FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS ACT (1926) AMENDMENT. (Hansard, 1 March 1939)

§ Mr. Westwood

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1926. I am asking leave to introduce a one-Clause Bill to provide further necessary safeguards for farmers and stock-holders, safeguards which to-day are denied to the agricultural community under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1926. Under that Act criminal proceedings cannot be taken against a supplier of lime which is proved on analysis to be materially deficient in quality from that which has been guaranteed by the seller to those who purchase the material. The purchaser of lime to-day has recourse 1271 only to the civil courts if there has been a fraudulent sale, and I need not enlarge upon the objections to this particular course as it affects many of the farming community. In the Estimates this House has already agreed to the provision of £1,400,000 to assist the agricultural community in seeking to rehabilitate the land with basic slag and lime, and I am advised that on 1st November, 1938, 220,000 applications for grants had been received by the appropriate Departments and 1,400,000 tons of lime supplied. About £1,000,000 has now been spent by the Government, which means that £2,000,000 has been spent by the community for the purposes to which I have referred.

It is obvious from the facts at my disposal that this assistance by the State has been used by unscrupulous suppliers of material to rob the State and defraud the farming community, and thus deny the means for the restoration of the fertility of the soil. That is proved by the fact that in Kent 30 per cent. of the samples taken of fertilisers of lime were bad. The chief inspector of Buckinghamshire says in a communication to me that practically every sample of lime taken in that county has been deficient, and that in one or two instances absolute rubbish has been palmed off on the farmers. In the county of Angus a shocking and disgraceful state of affairs would have existed but for the energetic work done by the chief inspector of weights and measures for the county. I will refer only to six samples which were taken, typical of many. In number one, with a guarantee of 86 per cent. of calcium oxide, there was found to be only 50.16 per cent., a deficiency of 35.40 per cent. The total deficiency on that particular sample was not less than 41.16 per cent. There was a foreign material included in a sample taken, and that material ought to have had the same guarantee of 86 per cent. of calcium oxide, but it was found that there was only 11.10 per cent., an actual deficiency in calcium oxide of 84.90 per cent. In the case of another sample, with an 86 per cent. guarantee, there was a deficiency of 46 per cent., and in the case of other three samples a deficiency of 17.97 per cent., 18.53 per cent., and 35.88 per cent., respectively.

I have indicated that the victims of these fraudulent sales have recourse only 1272 to the civil courts. Inspectors of weights and measures are agreed, and I think the House will agree, that one or two prosecutions would do more to safeguard the farmers and others from fraud than all the fiddling about with civil courts. The examples I have given are sufficient to satisfy this House that something must be done to provide further safeguards for the farmer and smallholder when purchasing lime with the financial assistance provided by the State. The Bill will not affect the honest trader, who has nothing to fear. He will not object to its provision. It is directed to safeguard a purchaser of lime from the dishonest manufacturer or seller. The Bill is supported by the County Councils' Associations of Scotland and England, the inspectors of weights and measures of both countries and by Members on both sides of the House. I trust that the House will not only give unanimous leave to introduce the Bill, but that no obstacle will be placed in its way of speedily passing it on to the Statute Book, and thus ensure that State money used in the purchase of these materials will be really used for the rehabilitation of the land, and that the farming community will be protected against the gross fraud being practised upon them at the present time in the rubbish which is being sold under the name of lime.