§ 24. Sir RICHARD MELLERasked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the proposal of the Surrey County Council to call a conference of local authorities in Surrey to consider the prevalence of heath and common fires during the past summer and what methods, if any, can he adopted to prevent their recurrence and limit the area of danger; and whether he will assist the local authorities in this direction by advice or otherwise?
§ Sir J, GILMOURI have not, and I understand the Minister of Health has not, so far received any communication from the Surrey County Council regarding the proposed conference, but, if any such conference is convened, I should be happy to arrange for the Fire Adviser to my Department to attend, or to render assistance in any other possible way.
§ Sir R. MELLERWhile thanking my right hon. Friend for his reply and for his offer of assistance, may I ask him whether he will bear in mind the fact that the great difficulty in dealing with heath and common fires is due to lack of information as to who is responsible for taking the matter in hand Generally speaking, the calls were——
§ Sir A. M. SAMUELWill my right hon. Friend confer with the War Office authorities as to the forest area in the Aldershot district? The Frimley district in Surrey, which is in my division and adjoins Aldershot, has suffered very severely from fires——
§ Sir FRANCIS ACLANDIf such a conference is convened, will the right hon. Gentleman secure some representation of the Forestry Commission, which has a fairly complete system for dealing with such fires?
§ Sir J. GILMOURYes, Sir.