Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 July 1947.
Mr Joseph Sparks
, Acton
12:00,
14 July 1947
asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence of flooding this winter in the Thames Valley area.
Mr Thomas Williams
, Don Valley
A detailed report on the recent floods has been received from and discussed with the Thames Conservancy. In general, when the flow of the river at Teddington is 5,000 million gallons per day, the river is bank-high throughout its length. The rate of flow exceeded this figure for 29 successive days, from 11th March, and 10,000 million gallons per day for nine successive days, rising to a peak flow of 13,600 million gallons per day. No reasonably practical scheme of works could avert flooding in such circumstances.
Mr Henry Berry
, Woolwich West
Is my right hon. Friend aware that this flood has only been equalled twice in the last 75 years?
Mr Thomas Williams
, Don Valley
Yes, I am satisfied from information handed on to me that if the Thames had been completely empty when the floods commenced, there still would have been flooding.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
