Mr Marshall Stevens: I have stated the facts right enough. I said that from the want of transport and control the matters occurred to which I referred.
Mr Marshall Stevens: I agree.
Mr Marshall Stevens: Might I suggest that we meet in the Grand Committee Room upstairs some afternoon?
Mr Marshall Stevens: You ought to have them all.
Mr Marshall Stevens: rose—
Mr Marshall Stevens: I am quite sure hon. Members who have backed this Bill had not the slightest intention of doing anything which would prevent the development of land for industrial purposes in this country. That is the effect, to a great extent, of this Bill. The hon. Gentleman who has just sat down said that the value of the land should be fixed by what has been put into it by the owner, and with that we all...
Mr Marshall Stevens: Can the hon Gentleman say what is the number of the staffs he proposes to accommodate, and when they will be accommodated? Could a building be put up within the next six months to meet all requirements?
Mr Marshall Stevens: Hero we are asked to provide a sum for a permanent building. Am I to understand that it is to be commenced forthwith? Those who know anything about Manchester and the district know that during the next two years, at any rate, there will be far greater requirements for the necessities of the country and of the district, not only in the provision of houses, where thousands and thousands of...
Mr Marshall Stevens: I wish to call attention to item 15— Manchester—purchase of site and erection of new building for divisional office and Employment Exchange. Total estimate, £132,000 (provisional). The sum required is £32,000, and I take it that that £32,000 is for the site. It is obvious that in the centre of a city like Manchester there must be an employment exchange, but why put the divisional...
Mr Marshall Stevens: Will the right hon. Gentleman communicate with the Prime Minister, to whom the question is addressed, and ask if he will endeavour to be in his place on Wednesday next week?
Mr Marshall Stevens: Is he aware that the difficulty in the main is due to the breakdown of transport, because coal is being carried for long distances when it can be obtained almost on the spot?
Mr Marshall Stevens: I think a great deal of misunderstanding is due to the fact that an attempt is being made to fix prices-for articles produced on a large scale. There is a great deal to be said, I think, for the fixing of prices retail, but when it comes to the production of the great commodities in which we are interested, I have only to appeal, I am sure, to the common sense of any importer or any merchant...
Mr Marshall Stevens: I beg to move, at end of paragraph(b), to add the words (iv) in case any complaint shall on investigation be proved, to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade, to be vexatious, the Board of Trade shall have power to award the seller such compensation, to be payable out of the fund or rate mentioned in Section six of this Act, as the Board of Trade shall deem reasonable. I agree that the...
Mr Marshall Stevens: My point is not that the complaint may not be vexatious because it is a good complaint. It may be a good complaint and yet a vexatious prosecution. The point I want to make, dealing with larger traders, is this. The hon. and learned Gentleman (Sir E. Wild) suggested that the shopkeeper should go out of business for six months. Shopkeepers unfortunately are not in that position, but the big...
Mr Marshall Stevens: In these cases, except in the case of big traders and trusts, the complainant is almost certain to be a man of straw from whom no costs can be obtained. In these circumstances will the Government be responsible for costs?
Mr Marshall Stevens: I beg to move, to leave out Clause 3. Here we have a Clause of five lines, containing what would easily occupy an Act of Parliament, and providing, I think, for the first time, without any precedent, for the sale of merchandise by municipalities. I have not heard a word of reason why this Clause is necessary in this Bill. The Clause has been considered and discussed, and its promoters are...
Mr Marshall Stevens: I am hardly likely to be accused of being afraid to back my own opinions, but under the circumstances I will ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.
Mr Marshall Stevens: I think this Amendment is most dangerous. [An HON. MEMBER: "Dangerous to profiteers!"] No, dangerous to Labour. The probability is that it would cause the holding back of a great many consignments coming forward to this country for disposal here.
Mr Marshall Stevens: I do appeal to the Members of this House to accept the Amendment as sent down from the Lords. I do not wish to repeat anything that has been said except that it is quite true that we were agreed upstairs, after all the fighting had obtained as much as we could, but would it be believed that the Home Secretary, supported by the Minister-designate, put into you a manuscript Amendment which, if...
Mr Marshall Stevens: The House of Lords, very likely, would Eave included a representative of the agricultural interests, in addition to the two representatives of the commerce and trade of the country. That is the Amendment we were dealing with in Committee for nineteen days upstairs. I cannot find words within what I consider Parliamentary language to express what I feel about that. The whole trade of this...