CITY OF LONDON (VARIOUS POWERS) BILL [Lords] (By Order)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 July 1959.

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Photo of Sir Harold Webbe Sir Harold Webbe , Cities of London and Westminster 12:00, 6 July 1959

I would rather not give way. I want to try to keep my head clear in spite of the efforts of so many to fog the whole position.

The hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Reynolds) raised two matters. He referred to Clause 18, under which the Corporation takes powers to invest up to half its superannuation funds in equities rather than in strictly trustee stocks. In general principle, as he has pointed out, that is an entirely acceptable thing to do, and the precedents of the Manchester City Corporation and the London County Council can well be followed.

The hon. Gentleman made great play with the question of 50 per cent. or 25 per cent. There is nothing serious to be read into that. It is merely that, being venturesome, the City Corporation felt that it should have a little more freedom to invest its superannuation funds in a wide range of securities, now that the ordinary trustee list is so restricted.

There is nothing new or sinister in this. I am not in the least alarmed by all that was said about Socialism and nationalisation creeping in by the back door. If all the superannuation funds of all the local authorities were entirely invested in equities, there would be very little effect at all. It is purely a fear for which there is no ground and I assure the hon. Member for Islington, North that the Conservative City of London would not be following the Socialist London County Council and the Socialist City of Manchester Corporation if it thought that it was in any way betraying its own personal belief in private enterprise.

The hon. Member also referred to Clause 17 and to the deer enclosure. He has misrepresented the Clause and has not appreciated what is happening. He was perfectly right to say that the Corporation is under an obligation to maintain a herd of deer, in the Elizabethan words, as "an ornament to the park and for the enjoyment of the public". There are many people who like seeing deer. There are some people who do not like having deer too near to them. I assure the House that that feeling is mutual. The deer do not like the public. It is precisely because they do not like the public that the deer are being provided with an enclosure to which the public will not have access and to which the deer can retreat when they wish to do so to have a little peace and quiet. They will not be herded in or out. It will be a place to which they can retreat where the public cannot follow. If the experience of other game reserves throughout the world is followed, it may be that in a year or two there will be complaints from hon. Members that the deer do not show themselves enough.

The area to which the deer go must be outside the boundaries of the forest because it would not be proper for the City to endeavour to keep the public out of any part of the forest itself. Fortunately, the generosity of a great friend of Epping Forest, whose name I will not mention but which I think everyone knows, has made available a suitable plot of land adjoining the forest. There is nothing to complain about in this unless it be perhaps that the deer have not the sense to be as enthusiastic about the hon. Member as he seems to be about them.

Finally, Lord Mayor's Day. I would not for a moment begrudge the hon. Member for Brixton (Mr. Lipton) his little song of thanksgiving. He has worked very hard. I do not want to comment too much on this Clause because—and I make no bones about it—I read it with a very heavy heart. I listened with amazement to the hon. Member for Islington, East (Mr. E. Fletcher). I hope that the next time he stands for Parliament in Islington he will make that speech there. He will be out on his neck. The suggestion that no one enjoys the Lord Mayor's Show is nonsense. Ask the children and the thousands of people who come to look at it.

The suggestion is that the Lord Mayor's Day is out of date. Of course it is. That is what makes it attractive. Where the hon. Member slipped in a way that I would not expect of him was that he did not read the Bill. The Bill says nothing about the Lord Mayor's Show. All this talk about the Gregorian Calendar and what happened in 1751, when I was not there and I am sure the hon. Member was not, has not the slightest relevance to the Lord Mayor's Show. The Clause alters the date on which the Lord Mayor is to take the oath and to take office. The Show is a personal arrangement made by the Lord Mayor in accordance with tradition. It has no legal validity, no legal sanction, and represents no legal obligation.

In spite of the "misery talk" about it by the hon. Member for Islington, East, I predict that there will be a Lord Mayor's Show this year, next year, and for a great many years after the hon. Member has ceased to be the Member for Islington, East. The Lord Mayor's Show is not in the Bill and the stuff that the hon. Member for Islington, East talked is quite irrelevant.