Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I think that this Debate proves how true it is that the industry of agriculture is still in its in- fancy, and it has been very pleasing to note the useful speeches which have been made from all quarters of the Committee this afternoon. I desire to offer my congratulations to the present Minister of Agriculture on the success, so far, of his efforts to bring back prosperity to the industry....
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: 43. asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his Department or the Food Council is now checking the accuracy of the prices of fish published by the Billingsgate market authorities?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: 60. asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that farmers and market gardeners in the Crossens drainage area have suffered losses through the flooding of the land in their occupation; and if he can state the reason for delay, after public inquiry, in giving sanction to the scheme prepared by the Crossens Drainage Board, so that the drainage of the land for the purpose of growing...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: Is the Minister satisfied that there are plentiful supplies of potatoes on the British market at the present time?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: Is the hon. Gentleman of opinion that the passing of the Public Health (Cleansing of Shellfish) Bill will be a step forward in this respect?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I trust the Minister will not accept this proposed new Clause. If practical farmers could listen on the wireless to the discussion which is now going on in this House they would smile. The hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams) said the farmers ought to get their coats off. I can tell him that the farmers never have their coats on, having to work so hard in order to get a living in the...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: Get their jackets off.
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: They have got their jackets off. I am surprised that hon. and right hon. Gentlemen on the benches opposite, who are possessed of common sense and practical knowledge, should support a Clause which is unworkable. Farmers do not like having to fill up forms. They like to get their jackets off and get their job done. The object of this Bill is to increase the acreage of land under wheat in this...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: This is a Bill to give local authorities power to lend money for the erection of tanks for the cleansing of shell-fish. We have very valuable beds of mussels on the banks of several of our rivers, in particular the River Ribble. I am told by fishermen that they are worth several thousand pounds. Owing to Public Health Orders these beds of mussels are now closed as far as gathering mussels for...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I anticipate that the difficulty that will present itself to the Wheat Commission will be the condition of the samples, and I would suggest that the words "condition to which" the wheat must conform would perhaps be better.
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: Some of the difficulties that hon. Members opposite are anticipating will not arise, because the threshing machine will be a safeguard. It will not take the grain until it is fit to mill, and the farmers have to keep their wheat until it is dry enough to thresh. With regard to rust and fungoid diseases, farmers to-day are fully alive to the advantages of science and research to avoid these...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: 48. asked the Minister of Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that many rural parishes are in need of public water supplies; and will he consider taking steps as early as possible to make special grants to rural district councils to enable them to remedy the conditions under which many of the inhabitants obtain their daily supplies?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I come from Lancashire, which is a county of small holdings for which this Bill will do very little, but as a farmer, and one who is keenly interested in the agricultural worker, and as one who has employed more farm workers per acre than any hon. Gentleman opposite, and has treated them well, I know the value of the agricultural worker, and I am supporting this Bill because under it I look...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: No; I did not say that. It was just the opposite that I wished to convey.
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: Does the hon. Member think that he could make it pay on 10s. a cwt.?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: How can they be expected to pay for labour out of 5s. a cwt.?
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I desire to support the Bill wholeheartedly, and I do so from the tenant farmer's point of view. I shall not endeavour to take the House right round the world and to make a display of the mechanism of farming in other respects, but I shall try to concentrate on the countryside. I welcome this Measure because it secures a market for home-grown wheat of milling quality at a paying price, and I...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: While I admit that there are many good qualities in the Agricultural Marketing Act, I think it would be a great mistake to force the hands of the producers by making it compulsory upon them to apply it within 18 months, or even two years. To do so would defeat the object of the Act. Three marketing hoards have been established within the last three weeks, and hon. Members may rest assured...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: I hope the Government will resist the Amendment. I am in close touch with agriculturists and smallholders, and I can say that the proposal of the Amendment would place an additional burden upon these people. This class of person is well used to hard work and is not afraid of it, but lie is not used to keeping accounts. The smallholder comes largely from the class of agricultural workers. He...
Mr Samuel Rosbotham: 31. asked the Minister of Agriculture if his attention has been called to the large consignments of German potatoes being landed in this country which have been grown on land infected with wart disease; and, seeing that the varieties of potatoes so imported are susceptible to that disease, what steps are contemplated to prevent the disease spreading on to what arc known as clean areas?
