Agriculture and Transport (Scotland)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 June 1946.

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Photo of Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence , Orkney and Shetland 12:00, 6 June 1946

I am now about to give a rendering of the Ballad of Sit Patrick Spens, and although I am sure it will not sound more cheerful than the contribution of. either of the hon. Members, it will at least be briefer. It was the hon, and gallant Member for Argyll (Major McCallum) who referred to the fact that it would be very doubtful if the Highlands and Islands would get the full benefit out of the Hill Farming Bill unless the transport problem were tackled. That is true, but the problem goes deeper than that. This question of transport in the Highlands and Islands has occupied the attention of a number of Committees in recent years, including the Hilary Committee in 1938, the Watson Committee in 1944, the Balfour Committee in 1944, and the White Fish Committee in 1945. Every one of those Committees drew attention to the profound effect which heavy freight transport rates have on the economic life of the Highlands and Islands. It has been conclusively proved that the steamer freights which producers in the Islands have to pay on imports and exports are the greatest handicap they have to contend with in the field of competition. When these freights are as high as they are now, they amount to a virtual tax on existence, and the more remote the area the higher the tax becomes. I myself live in the most remote Island of all, Unset, on which an airman was stationed in the course of the war. He wrote to his parents and said: I always knew we had a far-flung Empire, but I never knew that any of it had been flung as far as this. This state of affairs is a most serious obstacle to the development of agriculture, fishing and other industries like weaving in those distant places. The margin of profit in agricultural enterprises in places like Orkney and Shetland is very small, at the best. We have quite enough handicaps to deal with, due to matters like latitude and climate, and what very small margin there is often becomes eaten up in freight transport charges. I remember what happened in 1931 when I myself suffered. When we sent our store lambs to the Aberdeen markets we got bills to pay instead of receiving cheques, because the lambs did not fetch enough to cover the cost of transport. I remember Shetland ponies being led to the edges of cliffs in 1931 and shot, because the prices they fetched in Aberdeen did not cover the cost of transport.

I could give endless details of the same kind. The handicap we have with regard to fishing, due to distance from markets, is already big enough without having to pay excessive freight charges. Freight charges must not be larger than the traffic can bear; otherwise enterprise is strangled at birth. One other point which I do not think anybody has mentioned is the tremendous handicap on building due to the high transport charges, which are so great that we are prevented from reaping the full benefit that we ought to get from Acts which are passed to help us solve these problems. All this has a depressing effect on the population, and it makes it very difficult to get any good system of land settlement going. People tend to leave the land, and in Shetland alone the population has gone down since 1871 from 30,000 to 20,000.

The general conclusion of the- Committees which have examined this problem is that there ought to be a scaling down of these charges, and that is urgently called for. It is impossible for the companies to do this on an ordinary commercial basis. They give us good steamers and good services, and we do not complain about that for the most part, but it cannot be clone commercially: of that I am sure. One or two hon. Members have suggested that we should have a flat rate. That suggestion ought to be considered because it might prove a solution. It is a point which requires careful examination by experts. We already have a kind of flat rate for commodities like flour, coal and artificial fertilisers. An hon. Member suggested that nationalisation might be the answer to our problems, but that would not make the slightest difference. If we nationalised the steamers tomorrow, we would still have this problem of the high rates to the Islands. it is a question of redressing the inequality which exists.

It is essential to make some effort to harmonise the cost of living in these remote rural areas with the cost of living in the more thickly populated areas. We cannot afford to let these Islands become depopulated. They make quite a big contribution to the country's larder in the way of store lambs and cattle, large quantities of eggs, fish, lobsters and so on. As one hon. Member pointed out. a great many of the men who live there are regular seafarers and served the country well in time of war. Many of them go abroad to the Colonies and the Dominions and do extremely well. What I have said about the effect of the freight rates on the population of the Islands refers to the period up to a few weeks ago. Since then, so far as Orkney and Shetland are concerned, a very serious thing has happened because the transport rates have suddenly been pushed up as high as 77⅔ per cent. That produces an absolutely impossible state of affairs, and let it be remembered that we have not the advantage of the enormous subsidies which the Western Islands have; £60,000 a year was the figure quoted, I think. I ask the right hon. Gentleman to take note of the fact that all the local authorities have written drawing attention to this urgent problem. He may not be able to cope with it within his existing powers, but I ask him forthwith to set up a departmental committee to go into this question of the freight charges as they affect the counties of Orkney and Shetland.

I wish to say a few words on another subject which has been referred to; the right hon. Gentleman himself referred to it. That is the question of township roads. These are vital to the community. Along these township roads come the supplies which the people have to get and the produce they have to send away. Children have to get to school along those roads as well. I say "These roads," although, in point of fact, they do not exist at all in many places. Arterial roads arc all very well, but arterial systems are of no use unless we have capillaries, and the township roads are the capillaries of our road transport system. The more isolated the community, the greater the need for access to the main roads. I think nothing has contributed more to the depopulation of some of the remoter rural areas in Scotland than the lack of roads giving access to the main road system. I have here a list of 83 township roads wanted for the county of Shetland. Judging by the rate at which help has been given in the past in making these roads, 30 years would elapse before the programe could be completed. If we wait for 30 years there will be no people to whom to give the roads; they will have left the land.

The right hon. Gentleman knows the size of the problem. I would ask him to consider the possibility of having a five years' programme. Let us attempt to get this problem settled once and for all. The hon. Member for the Western Isles pointed out that far too much of our time in this place which we ought to spend on broader matters is in fact spent in dealing with local problems. It is one long battle to get the people we represent provided with the amenities which most people in the country take for granted, without ever being aware that they exist. These township roads are the concern of the right hon. Gentleman. In the past, the usual custom has been to make a 75 per cent grant, the remainder being found locally. It is becoming impossible to do that. These roads cost far more than they used to. A 1d. rate in the county of Shetland raises £60; a is. district council rate never raises more than a few pounds. not enough to keep up the existing roads. Better roads are needed now because of the road transport. I do not think it is fair to get the men who make the roads to contribute to their cost by accepting something below the prevailing wage. This is a problem which wants tackling basically. We might well consider giving a full grant of l00 per cent., and get the road question out of the way once and for all My to minutes is up. I have 16 other points with which to deal, but it would take me at least four hours to develop them fully. In view of the undertaking not to speak for more than 10 minutes I will continue this speech on the next occasion, only hoping, Major Milner, that the prospect will not prevent me catching your eye.