...examined by the Admiralty. For operational reasons alone, I cannot go into the full details of the unfortunate loss of the two vessels off Milford Haven. I can however assure the House that in the findings of the Board there is no question of the disaster being attributable to negligence. In order to meet the varying requirements of modern war, numerous types of small craft have to be...
Mr Philip Noel-Baker: ...Civil Defence. That is a grim thought, but I am afraid it is true. As Sir John Anderson, now Lord Waverley, said in the first debate on Civil Defence in this House after the war, we must try to find some middle way between doing nothing and attempting the impossible. I should like to know whether the Parliamentary Secretary can tell us what are the sort of measures which he intends to...
Mr Christopher Rowland: ...with them more difficult. This episode has had its note of hilarity for those of us who have followed the subject closely over the last 18 months. We saw the Ministry of Defence embarrassed to find that it was the legal owner of forts in the Thames Estuary. The Ministry has actually said that it dare not atempt to remove the pirate radio operators from disused Army forts, and in one...
Mr Anthony Greenwood: ...to ask us to accept tonight, refers to future measures against the pollution of our shores in the light of experience.… I was suggesting that in the terms of the Motion the Select Committee might find it better to concentrate upon the future steps which can be taken rather than conduct an inquest into what has already taken place, which I think we have had in the course of the debate...
Mr Julian Amery: ...position in the Middle East. May I turn to the situation east of Suez? Here I pay tribute to the moving speech of the right hon. and learned Member for Ipswich (Sir Dingle Foot) which will find its place in the records of history, and may perhaps one day be regarded as having made a contribution to saving the soul of the Labour Party in this matter. The House knows that I have always been...
Gerald Kaufman: ...if it were screened at vital points by sufficiently high banks planted with shrubs such as willow. But one cannot conceal with shrubs and willows tanks twice the size of Conway Castle. One finds the true situation on page 58, among the evidence on day six, when counsel against the Bill said: But you know, that was all gone into at the inquiry and the expert opinion of Mr. Graham, the...
Mr Tam Dalyell: ...when he was Prime Minister, sent me a small booklet that he had written. At that time we felt like co-cranks, because very few people believed in the importance of seabed exploration. So I find it difficult to follow the hon. Member, who has made a serious contribution to this discussion. I also followed the hon. Member last week in another place, when we were both contributors to the...
Mr Willie Hamilton: I said "unduly". I think I have been fairly moderate for me. The hon. Gentleman should not incite me. It is my belief—in fact, it is my conviction—that Mr. Caldwell is the front man for Onshore Investments, North Sea Assets Trust, and, back through a labyrinthine net, for Messrs. Ivory and Sime of Edinburgh. Their consulting engineers are Bernard L. Clark and Partners of Victoria Street,...
Mr Robert Hughes: ...to be examined. I am indebted to the Glasgow News for sending me a copy of its current issue in which it prints facts about the involvement of Lord Polwarth in firms associated particularly with onshore development. I wrote to the Prime Minister asking certain specific questions, and I believe that the right hon. Gentleman has replied in a very cavalier way. He rightly says that If a...
Mr Willie Hamilton: ...we should have foreseen that. It is possible that there will be an equal increase in the foreseeable future. Secondly, there has been increasing knowledge about the extent and value of the oil finds in the North Sea—much of it, as well as the Celtic Sea, not yet even explored. In a few months the value of the known commercial reserves has increased sixfold. Various estimates are now...
Mr Bruce Millan: ...be the subject of discussion, for example, by the consultative committee, although there is a difficulty there in that at present it is representative of the offshore industry rather than the onshore industry, which may be affected in orders. I hope that the Opposition amendment will not be pressed in view of my assurance that I will look at the matter again to see whether we can put down...
Mr Harold Wilson: ...and a number of other protection methods are being added. It is of course the fact that the Home Secretary—in Scotland the Secretary of State for Scotland—is responsible for dealing with onshore terrorism, but I think the hon. Gentleman will find that the offshore position has been fully explained by my right hon. Friend.
Dr Colin Phipps: ...in conjunction with them. We have had enough boom and slump already within the platform-building industry in its short life, and anything that we can do to even out the general development of the onshore industry should be done. However, in picking a round so small all sorts of questions are raised. First, there are in the North Sea already considerably more than 60 consortia. I do not...
Mr Bruce Millan: ...local rates. Petroleum operators pay their fair share of taxes in the form of corporation tax and petroleum revenue tax which can amount to 75 per cent: of revenues. They also pay local rates on onshore installations. The Government have also seen that the public interest is fully protected in offshore exploitation by the establishment of the British National Oil Corporation and by the...
Mr Robert Adley: ...constituencies. It is a double worry when, off those coasts of our constituencies, oil has been discovered under the sea. In the case of south-east Dorset and south-west Hampshire we also have onshore oil as a potential threat. Worry turns to fear when one considers the events of the last two and a half years—the "Urquiola" affair in La Coruna; the Ekofisk blow-out in the North Sea;...
Mr Hugh Brown: ...not do much for the local fishing industries. Whether from Eastern Europe or anywhere else, the operators of those ships were most co-operative and we have no evidence or complaints of misbehaviour onshore. The hon. Gentleman was a little unfair. We recognise the problem and we shall do what we can. There is a practical problem about giving powers to a local authority in private...
Mr Jerry Wiggin: ...—and improper—to try to equalise all these factors as it would be to compensate a grower for a badly sited holding. In general, growers have to work within the circumstances in which they find themselves, and it is precisely because the exercise of management skill and decision-making is a major determinant of the ultimate success or failure of the enterprise that this branch of...
Mr Dick Douglas: ...structures, when they are operating in a similar environment. The Department of Energy has the responsibility in this debate to at least give its view on that occurrence. If the Norwegians find it desirable to ensure that the same design of rigs are structurally strengthened, why has one of the certifying authorities approved of by the Department of Energy not sought to do so? That is an...
Mr Dick Douglas: ...data, to between 50 and 60 per cent. of total gas liquids. They are in a key position. Why is it not possible for both corporations to come together and operate the system jointly, either onshore or offshore or both? The only restraining feature seems to be related to the Government's obsession with the public sector borrowing requirement. The Minister shakes his head. Perhaps the...
Mr Albert McQuarrie: ..., although I suspect that the operators will need to add another 2p on to that price for the simple reason that, whenever a small service operator purchases his next 5,000 gallons, he will have to find a further £1,000 to do so, and he will have three days in which to do it. There is no way in which small operators are able to take that in hand at present, because of their difficulties in...