programme of business, I am afraid it will not be possible to hold out any hope of being able to proceed with it this session. Drowning Fatality_at_Putney-Charge against the Police. *MR. SAMUEL ROBERTS (Sheffield, Ecclesall): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether |