Debate on the Address

Part of Orders of the Day — King's Speech – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 August 1945.

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Photo of Mr Victor Collins Mr Victor Collins , Taunton 12:00, 17 August 1945

I feel that I have occasion to be grateful for the pleasant tradition of the House which grants some measure of indulgence to those Members who attempt to speak for the first time. I was very pleased, and I am sure we all were, to hear the remarks of the hon. Member for Epping (Mrs. Manning), because we felt that hers was the authentic voice of the unsung heroines of the war, the housewives. I, too, listened with considerable interest to the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. R. A. Butler), and I agree with a great deal that he said, particularly about the rural areas, in the later part of his speech. In the earlier stages of his speech, however, I was reminded of the time when I was a little boy and we used to conduct an experiment with a piece of blue litmus paper which, when dipped into acid, went suddenly red.

I am amazed at the change which apparently happens when hon. Members cross the Floor of the House, and from something which might not be unfairly called reactionary and delaying tactics spread over a long period of years of power, they suddenly reveal themselves possessed of energy which could be likened almost to the energy of a split atom. I felt, too, that those policies to which he referred were policies which had not merely been advocated, but had been pressed for continuously by the Labour Party over a long period of years, and to which many of our Members have contributed no mean part. We on this side of the House are not nearly so concerned by the dress, by the clothes of the man. We are content with a good sound policy which will work, even if it is clad in dungarees, rather than clothes with no policy in them whatever. We shall welcome the constructive criticism which, I am sure, will come from the other side of the House, but we shall tinge that welcome with the feeling that had hon. Members opposite engaged in a little more solid construction in regard to houses, industries and conditions for the people over the last 20 years, criticism might not now have been their main role.

I was glad to have heard on three occasions this morning references to rural areas and agriculture, because, coming as I do from a truly rural constituency, I am hoping to hear the authentic voice of agriculture having its say here. I myself have some small farming experience and therefore I was particularly interested, as I am sure all hon. Members were, in those parts of the Gracious Speech which assured us that those agricultural policies on which increased agricultural efficiency had been based would be continued, with suitable additions. To my mind, it is those suitable additions, their character and the vigour with which they are prosecuted, which will settle the future prosperity of agriculture. I feel too that the paramount importance of agriculture, as compared with any and every other industry, is not sufficiently realised either in this House or in the country generally. I would venture to suggest that the coal industry, vital as its importance is to the country, is at best a diminishing asset. But our land, properly used and applied, must be a constantly improving asset.

We do not know what effect the development of atomic energy may have on our basic industries, but we do know that people must eat, and that however agriculture develops it will always depend to a large extent on the supply of skilled manual labour. It is generally agreed that the physical survival of millions of people in Europe depends on our ability to provide and to distribute over the next few months—possibly years—a supply of food for their sustenance. If we fail in that the consequences to the peace of Europe and of the world may be incalcu- lable. Therefore we should not merely be satisfied with those measures which were in operation during the war. They are not sufficient. We must ensure a greatly increased production.

We have in this country some 35,000,000 ploughable acres, and if we bring that vast area under an arable rotation and apply a greatly increased use of machinery, if we adopt on a nationwide scale the ley farming system which I am glad to say is in ever-increasing operation in the county of Somerset, if we employ to a very large extent artificial dryers and render our farmers free from the consequences of the vagaries of our weather, then we can, in my view, produce all or nearly all of our consumption of indigenous foods. It means doubling the head of livestock, it means increasing the labour force very considerably, but it will not need any, or at any rate very little, extra legislation in addition to that which is already in force or is envisaged. On this subject the Gracious Speech did imply continued control of the main cropping programme, control of the use of land and the continuance of stable markets. I would emphasise that the Labour Party has for the last 14 years advocated a policy of import boards and bulk purchasing. I do hope that that policy will be extended in every branch of agriculture and that we shall find very soon that subsidies are replaced.

Two things for agriculture will need the closest attention: the building up and maintenance of an adequate labour force and the provision of the tools for the job of bringing our agriculture to the highest possible pitch of efficiency. On the question of labour, we are all agreed that the present personnel have done a magnificent job, but they are getting older and what is needed now is a very considerable influx of young persons into the industry. We shall only get them into the industry by creating conditions of work and living which will attract them. It is not merely a question of wages, although it must surely be axiomatic that the wages of its skilled workers must be comparable to those of skilled workers in other industries. It means also the creation of really good living conditions. Many people, when they think of slums, think automatically of the towns, but in my experience, in comparison with the number of houses, there are far more slums in the country than in the towns. I would add that it is not merely a case of dilapidated houses or unsatisfactory cottages, but it is a fact that more than 50 per cent. of our rural population are entirely deprived of access to electricity, gas, piped water supply and main drainage, and their children have to go to village schools which are often very small buildings where children from the age of five to 14 years are herded together in one class-room, and where the sanitary conditions are so primitive that the teaching of hygiene is a hollow mockery. Those are the conditions under which our people in the countryside are at present working. If we are going to build our agriculture up not merely to a position of prominence among our industries but into a firm foundation for our whole industrial structure, then we must see to it as a matter of urgency that conditions are created for the people in the countryside which will ensure that those who are born on the land will stay to live and work on the land.

The people of the countryside are not the fools which some people who should know better seem to imagine. I heard yesterday the hon. Member who has not yet decided whether he is a Junior or Senior Burgess for Oxford raised a laugh when he visualised the news flashing from hedgerow to hedgerow that the Bank of England was to be nationalised. I can assure him that in the villages in my own division, after the declaration of the poll, I was taken aside by some of the farm workers and solemnly adjured to take care of the money when I got back. That is the first thing the Labour Party must do. Remember what certain people did when the Labour Party formed a Government before.

The farm worker is an intelligent craftsman, and he awaits with what patience he can muster the creation and provision of conditions suitable for the really high standard of his calling. Farmers too are beginning to realise that it is in their own interests to see to it that they create conditions which are satisfactory to their workers. Many of my own farmer friends in remote villages where there is no transport regularly convey their workers to the nearest town. That is another thing we must seek as a matter of urgency—the provision of adequate transport services for villages in outlying areas. I do urge farmers to realise that they and the farm workers are members of the same family of producers, and that their joint interest lies in working together and not competing with each other in the building up of the industry from which they get their livelihood and on which we depend so much.

The second urgent essential is the provision of the tools for the job. I refer to fixed equipment, new roads, land drainage, water supplies, electricity, farm-buildings, which have been neglected for so long under the present ownership of the land. Landlords have entirely neglected to provide or to maintain the fixed equipment and the tools which agriculture needs, and before the war this was to a large extent responsible for the condition into which agriculture had fallen. There must be adequate machinery on all our farms, so that we can eventually attain the objective of five men and a tractor on every hundred acres, and I also hope to see an extension of the work done by agricultural committees in the field of technical advice.

I will conclude with a reference to two minor points which are very much in my mind. One concerns the provision of small holdings. I am sure that many of our Servicemen who have led an outdoor life would like to go on to the land under suitable conditions, and I trust that the Government will create those conditions and hope one essential condition will be that the holdings shall be of such a size, having regard to the nature of the land or the type of farm it is proposed to carry on, as shall be sufficient to give a man and his family a reasonable chance of getting a good livelihood. We know that after the last war too many of our men who had been in uniform were condemned to absolutely hopeless conditions, and we must not allow that to happen again. I hope, too, that wherever possible these small holdings will be arranged in communities, so that small holders can have access in a communal way to the best types of machinery.

The other point I wish to bring forward concerns distribution, and particularly the distribution of fruit and vegetables. Many fruits and vegetables are subject to maximum price orders at every stage of distribution, and generally that system works very well, and no doubt it will continue so long as conditions of short supply prevail. But one point which arises is that often there are temporary local surpluses. Unfortunately, when there is a small surplus, or a large surplus, of a particular fruit or vegetable, retailers do not sell below the maximum price, and even though they can buy more cheaply they do not increase their purchases, because they do not want the extra work. As a result considerable quantities of valuable food often become unsaleable and have to be destroyed. There is a simple remedy for that. If at the retail stage of distribution there was added to the maximum selling price a maximum rate of profit then, when those temporary local gluts occurred, the retailer would be compelled to buy more in order to maintain the same total of gross profit, markets would be cleared, a better average price would come to the farmer and the consumer would be in a position to buy more food at a reasonable price. That would be a simple measure to put into operation, because it would not need any staff additional to those who are already supervising price control orders.

I earnestly commend these points to the House, and would reiterate my firm conviction that the agricultural industry is and must be paramount, and must eventually become at least of twice the importance of any other single industry. Imagine the effect on our international trade if we do not have to import quite such vast quantities of indigenous foods. I heard my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister say yesterday that it was necessary for us to import very large quantities of food, and I do not doubt that that is true, but I hope that very shortly, or in a matter of a few years, there will be a considerable modification of that position and that we shall need to import far less quantities of the foods which we can grow more economically, and in my view much better, in this country than elsewhere. It has been said that Britain's soil is the nation's treasure house. Let us then search in that treasure house for its riches, and give to our people a fuller, a richer and a better way of life.