Dr Dickson Mabon: asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) the number of persons presently employed in the Provincial Agricultural Economics Service; and the number of persons provided in the establishment for the service; (2) the number of persons who have been employed in the Provincial Agricultural Economic Service since its inception; and the average duration of employment of those who...
Dr Dickson Mabon: The hon. Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Rippon) has made one point at least which struck me with considerable force, for he said that we ought not to claim that there is any economic crisis or that we are having any difficulty with our balance of payments. I do not mind one or two hon. Members holding that opinion. I do not object to certain people in the country holding it if it comforts...
Dr Dickson Mabon: Let us consider the matter in those terms. If a man puts 6d. on the football pools he can win £75,000, and that every week. In the case of the Premium Bond he spends 2¼d. or 2½d. every week, and every three months he stands to win £1,000. This is a bet, for he would be earning 9d. every year on every. £1 invested if he were receiving savings interest on his money. I shall be glad to hear...
Dr Dickson Mabon: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. The other people whom it is claimed this scheme will attract are those who now put money in Savings certificates and Post Office banks. They are not particularly wicked people and they may be very willing, in the words of Professor Pitt-Watson, to have a flutter. They may be willing to take money out of one deposit and put it in Premium Bonds,...
Dr Dickson Mabon: We may well find this dignified Chamber used for announcing winners. We should be descending to the level of a banana Republic if that were ever the case. The virginity of the new cost-of-living index has already been tarnished and the index has risen by one point. The change in the bread subsidy will cause it to rise higher. The simple fact, which may delight the hon. Member for Norwich,...
Dr Dickson Mabon: It may not suit the hon. Member, but he has to answer to his constituents. The cost of living is rising as substantially in Lanark as anywhere else, and the hon. Member's constituents will let him know about it when he holds a meeting there, which, I hope, will be soon. If the hon. Gentleman wants me to attend that public meeting, I shall be delighted to accept his invitation, for we can then...
Dr Dickson Mabon: The Joint Parliamentary-Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, the hon. Member for Edgbaston (Miss Pitt). I apologise for not giving notice to the hon. Member that I would raise this matter, but I have not seen her during the last day or two. This comment squares well with the hon. Lady's comment last year that if old-age pensioners would stop drinking beer, and would...
Dr Dickson Mabon: No.
Dr Dickson Mabon: No.
Dr Dickson Mabon: The hon. and gallant Gentleman made a very pertinent point about the comparison between the London County Council and the Glasgow Corporation. I put it to him that there is a fundamental difference in the case which we are discussing. In the case of the London County Council all the persons concerned had fought their way to the council chamber through elections, but in the case of Glasgow...
Dr Dickson Mabon: rose—
Dr Dickson Mabon: May I point out to the hon. Member that in that debate in 1935 we were concerned with at least three other major projects, one of which was in connection with the municipal bank? With all those matters mixed up in one debate a considerable discussion could not be devoted to this matter, particularly when there were three other Bills to be dealt with that night.
Dr Dickson Mabon: The general argument of the speeches of my hon. Friends calls for an end to the anomalies in this tax. We have seen a complete rejection of this plea on the part of the Government. It is to the question of Highland games that I wish to address myself. So far, we have had two or three comments in answer to the arguments advanced by my hon. Friends the Members for Midlothian (Mr. Pryde) and...
Dr Dickson Mabon: I referred to the Eisteddfod and the Mods, which, after all, are festivals of Gaelic culture. These are nothing to do with the Highland games and only a small part is athletic. These are festivals of culture and nothing to do with athletic sports, and I believe they are exempt from Entertainments Duty if application is made to the Inland Revenue.
Dr Dickson Mabon: Although what the hon. Member for Motherwell (Mr. Lawson) has said may well be the case, that the Government are bending over backwards to be fair in this matter, the spine which will be fractured is that of the local authority. That is adding insult to injury. We have tried to argue that the way in which local authorities are cut out of this Bill is grossly unfair. We feel that a gesture...
Dr Dickson Mabon: The outstanding aspect of the Bill, as it will be regarded by local authorities, particularly those of large burghs, is that the stripping of their powers has left local authorities with practically nothing to do in respect of valuation and rating, but they have certainly a great deal to do in paying for the valuation system. The financial burdens have increased and the powers have...
Dr Dickson Mabon: Nonsense.
Dr Dickson Mabon: No.
Dr Dickson Mabon: Do I understand that the Secretary of State did not receive a letter dated 23rd March from the office of the town clerk of Greenock? Greenock was communicating the fact that it unanimously put forward its protest to the Secretary of State calling on him to place the responsibility on the shoulders of the Inland Revenue.
Dr Dickson Mabon: Was that not a representation?
