Schedule. — (Provisions relating to the constitution, etc., of each of the Cor- porations.)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 January 1948.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles , Down 12:00, 20 January 1948

Very good, Sir. I would only say that there are weak points in the Bill. It would seem that the Colonial Secretary did not examine very carefully the territories for which he is legislating. We see the mistakes that have been made in the past. We see gullies 12 feet deep and 12 feet wide and land ruined through bad cultivation. That is not only the case in our own Colonial Empire; it is the case all over the world. When I am at home and see a ploughman ploughing straight up and down hill I wonder if that will not make a gully in the next two years. Cultivation which has been carried on here for hundreds of years with our gentle rain could not be carried on in the territory the Colonial Secretary administers today. I remember being in the Residency in Basutoland where the agricultural officer was saying to me what wonderful steps he was taking for the preservation of the soil, and I said, "Look out"—