Mr Arthur Moyle: I rise because the local authorities in my constituency, the Boroughs of Oldbury and Halesowen, are entirely in agreement with the views expressed by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Mitchison). Their main point of criticism is that their right under the Act of 1948 to propose changes in the current valuation list is to be taken away. I should have thought that as the...
Mr Arthur Moyle: Why not big businesses, too?
Mr Arthur Moyle: The observations which I intended to make have to some extent been covered by a number of earlier speakers. There were two points in the speech of the hon. Member for Westonsuper-Mare (Mr. Webster) in which I was interested. One of them concerns the hire-purchase system, which has grown up in recent years. It is not the kind of thing in which one can take pride. I like to pay cash down if I...
Mr Arthur Moyle: Oh, yes, they can. If the hon. and learned Gentleman can persuade me otherwise, I shall be very pleased. In essence, I want the same defence for the consumer in hire purchase that he enjoys in the field of industrial insurance. I am sorry to disappoint the Chancellor. I do not consider his Budget a sound one. I am very glad that some of the Press comments today stem from second thoughts. The...
Mr Arthur Moyle: That is what I said. I said that they would receive relatively little. I was speaking about the married man with a family.
Mr Arthur Moyle: The middle road.
Mr Arthur Moyle: In the few remaining minutes, before the principals get at each other's throats, I should like to make one or two observations about street lighting. I should have thought that the Minister would have had his eye on the next General Election, but I must say that he did not come into harbour this afternoon with the bouyancy and cherubic look of a Cornish seaman. He came in looking very much...
Mr Arthur Moyle: The first of my few observations is that the problem with which any Minister is faced in connection with the conditions under which consultants, specialists, dentists and the rest are employed by the Health Service depends largely on the measure of agreement which can be established through negotiation with these professional services in relation to the needs of the Service. We have to carry...
Mr Arthur Moyle: Would the hon. Gentleman deal with my point about the Health Service patient who is charged for the provision of a drug which a general practitioner considers is essential to her proper treatment? I asked what is the basis on which the Ministry acts which precludes certain drugs from being made chargeable to the Health Service and what is the procedure in this connection? That question...
Mr Arthur Moyle: asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the number of young people who left school at 15 years of age, in the Boroughs of Oldbury and Halesowen, respectively, and the number who obtained skilled employment involving a period of apprenticeship, in the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and for the latest available date in 1958.
Mr Arthur Moyle: asked the Minister of Labour if he will give the number of registered unemployed workers in the Boroughs of Oldbury and Halesowen, respectively, in the years 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958.
Mr Arthur Moyle: Can the Minister tell me the latest available figures for both boroughs, that is, later figures than those he has given for 1958?
Mr Arthur Moyle: In view of the right hon. Gentleman's aptitude for bridge and for predicting unemployment figures, can he tell me whether these figures will go up or come down in my constituency?
Mr Arthur Moyle: In connection with statutory occupational pension schemes, after the consultations have taken place between the Minister and representatives of organisations of local authorities and employers and the terms have been agreed upon on the basis of either remaining in their own schemes, of being transferred, when will the point be reached when the employee, as on former occasions, will have the...
Mr Arthur Moyle: If the hon. Member's party is in favour of substituting a social security tax for the existing arrangement as a basis of providing the necessary revenue, why is the Liberal Party not prepared to accept the existing Income Tax system as a method of financing?
Mr Arthur Moyle: Will the hon. Gentleman explain precisely what he means by "small trader" in connection with hire purchase? All the small traders I know are simply selling agents for these appliances. Immediately a hire-purchase agreement is made, the traders cease to act in a commercial capacity and the matter is at once transferred to a finance corporation with which the customer deals. A finance...
Mr Arthur Moyle: asked the Minister of Health if he will take steps to provide adequate hospital facilities, having regard to the large list of schoolchildren in the borough of Oldbury awaiting hospital treatment for tonsils and adenoids; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Arthur Moyle: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the average treatment at the hospitals in the past year has been limited to 100 a year and that this year we are in the extraordinary position of having only 19 receiving hospital treatment during the course of a year? Will he go into the matter and treat it as one of exceeding urgency?
Mr Arthur Moyle: asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what progress he has made in his consultations with local authorities on street lighting.
Mr Arthur Moyle: May I ask the Joint Parliamentary Secretary what progress has been made in the direction of the West Midlands conurbation in relation to the authorities there?