Orders of the Day — FORESTRY BILL [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 July 1951.

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Photo of Sir Rhys Morris Sir Rhys Morris , Carmarthen 12:00, 6 July 1951

As has been observed, this is a very different Bill from the Bill which was originally presented, but, even with the difference, it is a Bill which should not have been introduced on a Friday morning. This is a Bill of very serious importance, and it goes much beyond forestry. I very much regret that the House is being invited to give this Bill a Second Reading. I should prefer to see it rejected by the House.

This morning the Joint Under-Secretary delivered a very important speech, which merits close attention by all parts of the House. In it he gave the reason why this Bill was being introduced, and connected it with the Defence of the Realm regulations. He observed that the Defence of the Realm regulations ought by now to be abandoned or to be incorporated in our statute law. This, he said, was the time to incorporate the Defence of the Realm regulations in the statute law of this country, and that is precisely what the Bill does.

The hon. and gallant Member for Barkston Ash (Colonel Ropner) referred to the position of forestry since 1919. What is the defence of this Bill? It is sought to make a two-fold defence. First of all it is said that this Bill is economically necessary. Why does it become necessary? Simply because every other activity is controlled, this control must be introduced. Thus another control is added. One control breeds another, and the pro- duction and stockpiling of trees is being controlled to such a degree that the term is not even defined.

Look at Clause 1. It imposes upon the Forestry Commissioners the duty of promoting the establishment and maintenanance in Great Britain of adequate reserves of growing trees. What are the adequate reserves? Who is to determine what the adequate reserves are? How are the Forestry Commissioners to know what are the adequate reserves? What is the definition? There is only one way in which to find out the adequate reserves in any fair economic system, and in any prosperous economic system, and that is by balancing it with the other industrial development and economic welfare.

I have heard used in the House this morning the phrase used in another place, that there is "premature felling of trees." To use the word "premature" is to use a question-begging word. To describe it as "waste" is also to use a question-begging word. Nobody fells trees unless he makes a profit by felling them. That must be the answer. He who says that it is premature and wasteful means that in his opinion, or in the opinion of the Forestry Commission, not in the opinion of the person felling the trees, it is premature and wasteful. But by what right, except by authority, is one opinion substituted for the other.

I am not criticising the ability or the expert knowledge of the Forestry Commission. However distinguished and however expert they may be, their decision is an authoritarian decision, and when this House puts that power in the hands of anybody, in the name of the economic welfare of the country, it is substituting one authority for another, and building up an authoritarian system.

We had better make clear in our own minds what we are doing. The harshness felt by the landowners under this system are very small as compared with other considerations. This problem arises, because in one section of our economy after another in the last 20 or 30 years, principles contrary to our sense of freedom are introduced. First of all they were imposed by the war; but here we, in the name of the economic welfare of the country, we are imposing controls which were found necessary during the war and making them a permanent part of our legislation. That alone in my view would justify us throwing out the Bill on principle alone, but there are other reasons why the Bill does not merit a Second Reading.

The second main object to this Bill is that it changes the procedure by which the Forestry Commission can compulsorily acquire land. Let me turn to that for a moment. The present procedure is set out in the provisions of the Act of 1947. I venture to think that if this House had had the time to consider that Act, together with the Schedules and also the Town and Country Planning Act and other Acts of a like nature, instead of sending them to a Committee upstairs, where the House as a whole could not bring its mind to bear upon their serious provisions, things might have been vastly different. The fact is that during the last five years major Measures were considered in that way and passed without due consideration.

The Forestry Act, 1947, provides by its Schedules that a man can be deprived of his land which can be compulsorily acquired by the Commission without him having access to the courts of the country. The claim is heard by a special tribunal, and the person appointed by the Minister conducts the inquiry. The object of that inquiry is "to inform the Minister." That is the language of the Schedule. But the Minister has already had from the objector all the objections placed before him. There have been full consultations, and usually he has also received a deputation supporting the objection. There is no new information which can be placed before the inquiry which is not already in the possession of the Minister.

The arbitrator is appointed to hold the inquiry, which is merely to hear the objectors present the case already in the possession of the Minister. No case is presented by the Minister except a written statement, and that need not necessarily be accurate. Indeed, much of it may be totally wrong. No one represents the Forestry Commission to say why they want this land or what is the special purpose of it. The only people that can be heard are the objectors, who state over again what they have already stated many times before.

Similar provisions appear in Schedules of other Acts dealing with the compulsory acquisition of land. Attempts have been made to set the orders aside, on the ground that the objectors have not been able to present their case fully, because they did not know the full force of the case against them. Some of the cases have gone to the highest court in the land, the House of Lords. The judges have said this about this class of inquiry —and I am quoting the actual language of some of His Majesty's judges—" this class of inquiry is a complete farce." Indeed, in one case, in which the present President of the Board of Trade was concerned in the House of Lords, he argued that there was no pretence at doing justice and no pretence of appearing to do justice. That was a perfectly accurate and true statement of the position, and it was this House that made that law.

It is that kind of procedure which the Parliamentary Secretary this morning said was a cumbersome and costly method, but bad as that method is we propose in this Bill to substitute a far more totalitarian system. There is nothing to be said for the system of compulsory purchase which we are abolishing. It is a completely unjust procedure. For it we substitute a procedure which places the matter under the control of the Minister. There are no rights of redress, no access to the court, and nothing to safeguard the position of the owner.

Here, on a Friday morning in this casual way, we are presented with such a far reaching proposal. In this way the rights of the people are done away with. This principle is brought before Parliament like a thief in the night and with no proper consideration at all.