BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE (Hansard, 15 June 1950)

§ Mr. Eden
May I ask the Lord President of the Council to give us the Business for next week?

§ The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison)
The Business for next week will be as follows:

§ Mr. Eden
On Thursday's business, I am sure the Lord President understands that we do not cavil at the way he put it, but there is no undertaking on this side of the House necessarily to finish the Finance Bill on that day. We have not promised that it will be finished.

§ Mr. Morrison
I think the right hon. Gentleman made that clear last week, and has indeed done so since. Still, I hope that sweet reason and co-operation, within limits, will prevail.

§ Mr. Eden
Can the right hon. Gentleman tell us when the Government expect to be able to make a statement about the European Payments Union negotiations?

§ Mr. Morrison
Those discussions are proceeding, and indeed my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Economic 557 Affairs will be involved in them at the Executive Committee level at this weekend. I cannot be certain when they will be completed, but I would hope at any rate before the Summer Recess. I cannot be quite certain.

§ Mr. Eden
On the suggested Debate on the Schuman Plan, in view of the wide interest shown could the Lord President indicate at all when it may be possible to have that Debate?

§ Mr. Morrison
Some conversation on that has taken place through the usual channels, and we are proposing to put down a Supply Day for Monday week, which date I understand will be acceptable to the Opposition.

§ Mr. Clement Davies
In the interests of all Members of the House, is it not possible to extend the time that has been allotted for the Committee stage of the Finance Bill, lest we should again be called upon to sit into the small hours of the morning? I could well understand the attitude of the Leader of the House if there were some great pressure of public business, or a great amount of legislation to go through. It would be very much better in the interests of the House—and I am sure it would be the wish of Members—if we perhaps shortened the vacation and gave more time to the discussion of this important Bill.

§ Mr. Morrison
I really do not think it is necessary, if I may say so with respect—

§ Mr. Davies
We sat till six o'clock this morning.

§ Mr. Morrison
I am not complaining; the House exercised its right, but it could have risen earlier. I think that with reasonable co-operation all round we ought to get through quite well. After all, I understood it was being commented yesterday that one of the big issues was on Clause 1; there is another big issue on the Purchase Tax on mechanical vehicles. Nevertheless, this really is not an extraordinarily controversial Budget. Indeed, it has been described as a dull one. It is a shorter Finance Bill than last year and we are giving one more day to it. I really think that we have been quite nice. I am surprised that the Leader of the Liberal Party should be stoking up trouble where it need not exist.

§ Mr. Davies
The last thing I want is any trouble. I was only anxious to help. I am asking for an extra day. Surely there was no obstruction at all yesterday; all the speeches were relevant. I would ask the Leader of the House to consider this further.

Mr. Leslie Hale
Is my right hon. Friend aware that we are now told that the length of the discussion yesterday was prolonged at the request of the hon. Member for Ayr (Sir T. Moore), so that he might stop at Ascot and see an extra couple of races while his hon. Friends continued the Debate until he could return to vote; and would my right hon. Friend ascertain through the usual channels what race meetings the hon. and gallant Gentleman is attending next week on the days when it is proposed that the House should further consider the Finance Bill?

§ Mr. Peter Thorneycroft
When is it intended to take the Transferred Undertakings (Compensation to Employees) Regulations, 1950? These men have been expropriated a long time and have not been paid any compensation. When could we have that discussed? Secondly, I understand that the Transport Commission Bill is to be discussed next Wednesday, but the House will be in some difficulty in discussing that because there is no copy of any of the proceedings of the Committee upstairs available to Members, as far as I am aware. It would be quite impossible to have the Third Reading until we have had a chance to see what happened in Committee, so that may have to be postponed for quite a time.

§ Mr. Morrison
Of course, this is not my business. The Bill was debated on Second Reading, and it is not very often that a Private Bill is debated on Second and Third Reading. The House is within its right to do so, but it is not my business. The guardian of Private Bills is the Chairman of Ways and Means. On the first point, it is not proposed to take that Order next week.

§ Mr. Selwyn Lloyd
Would the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind what my right hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Eden) said yesterday about the necessity, or the possible necessity, for a Debate on the disturbances in Nigeria, the Enugu riots; and, as a necessary condition precedent 559 to that Debate, will he try to persuade the Colonial Secretary to publish the minutes of evidence of that Inquiry?

§ Mr. Morrison
I should not like to express an opinion on the last point without consulting my right hon. Friend. With regard to a Debate, I think it is usual in most years that there is a Supply Debate on Colonial Affairs, when this matter might well arise.

