Part of Orders of the Day — SPRAY IRRIGATION (SCOTLAND) BILL [Lords] – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 July 1964.
I hope that the Under-Secretary of State will heed what has been said by my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross) and think again about this aspect of the matter. We have no real idea of how this business can develop. Major horticultural interests could use a great deal of water. By Clause 8, on the financial side of the Bill, we are adopting a new procedure, as I understand it, a procedure which does not apply to other users of water.
On Second Reading, I made the point that other users of water, particularly industrial users, had their water metered and they paid on the actual consumption. We are here departing from that well-established method, well known to water boards and local authorities. We say that, when a licence is granted and the £5 fee is paid, a quite substantial horticultural or agricultural interest could draw water to the extent of 15,000 or 30,000 gallons per day—