Mr William Wright: I beg to second the Amendment. In rising to support the observations which have fallen from my hon. Friend the Member for Springburn (Mr. Hardie), I feel that I am doing so under some little difficulty. It is an amazing thing to me that when such an important change is proposed, there should be less than a score of Members out of 615 in this House at nine o'clock. There are only two Cabinet...
Mr William Wright: Yes, the Secretary of State and a Law Officer—one and a half. We have had a good deal about percentages this evening and we will not quarrel over that aspect of the question. When this question was being considered by the Standing Committee on Scottish Bills, I opposed the change very earnestly and to the best of my ability, and I am so far consistent that I intend to oppose it to the best...
Mr William Wright: I have heard that observation on many occasions and, if the hon. Gentleman has not heard it, he has not attended many public meetings in Scotland in the last 20 years. But, assuming that the statement is correct, it ought to apply to those who are responsible for the government of Scotland.
Mr William Wright: This customary farce of two score Members walking into the Chamber for two minutes, and then departing again is another instance of how not only the Scottish Office but also this very Chamber is out-of-date so far as our Debates are concerned.
Mr William Wright: I know that, but I think it was worth saying. It is a great pity the people of Scotland are not here to see it. But I leave that aspect of the question. I was pointing out that, if there be any logic at all in the statement of the superiority of the education that prevails in Scotland, it ought to apply with equal force to those who are responsible for local government, and, if that be true,...
Mr William Wright: I support the Amendment moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Springburn (Mr. Hardie). No Member from the County of Lanarkshire, as far as I know, has taken part in this Debate, and I therefore feel it my duty to make a contribution. There is some dispute to-night as to whether this is a rating Bill or not, although the Lord Advocate has assured us that it is not. But the Debate has...
Mr William Wright: I rise to make a few observations on this question from a very deep conviction. I was returned to this House by an industrial area, where we have very acute destitution and in some cases actual starvation, and I should be failing in my duty to my constituents if I did not support the Amendment. I entirely disassociate myself and my colleagues from any personal aspect in discussing this...
Mr William Wright: I do not want to give a silent vote on this question. I failed to vet into the Debate yesterday against the inhuman slaughter of many of my fellow men and I should like to say a few words on behalf of this Bill. I have, perhaps, an advantage over the hon. and learned Member for Argyllshire (Mr. Macquisten) inasmuch as I have seen the humane slaughter method in force, and, in my judgment, it...
Mr William Wright: The hon. Member did not refer to the documents which he has probably received from the co-operative societies, and which would have been deadly from the point of view of his own argument. There is a further point with regard to the export of mutton and lamb to Smithfield. The hon. and learned Member and his colleagues, to some extent, are responsible for that, because we have over 4,500,000...
Mr William Wright: Before making some reference to the speech of the Minister of Agriculture, I want to make one or two references to the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wells (Sir R. Sanders). He told us that small holdings were not an economic proposition. I have here an instance of a small holding in Scotland, quoted from a Government return by an ex-Member of this House, in July of the...
Mr William Wright: No, but the right hon. Gentleman did say small holdings, so we will leave it at small holdings, and I think he has his answer so far as small holdings are concerned. Then the right hon. Gentleman referred to marketing, and the difficulties in connection with it. He said that it is very excellent in theory, but breaks down in practice. I would remind him that, when the Prime Minister came back...
Mr William Wright: It may be a surprise packet for the right hon. Gentleman. It is reported in the "Star" newspaper. I will pass it over if the right hon. Gentleman cares to see it.
Mr William Wright: It is an easy way of getting out of a difficulty to say that you attach no importance to the people who report your speeches. It seems to me that is a very unwise policy for an ex-Minister of Agriculture to pursue. I will leave the right hon. Gentleman and turn to the Minister of Agriculture himself. I have always wondered how members of the Conservative Cabinet obtain their positions. I am a...
Mr William Wright: The yield of wheat for the last 100 years has constantly increased. I do not say that you can bring all land up to that standard. Much, of course, depends on the quality of the land, and whether it is being drained and manured and limed. My point is that the Government ought to have a standard and not allow to fall out of cultivation some land which might be producing 50 or 100 bushels per...
Mr William Wright: I do not say that it would be available throughout the country, but I do say we are not making any use of it. That is the point. It is there to be used, and it ought to be used to a much greater extent.
Mr William Wright: Yes, I said so on the statement published in a report sent from Berlin to a gentleman, a well-known Socialist advocate, James Leatham. It is published in a little book called "Let Glasgow Flourish." If you do not accept the statement, you must have it out with the gentleman who published the book. [Interruption.] I want to have the attention of hon. Gentlemen, because we are discussing an...
Mr William Wright: Yes, I am aware of that, but that does not alter the fact that parts of the forest are in the condition that they were in at the period to which I have referred. It is a well known fact that vast quantities of land in Scotland are in the same condition.
Mr William Wright: I have here a statement made by a very distinguished agriculturist, Mr. Christopher Tumor, who, in a recent issue of the "Nineteenth Century," declared that we were producing less food in this country in 1912 than in 1812, and that at the heyday of agriculture, about 1850, we were producing considerably more foodstuffs than we were producing in 1912. We must either produce our own foodstuffs...
Mr William Wright: I can tell the hon. and gallant Member an instance from my own experience as a boy on the land. It was quite a common thing for the hunt of Lord Fitzwilliam in South Yorkshire to gallop over growing crops. That happened when I was a boy working on a farm. I know of one farmer in South Lincolnshire who threatened, and threatened successfully, to shoot the first man who galloped over his land,...
Mr William Wright: If the hon. Member had been paying attention to what I said, he would have heard me say that it was asked for by the Earl of Derby in 1872 and the return was given in 1874. It has been constantly demanded since then, and we have never been able to get a return. Hon. Members know perfectly well that if an adequate return was allowed for all lands paid for in this country and compensation...
