asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that South Shields is not included as a distressed area in connection with relief from the Lord Mayor's Fund; and, as there are many unemployed miners living in that borough, will he immediately take the necessary steps to rectify this omission?

asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that South Shields is not scheduled as a distressed area for purposes of the administration of the Lord Mayor's Fund; the reason for this; and whether he will cause further investigation to be made into the matter?

asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that the borough of South Shields is not included in the list of distressed areas of the Lord Mayor's Mansion House Relief Fund; and, seeing that there are 10,000 miners resident in the town, wherein there are also two collieries, will he lay the claims of this town before the Lord Mayor's Committee for inclusion?

I will answer these questions together.

South Shields has been included as a distressed area for the purpose of grants from the Lord Mayor's Fund for the provision of boots for school children and assistance to necessitous mothers. The question whether assistance should be given in any other form falls to be decided by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle's Divisional Committee, who are understood to have the matter under consideration.

Could not the Noble Lord make representations to the Committee to say that there are so many miners living in the area who are unemployed?

I do not understand the hon. Member. I have said that the hon. Member's statement in his question that this is hot dealt with as a distressed area is incorrect, and that assistance is being given.

I am not clear on the point. Are we to understand that South Shields is scheduled as a distressed area to come under the Lord Mayor's Fund?

An answer has been given as regards that point.

On a point of Order. I understood the Noble Lord to say that they came in for boots only.

HON. MEMBERS:

That is not a point of Order.

I want to be clear on this point. I understood the Noble Lord to say that it was scheduled for the purpose of supplying boots and something else, but that it was not scheduled for relief under the Lord Mayor's Fund. It is that we are asking about; we want it to be scheduled for relief under the Lord Mayor's Fund.

HON. MEMBERS:

Speech!

It is not a speech. I want to ask the Noble Lord to make that point clear.

The hon. Member has put his supplementary question under the guise of a point of Order.

May I ask a question on this matter? The Noble Lord is well aware that South Shields is in very much the same condition as many of the distressed areas in the North. Is South Shields scheduled and treated in all respects as other distressed areas?

I do not know what the hon. Member means by "scheduled." There has been no seheduling. South Shields is being treated by the Divisional Committee of Newcastle as a distressed area, as part of the distressed area of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, and it has been receiving relief in the matter of boots for school children and assistance for necessitous mothers, which includes practically all that the fund has been doing up to now. I must safeguard the discretion of the Divisional Committee for the future.

Is the Noble Lord aware that the town council and all the local authorities have protested that they are not being treated as a distressed area?

I think they are entirely mistaken.