Mr Nigel Fisher: I ask for the customary indulgence which the House accords with such generosity to a maiden speech. All of us here, I think, have viewed for some time with great misgiving, the drop in the voluntary enlistment figures for the Regular Army, and, as it was my good fortune and great honour to serve in the Brigade of Guards throughout the late war, I hope I may be forgiven for dealing with this...
Mr Nigel Fisher: asked the Minister of Health whether he will reconsider his decision to postpone the scheme for sewage disposal submitted to him by the Baldock Urban District Council, which his Department has approved in principle.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Will the Minister bear in mind that the capital expenditure involved in this case is only approximately £31,000, whereas the health of 26,000 people living in Letchworth and Baldock is threatened by the postponement of a scheme already approved by his Department? Will he at least see a deputation and hear the case?
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.
Mr Nigel Fisher: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we could have obtained far larger supplies of timber from this source during this year, I believe up to 250,000 standards, if we had bought in December at the price then obtaining—a price which subsequently rose? Will the Government therefore cease making the shortage of timber an excuse for the lack of houses?
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: 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: 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: 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 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 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.