Mr James Welsh: asked the Minister of Production the number of subsidised factories in Scotland and the number situated in the county of Lanark, respectively?
Mr James Welsh: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether reports have been received recently from the medical officers of the camps provided in Scotland under the Camps Act, 1939; whether he can give any information from those reports showing the effect of camp life on the health of the children; and whether, in the case of the camp for Dundee children which was closed for some time, there was any...
Mr James Welsh: I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his very clear exposition of his Bill, and I want to accept his offer of assistance in getting houses built. He said that the housing question in Scotland was of supreme importance and that he would assist all local authorities and housing associations in every way he could. I do not want to go over the ground which has already been covered by...
Mr James Welsh: No, we have not had a very great difficulty in that regard. As a matter of fact, there is one case quite out of the coal-mine area where 750 houses are required urgently at the present time in a fairly considerable sized town. The site that we chose is very suitable but it is owned by two brothers. One is willing to sell; the other says that although he is willing to consider the matter the...
Mr James Welsh: I feel that the House has heard the speech of the hon. Member for King's Norton (Mr. Cartland) with a considerable amount of pleasure, and with a lot of his speech I can agree, but I think he has missed one fundamental thing, namely, that if we do not pay attention to increasing the consumptive power of the people while allowing the productive capacity of industry to increase, we shall...
Mr James Welsh: My figures were taken from the unemployed index. In 1931 there was a total of 115,800, and in November, 1937, 115,160, a reduction of 640 for the whole county.
Mr James Welsh: Many speeches have been made during the course of this Debate, but apart from that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer I have not heard one from the other side of the House which has shown how this Bill will help the one essential factor in the mining industry— namely, the men. The right hon. Gentleman showed how the royalty owners and the mineowners were dealt with by the Bill and then...
Mr James Welsh: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has considered the representations made by the Scottish Rating Reform Association regarding the dissatisfaction in Scotland anent the incidence of the present rating system; and whether the Government propose to introduce legislation towards remedying the existing evils against which complaint is being made?
Mr James Welsh: I do not propose to follow the arguments of the last speaker, although I reverence ancient things as much as anybody. I want to have regard to the statements made by the right hon. Gentleman to-day, with many of which I agree. He wants to see Scotland as it should be in the twentieth century. To house people in fourteenth-century houses will be a much more difficult task than the right hon....
Mr James Welsh: I do not want to add any dissension to the words of praise which the Bill has received when even the elements are thundering their praise on the right hon. Gentleman but, like my right hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy (Mr. Kennedy), I am of the opinion that there are some things in the Bill which should be improved. Wages have been discussed, and I do not think that any Member on any side...
Mr James Welsh: I had not intended to intervene in this Debate, but, as it proceeded, I listened very carefully to the speeches, and the majority of them seemed to indicate that the special or distressed areas were all centred either in Durham or in South Wales. That was quite natural, because those who were speaking naturally spoke for the districts they represented; and since I come from a county which has...
Mr James Welsh: I beg to second the Motion, which has been so ably moved by my hon. Friend. I do not think the House can discuss a question of more importance to the people of this country than the question of the distressed areas as they exist to-day. It seems to me, not that there is any lack of experience of the distressed areas, but that there is no real will to tackle the problem that affects the...
Mr James Welsh: (Coatbridge) (by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if his attention has been drawn to the letter which appeared in the "Times" on 7th March, signed by Members of Parliament and others, asking that the question of the siting of the National Library of Scotland should be examined by a small committee representing both technical and lay opinion, and whether the Government...
Mr James Welsh: Is my right hon. Friend not aware that a considerable amount of indignation has arisen through the way this matter has been handled, and that opinion is very much against the site?
Mr James Welsh: I want to return for a moment to the right hon. Gentleman's claims. His claims for the expedition with which the Government took on the work of setting up the central advisory committee, I think, is justified. It was a very difficult thing for the central committee to get the district committees set up because of the different interests. While it is true that there has been a communication...
Mr James Welsh: What the Government are proposing to do by this Vote will not touch the problem at all. It is no use telling us that all is being done that can be done. Neither is it sufficient that the, supporters of the Government should form themselves into a mutual admiration society—
Mr James Welsh: I do not think that up to the present I have transgressed your ruling, Mr. Herbert. The scheme we are discussing seems to me to have about as much constructiveness as a single brick in relation to the building of a house. The transference scheme adopted by the Government is like dealing with a broken leg with sticking plaster. We have heard a good deal from the Government supporters about...
Mr James Welsh: I want to take Wales and compare it with the state of things in Scotland. Denbigh is the only county in South Wales that shows a decrease in the number of insured persons, but it also shows a huge increase in the number of unemployed persons. Every other county in South Wales shows a decrease in the number of insured persons, but, apart from Denbigh, they also show a decrease in the number of...
Mr James Welsh: I remember some years ago when the hon. Member for Hamilton (Mr. D. Graham) enunciated a policy of restriction of output that we were told that the trade unions had been guilty of bringing disaster to the industry, because they had been preaching short hours. It is a poor type of logic that would blame the preaching of a doctrine of that kind by the men while praising it when it comes from...
Mr James Welsh: It may not be in the knowledge of many hon. Members opposite that these débris heaps around the pits are the accumulations of what we call the ripping underground. As there is no accommodation for the débris underground it is sent to the surface and pieces of coal are annexed to it. The collieries which keep these débris heaps piled up do so in the right of the masses in the locality, and...