§ Mr. Emrys Hughes
Further to the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Leslie Hale), could the Lord President of the Council find time to debate a Motion to the effect that for yesterday the salary of the hon. and gallant Member for Ayr (Sir T. Moore) for the time he was at Ascot should be transferred to the hon. Member for Ayrshire, South?

§ Mr. Speaker
That is not a question on Business.

§ Mr. Eden
On the question of the minutes of the Nigeria inquiry, would the right hon. Genetleman ask the Colonial Secretary about this, as it does seem important that we should have the evidence. I understand that there is one copy in the House, but that is not very convenient in a matter of this kind.

§ Mr. Morrison
Certainly I will go into that with my right hon. Friend.

§ Lieut.-Commander Gurney Braithwaite
May I submit with great respect, Mr. Speaker, the difficulties that arose earlier today, affecting all Members of the House, namely, that neither the Order Paper nor the Amendments to the Finance Bill were available in the Vote Office until ten minutes before the sitting of the House, possibly owing to the all-night sitting?

§ Mr. Speaker
I am afraid that arose out of the all-night sitting, and these are things that cannot very well be avoided. I got my copy—I have forgotten exactly when, but I think it was a little after one o'clock—and I looked through it. There is no single new Amendment down until Clause 26, so I do not think that Members, if they have their old copies, will be very much affected.

§ Colonel Gomme-Duncan
May I ask on Business when it will be convenient for resolutions to be considered to give effect to the recommendations of the 560 Report on the Poaching of Salmon and Illegal Fishing in Scotland because this is very urgent?

§ Mr. Morrison
I cannot say. The matter is under consideration, but I am not in a position to make a statement at this moment. I understand that there are some shocking practices of private enterprise going on in Scotland in this respect, and the hon. and gallant Gentleman is quite right in suggesting that sometimes private enterprise wants restraining and looking at.

§ Mr. Henderson Stewart
Is the Lord President able to tell us on which day next week the promised statement on Government policy for the fishing industry is likely to be made?

§ Mr. Morrison
I do not think that any promise was made that it would be made next week. Therefore, the word "promise" seems to be used in the wrong connection.

§ Mr. Stewart
Is it not a fact that the Prime Minister on Monday rather indicated to the House that this statement was to be made?

§ Mr. Morrison
I remember that the Prime Minister was pressed on this matter, but he did not commit himself, and he said that he would make a statement as soon as he could.

§ Mr. Stewart
Is there going to be any statement at any time?

§ Mr. Pickthorn
May I put what I think is a point of order, Sir? Since the Whit-sun holidays, it has been very much more difficult to hear either Front Bench from the fourth or fifth benches. I do not know how that may be on the other side, but it is certainly so on this side. I wonder, Sir, if you would give instructions to the experts to see if the microphones are working properly, because it is certainly more difficult now to hear the Front Bench speakers than it used to be.

§ Mr. Speaker
I will see what I can do. I know that there is an adjuster down below who adjusts the thing because I have been down to see it. I may say incidentally that there may be a great difficulty about secret sessions because there is this fellow down below listening to everything we say. I have had the same difficulty, and I will see what I can do.

§ Mr. Ellis Smith
On Business, hon. Members have raised the question of the convenience of Members of this House, but there are other difficulties even greater. May I ask if the Lord President of the Council and the Chief Whip will bear in mind the difficulties of catering which are greater than ever, and the difficulties of the staff and the police? Those of us who have had previous experience of all-night sittings know that the staff of the catering department are now in more difficulty than ever. We hear a lot from both Front Benches about the need for efficiency in industry. I want to ask if we can have an instalment of efficiency in the running of this House, and if an attempt has been made through the usual channels to agree upon a time-table so that this House can conduct its business on an efficient basis.

§ Mr. Morrison
With regard to the catering facilities, a debate is coming some day about the Report of the Kitchen Committee. With regard to the police and so on, like hon. Members they have advantages and disadvantages in being associated with this House, and they cut both ways. I can only assure my hon. Friend that we shall keep in mind what he says. We do discuss through the usual channels these matters of business from time to time, and we try to agree; but on the other hand, the Opposition have their rights—very full rights—and I think that except for Standing Orders and that sort of thing, it would be wrong for the Government in any way to try to check the activities of the Opposition, which, on the whole, are useful and help us.

§ Mrs. Middleton
Is my right hon. Friend aware that in the Members' tea room and in the cafeteria last night some of the women members of the staff were working all the night through without any let-up at all, and does he not agree that these are not the sort of conditions we ought to see in this House?