Mr Nigel Fisher: Would the right hon. Gentleman not consider that to the hardened criminal who has been convicted of this sort of offence on many occasions, corporal punishment—I mean the "cat" and birch—would be an effective deterrent where none other might exist, and would he not consider that explicit suggestion as a means of protection for the public?
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Minister of Food whether he will allow butchers to grade their meat as they did before the war, so that different prices may be charged according to quality.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Does not the hon. Gentleman think that it would be for the convenience of the public and of the butchers if meat were graded according to origin? For instance, more would be charged for Canterbury lamb than for the less attractive Argentinian variety. Similarly we should pay more for the best Scottish beef than for the very old English cow that we usually eat on Sunday.
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Minister of Food whether he will make additional supplies of pork meat available to butchers for the better quality sausages which he has now authorised.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Is it not a fact that the only effect of the Minister's concession is that there is less sausage of both sorts available in the shops for the British housewife? Does he regard that position as a satisfactory outcome of his new policy?
Mr Nigel Fisher: I hope that the hon. Member for Erdington (Mr. J. Silverman) will forgive me for not following his argument, because many other hon. Members on this side of the House wish to take part in the Debate, and as time is getting on, I promise to be very brief. I should like to refer to the attacks made by the right hon. Member for East Sterling (Mr. Woodburn) and others on the benches opposite...
Mr Nigel Fisher: If I may be allowed to develop my argument, I will come to an alternative suggestion later on. Did the Government even try to make such an arrangement with the United States? Have they ever approached the United States Government to discuss this possibility? I think these alternatives are worth considering in a matter of this sort. Taking up the point which has just been made, could we not...
Mr Nigel Fisher: I was merely speaking on the assumption that the quotation I read from the statement of the Secretary for Overseas Trade represented what was, in fact, correct, when he said that what has happened is that we have had essential supplies of grain and timber from Russia and have had to make payment in return. On the question of the suitability of the timber from Russia for housing purposes, I...
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation when it is proposed to start an Atlantic service using the Brabazon II; and what special financial arrangements will have to made with the Corporation.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Will the Minister give an assurance that B.O.A.C. are prepared to put their heart into this job? At the moment they seem to be very lukewarm about this particular commission.
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation when it is expected that the survey equipment for the airways, other than Airway Green 1, will be delivered and installed.
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation if he will alter the schedule of landing charges at Ministry-controlled aerodromes, so as to charge a jet aircraft more than a piston-engined aircraft of the same weight.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Will the Parliamentary Secretary bear in mind, because I believe that it is generally agreed, that the jet stream from these aircraft is most injurious to the surface of runways, and, that being so, does he not think it reasonable that jet planes should pay more than ordinary aircraft?
Mr Nigel Fisher: I beg to second the Motion. As my hon. Friend the Member for St. Albans (Mr. J. Grimston) has said, there are two distinct categories of schools concerned in this scheme. First, there are the church schools to which my hon. Friend has referred, and which were also the subject of Debate in another place, and, secondly, the grammar schools, in which quite different issues are involved. The...
Mr Nigel Fisher: The governors of the grammar schools to which I referred objected most strongly. I talked with them in person.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Does not the Minister agree that it would have been a shocking thing to him to have found that 2,000 teachers in State schools in 1939 were members of the British Union of Fascists, and does he not find it equally shocking that today there are the same number at least, and probably more, Communist teachers in the State run schools of this country?
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the President of the Board of Trade how the price of timber recently purchased from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics compares with the price at which Swedish timber could have been bought last November.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his reply to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Lewes (Major Beamish) on 6th July was quite evasive in that it is perfectly well known throughout the timber industry in this country and Scandinavia that more timber could have been obtained than that recently bought from Russia, and at a cheaper price, if negotiations last November had been carried...
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that, after a delay of over six months, his Department have still failed to provide a telephone service at Sandon, in Hertfordshire, in a case where the wires are already laid.
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the President of the Board of Trade how many standards of timber have been imported from Sweden this year; how many standards were imported from Sweden in the corresponding period last year; what have been the average yearly imports from Sweden since the war; and what further quantities are likely to be obtained this year from this source.