Orders of the Day — Flood Disasters

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 19 February 1953.

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Photo of Mr Colin Thornton-Kemsley Mr Colin Thornton-Kemsley , North Angus and Mearns 12:00, 19 February 1953

No one not actually present in North-East Scotland on 31st January, or who has not subsequently seen the extent of the devastation, could possibly realise the extent of the blow which has fallen upon us.

If any hon. Members would wish to see for themselves, I would recommend them to make the journey to the Reference Library of the House of Commons and look at a copy of the "Aberdeen Press and Journal" for 9th February. Throughout the period following the storm the "Press and Journal" has performed a remarkable feat of graphic reporting, and I know that many copies, including the issue of 9th February, which, to my mind, is quite outstanding, have gone all over the world. They tell a remarkable story. As one of the reporters said, the miracle was that although the great forests had gone no man had gone with them, for which we are indeed thankful.

It is estimated by the Forestry Commission that something like 35 million cubic feet of timber were blown down in a few hours. Although I cannot possibly make an assessment, I believe that might well be an under-estimate, because there are so many parts which it has still not been possible to visit. The telephone lines are still down and some of these areas are still out of touch. The fact that so many of the woods have been so severely blown means that the few remaining trees will be blown down in the next gale that comes along. The woods which have been opened up by great funnels of blown timber will suffer severely in future gales.

I want to address myself to one or two practical suggestions. The immediate problem is to clear the timber which is lying on the ground. That has to be done quickly, because the bulk of it is softwood which, as in the case of Scots firs, is likely to soften in nine to 12 months if it is not dealt with properly and quickly. The immediate problem is to get foresters into the area from other parts of the British Isles or even further afield.

We want foresters, saw mills, and cutting equipment from other districts because it is totally beyond our own capacity to deal with this problem. Unskilled labour is not much good. It is possible to absorb a few unskilled men to keep the bonfires going, to make the tea and drive the tractors, but we must have men who know how to use the cutting equipment, who know how to saw and use an axe.

I have a suggestion which I should like the Secretary of State to consider. There are in this country a great many Central Europeans of various kinds. There are many BaIts, people from Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland, who are skilled foresters. The land from which they come is largely covered with forests, and they know how to use these tools. I made it my business to inquire, through sources which are open to me, about the possibility of getting Polish forestry labour, and I am told that there are in this country up to about 1,000 Poles, single men, with forestry experience, whose services might be secured.

I do not know about other countries, but I dare say there are nationals of other Central European countries who might be approached. I am told that there are thousands of former Polish foresters in Western Germany who would be prepared to come over if accommodation could be made available for their families. They are in Western Germany and have their families with them, and if arrangements could be made for their families to come with them they would live in camps and would help with this gigantic problem which we have to face.

I hope that the small woodland owners will not be left to the last in this opera- tion. I was lunching last Saturday, after I had been over his ground, with a constituent of mine who lost about 80 acres of timber out of a total of 240 acres. There are a great many small woodland owners of that type in Scotland who are dependent upon occasional farm labour in the off times to do planting, and so on. I fear lest these men may be left to the last. I urge the Secretary of State to ensure that that is not the case, because they have no means of helping themselves.

I have another suggestion to make on that point. The great bulk of this damage has been done in the Eastern Conservancy of the Forestry Commission. About 32 million cubic feet of the total of 35 million cubic feet blown in Scotland is in the Eastern Conservancy. We have only two technical officers of the Forestry Commission in the Eastern Conservancy. They are working day and night, of course. We should like some more technical officers to be drafted from the other conservancies to the Eastern Conservancy because they would be of the greatest possible help, particularly to the small woodland owners who want the kind of advice which they could give.

I have been delighted, as all of us in the North-East have been, to learn that the Secretary of State is in consultation with the National Coal Board about the possibility of using much of our softwood for pit props. It would be the greatest possible help. What we shall need, however, is organised transport. I should like the Government to send special trains from Aberdeen right the way through to the mining areas, carrying mining timber; or, if they cannot organise special trains, at least the transport should be subsidised, because it is the cost of transport which has been the problem in the past.

Let me say a word about prices. I am glad that we have had the assurance that timber merchants intend to maintain fair prices. They have the difficulty of extraction. It always costs more to extract blown timber than to deal with cleanfelled wood. I hope that if the laudable intention of the trade's leading spokesman to maintain fair prices is not found to be supported in fact, the Government will be ready to step in with a guaranteed minimum price for trees as they lie, if there appears to be a likelihood of a severe fall in the price. I do not say that they should do it now. I am against controlled prices if they can be avoided, but I hope that the Government will have their plans ready in case it is necessary to introduce a guaranteed minimum price.

If they do so, it must be for the trees as they lie. It is no good helping further along the production line; the problem is, what is to be done with the trees as they lie on the ground. There would appear to be great justification for a deficiency payment from the Government. Woodland owners have been holding the nation's standing reserves of timber. Those reserves are now on the ground. Unless owners can secure a fair price, they will lose confidence in the future of timber growing and they will have neither the will nor the means to replant.

Colonel Lilburn of Coull, a friend and former constituent of mine, who was a former President of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, is reported as having said recently: Unless some assistance is given to hard-pressed landowners, it will be the death knell of private forestry in North-East Scotland.