asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when and where the inquiry into the typhoid epidemic in Aberdeen will hold its sittings; and what evidence it will call.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland where the inquiry into the typhoid epidemic at Aberdeen will hold its meetings.

These are matters for the Committee to decide. I understand that they intend to hold meetings in Aberdeen, Edinburgh or elsewhere, as occasion requires.

Now that the epidemic in Aberdeen is happily over, will the Minister see that the inquiry is as expeditious and as complete as possible, so that Aberdeen can quickly regain its traditional reputation as a clean and healthy seaside resort?

I know that the Committee is aware of my right hon. Friend's desire to have its report as quickly as possible, but when the precise date will be I would not like to say. I should like to pay tribute to the public health authorities and to the public in Aberdeen for the quite miraculous way in which the disease has been contained.

As to the places where the Committee will meet, may I ask the Minister to be more explicit? Could it possibly require a meeting anywhere eise outside Edinburgh or Aberdeen?

There was a meeting in London initially, and I believe that the Committee met in Aberdeen yesterday and proposes to meet there again, but it is not impossible, perhaps, to seek some kind of bacteriological evidence from experts, that it may wish to sit in London.

Apart from the actual meetings of the Committee, could I ask my hon. Friend to press on his right hon. Friend once more the need to make it clear to Britain as a whole, through any contacts that he may have with the Press and otherwise, that the epidemic has now subsided and that it is quite safe for people from other parts of Britain to book their tourist holidays in Scotland from now on? There have been cancellations in hotels in my area in the South-East and the Borders, and I think that people have not been sufficiently informed that the danger is over and that they can well book their reservations for August at least.

I think that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made it clear on Tuesday that Scotland is a large place and that holidays in Scotland are perfectly safe. It gave me great satisfaction to see in the newspapers this morning that in certain parts, namely on the Western Coast, the tourist traffic has built up to a peak much sooner than usual.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will so frame the terms of reference of the proposed inquiry into the typhoid epidemic in Aberdeen as to enable its members to assess the loss and damage sustained by shipowners and crews and by owners and workers in hotels, boarding houses, shops and other businesses, and to make appropriate recommendations.

My right hon. Friend announced on 8th June the terms of reference of the Committee of Inquiry, and it has already started its work. The purpose of the Committee is to investigate the source of the epidemic, and my right hon. Friend does not think it would be appropriate to ask it to consider the different questions raised by the hon. and learned Member.

But does not the hon. Gentleman realise that precedents show that in typhoid epidemics elsewhere similar committees dealt with the question of compensation? Will he make it clear to the Committee now sitting that it should construe its terms of reference in such a way as to enable it to deal with the question of compensation?

I am afraid that I cannot give that assurance. If the hon. and learned Gentleman would like to give me details of the examples which he has quoted, I will certainly invite my right hon. Friend to draw them to the Committee's attention. My impression is that on previous occasions committees of inquiry into the causes of the outbreak did not deal with compensation. However, if I am wrong, I hope that the hon. and learned Gentleman will let me know.

The hon. Gentleman is wrong.