Mr Charles White: It is not often that I intervene in Debates in this House, and I should not have intervened today if I had not heard three or four speeches from the other side of the House. I have heard Toryism in varying degrees in the mining districts of Derbyshire, and in the other part of Derbyshire four years ago in a by-election but I have never heard such utter nonsense about the conduct of elections...
Mr Charles White: ...all the worse. It is remarkable, at a time of a by-election or a General Election, what a tremendous number of cars are controlled by the occupants of those ducal castles. I fought a by-election in 1938. There were 600 cars for the Tory candidates, despite the fact that it was a by-election, and all we could muster was fewer than 60. The number of votes which that meant to the Tory...
Mr Charles White: I may be a Member for a Yorkshire Division next time.
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Food whether he is aware of the reluctance of farmers to maintain the war-time acreages of sugar beet, believing that the recent shipments of sugar to France do not indicate any shortage here; and whether he has any statement to make on the matter.
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Health what is the average weekly cost per inmate in the public assistance institutions of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Agriculture if he will reconsider the instructions being issued to farmers in the north-western part of Derbyshire to plough up further land for the purpose of growing more potatoes and permit this land to be used for milk production and cattle rearing for which the land is more suitable.
Mr Charles White: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that last year's crops over a good many acres in this part of Derbyshire have not yet been lifted and that great waste of food and of effort has been the result?
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Agriculture what is the acreage of Chatsworth Park in Derbyshire; how much of the park has been ploughed since September, 1939; and the weight in tons of cereals, roots or other crops grown during this period.
Mr Charles White: May I ask for a full answer to this Question?
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Works the number of man hours used to provide his private dining room and kitchen in Room 423 at the Ministry of Works.
Mr Charles White: May I disclaim any personal motive in this matter, and ask the Minister if these 500 hours could not have been spent on the much more urgently important need in the East End of London?
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Agriculture the amount of money expended on structural alterations and additions to East Mommerton Farm, Longford, by the Derbyshire War Agricultural Committee; and if the dispossessed owner-occupier of the farm has been consulted on the matter.
Mr Charles White: asked the Minister of Agriculture why Derbyshire is the only county where the war agricultural committee enforces the rationing of brewers' wet grains, thereby causing considerable resentment among the milk producing farmers of the county.
Mr Charles White: May I ask the hon. Member one question? How can he make his last statement that this is a concrete and permanent proposal when a speaker sitting on his right said less than two hours ago that this was definitely an emergency Measure?
Mr Charles White: I did not anticipate having such strange bedfellows in this Debate to-day, because I definitely support the Amendment, and I do so for two reasons. First, the retention of the powers and facilities of our local authorities is a matter of vital importance. Their powers should not be whittled away at this time, when so many of the men and women of the country have not the opportunity of...
Mr Charles White: That is where my hon. and gallant Friend makes a mistake.
Mr Charles White: I am not here to say what is often said about the small trader. That is another matter altogether. But in reply to what has been said in this Debate; just as I am referring to the difficulties of milk distribution, so I am trying to straighten up the position of the local committee which is often frustrated by a Government Department. I say that this is not encouraging to the people who are...
Mr Charles White: ...the sympathy of the men and women who are serving on public authorities in the country. There is much more to be done in this matter than has been mentioned to-day. In my own county, in the 10 years prior to the war, through the energetic action of the public health committee, the figures of tuberculosis were reduced to a very great extent. It is only the war that has prevented us carrying...
Mr Charles White: ...say, at first, that I do not think anybody on this side of the House laments any less than I do that industrial disputes should have been taking place in England, Scotland or Wales during the past 12 months or, for that matter, at any time during the war. In extenuation one must say that, in regard to many of the difficulties which the workers have had to face, they have had to take...
