Mr Edgar Granville: As it was difficult to hear the right hon. Gentleman's answer in this part of the House, will he make it absolutely clear that the potential increase in costs of feedingstuffs will be taken into account in the February Price Review?
Mr Edgar Granville: On a regional basis?
Mr Edgar Granville: On a point of order. It was absolutely impossible on these benches to hear you put the Question, Sir Charles.
Mr Edgar Granville: On the question of swill in the American camps, is the Parliamentary Secretary satisfied that this will apply to all American camps and that the discipline will be completely effective?
Mr Edgar Granville: The fresh assurances which the Minister has given this afternoon will have to be carefully studied. The right hon. Gentleman delivered that part of his speech rather rapidly. As I understand it, the existing Federation and its committees will be given a further period of grace of three months in which to accommodate themselves to the change-over but, at the same time, the representatives of...
Mr Edgar Granville: I am not in a position to give the correct answer to that question. I am merely quoting from the Report in HANSARD of the last debate, when the Leader of the Opposition read from a document which I understood had been presented to the T.U.C. by Mr. Lincoln Evans, and was now an official document of the T.U.C.
Mr Edgar Granville: For the purposes of my argument it does not make the slightest difference whether it refers to the steel industry or to civil aviation. I am saying that although this industry is to be taken over eight days from now, the Government have not yet devised the effective technique in the conduct and relationship of the nationalised industries to our general economy. The whole set-up is in its...
Mr Edgar Granville: Yes. I have considered very carefully whether the compromise should be made on the basis of the change-over or whether the existing stock is left as it is and the status quo in that respect maintained. My view is that the difficulties of reaching agreement are so great if the actual stock change-over is made the basis, that I think the right hon. Gentleman would have to extend the period of...
Mr Edgar Granville: Will the Minister take into consideration the fact that the growers, who are at the end of the list, have to wait until last to be paid? Will he therefore consider making some payment on account?
Mr Edgar Granville: The hon. Member for Kirkcaldy (Mr. Hubbard) has just delivered an eloquent speech. He speaks with a great deal of experience and knowledge, and I am sure he found an answering echo in all parts of the House. There can be no question but that the hon. Gentleman has fully recovered from his indisposition, and I am sure we are all glad to sec him in his place and hear him speak on a subject on...
Mr Edgar Granville: Yes. I should be very interested to see if all the Conservatives are agreed on the line which they are to take when they go into the Lobbies. That does not say that anybody, so far, in this debate has expressed complete satisfaction with the proposals of the Government to import coal from the United States. No one has expressed satisfaction of the present activities of the Coal Board or of...
Mr Edgar Granville: The hon. Gentleman will forgive me, but when the right hon. Gentleman was making his speech he referred to coal in industry and mentioned electrification.
Mr Edgar Granville: I do not know if the hon. Gentleman heard the whole of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman. He made a special point that the conservation of coal should apply to industry, domestic consumers and the rest; and I refuse to believe that it has not some relation to the coal industry that we are not able to carry out the full programme at the present time of rural electrification, which many...
Mr Edgar Granville: There is a continual inquiry going on by organised labour, and even by the well-briefed hecklers from the Tory Central Office. If Members of the Opposition were to find themselves sitting opposite and had to face the present economic and foreign affairs situation, they would be aghast at any suggestion of a roving inquiry. My advice to the Government is that they should make their own...
Mr Edgar Granville: I hope that the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bradford, East (Mr. McLeavy) will forgive me if I do not follow closely the arguments expressed in his interesting speech, with a good deal of which I fully agreed. The Foreign Secretary yesterday appealed for restraint and moderation in the speeches to be made in this debate. I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman can complain at the tone...
Mr Edgar Granville: May I, in one minute, reinforce the appeals that have been made by the hon. Member for Lowestoft (Mr. Edward Evans), the hon. and gallant Member for Yarmouth (Squadron-Leader Kinghorn) and the hon. and gallant Member for Horncastle (Commander Maitland)? Unfortunately, some industries, or some firms, have been transferred from East Anglia to South Wales, and I want the Parliamentary Secretary,...
Mr Edgar Granville: I am glad the hon. Lady the Member for Blackburn, East (Mrs. Castle) raised the question of the price of fish at the present time. Whatever may be the reason, whether decontrol or any other, prices have gone up when we compare them with this time last year, which is the true seasonal comparison. I hope the Minister of Food is going to address himself to this problem, because it bears very...
Mr Edgar Granville: The public.
Mr Edgar Granville: I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will be able to reply to some of the points made by the hon. and gallant Member for East Grinstead (Colonel Clarke), who discussed the important problem of mining and agricultural land, which has been debated many times in this House. I, as a Liberal in a minority of one in this Debate, wish to congratulate the Minister on his speech this afternoon. It...
Mr Edgar Granville: I would hesitate to advocate any more appointments for any right hon. Gentleman, but it is important to remember that in the nationalised industries many of the people were hurriedly placed in important jobs. The question has to be determined whether they are responsible to public opinion or are there merely to do an efficient job as technocrats. Are they responsible to the National Coal...