Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: I find myself very fortunate indeed to have caught your eye on this occasion, Mr. Speaker, because to me falls the privilege of conveying the congratulations of the House to the hon. Member for South Hull (Mr. Sydney Smith) on having made a most competent maiden speech. I could not detect a single trace of that nervousness which afflicts most of us on such an occasion, and indeed afflicts...
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the President of the Board of Trade the value of British goods which have been awaiting shipping facilities for export for two or more months.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Minister of Works if window glass is freely available for purchase; and why there is a shortage of glass for repair and the essential maintenance of houses, particularly in parts of Scotland.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Secretary of State for War if he will take immediate steps to allow the wives of planters to rejoin their husbands in Malaya.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Minister of Health if he has any information as to the extent to which good habitable houses, particularly in the north-west area of London, are being used as workshops.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: I should like to add my praise for this Bill, and my congratulations to the Minister on the fact that he has seen his way to include in it the share fishermen. The great majority of fishermen are already covered, and I am grateful to the Minister for having brought in the share fishermen under this Bill. Having once taken them under his wing, I hope that, in future, he will not ignore their...
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the President of the Board of Trade if, in view of the fact that fishing net licences already issued have exhausted the capacity available for home fishing for the remainder of the current allocation period up to 30th June, 1946, he will forthwith reduce the quota of nets for export to the extent necessary to meet the full requirements of the home fishing industry.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Minister of Agriculture if it is proposed to compensate fishermen whose nets have deteriorated in store whilst they were away on Service.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that those men on coming back from the Forces have nothing with which to engage in herring fishing in the forthcoming season? Will he see that they get the tools so that they can do the job?
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will make arrangements for officers of the Mercantile Marine to be allowed to retain the prism binoculars and telescopes issued to them for their use during the war.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Minister of Food if it is proposed to dispatch klondyke herring to the Continent of Europe this summer.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: We are all grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Air-Commodore Harvey) for having chosen this subject. It must be quite obvious from the course of this Debate that the sooner we have a whole day to discuss the fishing industry, the better. My hon. and gallant Friend drew attention to the long term and the short term aspects of the fishing industry.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: I do not intend to refer to the replacement of the trawler fleet, though the need for this came very vividly before me when I was the chair man of a committee investigating the fishing industry in Scotland. At least two hon. Members have referred to the question of the price of fish. I agree with the hon. Member for Berwick and Hadding-ton (Mr. J. J. Robertson) about narrowing the gap between...
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: There has not been a precise reply to one point. Will the Minister undertake to deal with the question of compensation, which has been a running sore for four years now? It has caused the greatest possible discon tent not only to the men who suffer from these losses but to everybody else.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: Many Members will be aware that I have a personal interest in the rubber industry, but the subject I am raising tonight goes far beyond any personal interest I may have. A century of British rule has brought law and order to Malaya, and has paved the way for the development of its two great staple industries—rubber and tin. Malayan Governments derive the greater part of their revenue by...
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Secretary of Stale for Scotland if a fisherman who acquires a motor fishing vessel from the Admiralty and finds it necessary to alter the position of the engine can add the cost of such alterations to the price of the boat for the purpose of receiving assistance by way of grant or loan under the Inshore Fishing Industry Act.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if a fisher man will get a grant under the Inshore Fishing Industry Act towards the cost of buying or reconditioning a boat without at. the same time taking a loan.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if any conclusion has been reached as to the practicability of using Mulberry sections for constructing piers and harbours for fishing boats.
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: In that case, will the right hon. Gentleman get on with the construction of new and very badly needed harbour works forthwith?
Major Sir Basil Neven-Spence: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation if it is proposed to form a Scottish airways division of the projected British-European Airways Corporation; and, if so, will the operational management of Scottish air services be left entirely in the hands of Scotsmen resident in Scotland.