Mr Edgar Granville: The hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. G. Ward) always makes a well-reasoned and well-informed speech. The Debate has now returned to sweet reasonableness, which was the note on which it was introduced by the hon. and gallant Member for Macclesfield (Air-Commodore Harvey). but whether it will remain so now that the right hon. Member for Bournemouth (Mr. Bracken) has entered the lists, I do not...
Mr Edgar Granville: My right hon. Friend was not here earlier this afternoon, when there was considerable cross-fire on this topic. The Parliamentary Secretary, I am glad to say, made it clear that when Mr. d'Erlanger was made chairman of B.E.A.C. it was not a political appointment. I hope that these appointments will be taken out of parliamentary politics and that we shall get the best men for the job. The...
Mr Edgar Granville: I was not advocating international control; I was advocating World Airlines Limited.
Mr Edgar Granville: Reverting to the question of the election to the European Council, apart from the question of expediency or Government policy, will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there is a matter of definite principle here in which all parties in this House are very greatly interested? Will he reconsider whether——
Mr Edgar Granville: I was trying to ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will reconsider his decision and have a Debate on this matter, so that the Government may know the opinions of all parties in the House.
Mr Edgar Granville: Will the right hon. Gentleman see that nothing is done to prevent the re-export of German production from this country, in which a considerable trade is now being built up here? Will he see that our Consulates throughout the world are given this information, because, in many cases, it is the threat of German competition which prevents buyers from buying our goods, rather than the actual date...
Mr Edgar Granville: On the previous occasion we were discussing this matter it was a foggy night, and we were trying to see invisible arguments about invisible exports. The President has been trying to lift the export curtain to the iron curtain countries. However, I think he has left all of us a little more perplexed, and that he might have taken longer to tell us what this special £40 million is about. As for...
Mr Edgar Granville: Can the right hon. Gentleman give the figures for hard currency areas?
Mr Edgar Granville: The President of the Board of Trade has, quite rightly, had a very easy passage for this Bill. As he said, it not only gives the Department more money, but it gives them greater power and greater elasticity of action. I am sure that hon. Members on all sides welcome the preliminary figures he has given us this evening of a further increase in our export trade. It is extremely important that...
Mr Edgar Granville: Would the Parliamentary Secretary bear in mind that the present position of these clubs is very serious and that many will have to close down altogether unless immediate action is taken by his Department?
Mr Edgar Granville: I agree with the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale (Mr. Erroll) who has left the Chamber, that it is a pity that the President of the Board of Trade was not able to stay on after making his speech to listen to the right hon. Member for Aldershot (Mr. Lyttelton).
Mr Edgar Granville: I appreciate that; but we have not all had the opportunity of receiving such a letter. However, it is a pity that the President was unable to stay, if only to receive the bouquets tendered from every part of the House on this extremely important Bill, which is an uncontroversial Bill. Perhaps, too, the right hon. Gentleman might have enjoyed listening to some of the arguments on invisible...
Mr Edgar Granville: I am sure that these Ministers are extremely busy and also that the Economic Secretary to the Treasury will be able to give us an adequate reply on behalf of the Government. The Government are often too slow in giving support to changes in trade, and I hope that the Secretary for Overseas Trade will look at this interesting experiment which is taking place, and which may enable us...
Mr Edgar Granville: I agree that this experiment has to be watched very carefully and that we should see how it progresses. There have also been considerable losses to this country in the case of export orders which have had to wait for a long time for shipment, with the result that the orders have been cancelled and the goods left on the dockside here. The experiment will have to be confined to those regular...
Mr Edgar Granville: Does the Lord President's answer mean that all governmental research which is available to the large nationalised industries will also be available to the small production units in this country?
Mr Edgar Granville: As the hon. Member for Heston and Isleworth (Mr. W. R. Williams) said in the course of his remarks, you were good enough to intimate, Sir, a week or two ago, that it might be helpful if we had a short Debate on this subject, and this is the opportunity given to us on the Christmas Recess. I think it is important that we should have contributions to the Debate from all sides of the House, if...
Mr Edgar Granville: Before the right hon. Gentleman leaves that point, I should like to refer again to the Question asked by the hon. Member for Newbury on 24th November. The second half of the Question was about acreages of groundnuts and other crops that the Corporation expected to grow. As I see it, that was a Question asking for a progress report on crops. Who is to determine which is policy and which is...
Mr Edgar Granville: In June of last year I asked the Minister of Food for a progress report and my question was replied to by the Parliamentary Secretary, who gave me, so to speak, a short resumé of progress long before the annual report was received.
Mr Edgar Granville: Is there any record of wireless communication between this particular Mosquito and its base during the flight?
Mr Edgar Granville: I agree with the hon. Member for Banbury (Mr. Dodds-Parker), in his reference in the earlier part of his speech. Those of us who heard the statement this afternoon by the Parliamentary Secretary realised that she had framed her words very carefully and that the question was a serious one. We know that Canada's Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Gardiner, is in this country, and we hope that, even ...