§ Major Sir Edward Cadogan (Bolton)The subject I wish to raise is one which at first sight may appear of microscopic importance and an insignificant digression compared with much upon which we have been deliberating in recent weeks. If examined with the consideration which I invite the Minister of Agriculture to devote to it, I hope that it will assume larger dimensions in his estimation, because it is a matter which concerns the whole nation. In his scheme for the in-creased production of foodstuffs in wartime there are, I concede, some areas which it may be necessary to sacrifice and which were monopolised in happier days for the purposes of recreation. I am asking for an assurance from the Minister that no such areas will be needlessly or capriciously converted to arable. I would make two observations by way of preface to my appeal. I do not wish to be misinterpreted. Like everyone with a grain of common sense, I realise that our victory in the war must be our first war aim and that for this achievement every conceivable sacrifice, at whatever cost, will be necessary. I will take no exception, therefore, to whatever course the Minister of Agriculture tells me is inevitable. The time may come—I hope and believe it will not—when every nook and cranny in the country will have to be ploughed up to provide nourishment for man and beast. That time is not yet, however, and until the occasion arises for 1801 more drastic action I trust the Minister will still have regard to preserving some well-laid turf for recreation.
My second preliminary observation is that I am not bringing this matter up in any critical spirit. On the contrary, I should like to make my acknowledgments to the Minister and his assistants for being most conciliatory in meeting representations made to them. Some proposals to cultivate certain ground have been abandoned at his instance. But evidence is accumulating that in some parts of the country, owing to the zeal of the county war agricultural committees, to whose work I should like to pay high tribute, increasing pressure is being brought to bear upon local authorities and on trustees who own playing fields to devote them to cultivation, and this has led to some needless action having been taken with that end in view. Let me give the House an example of how land normally used for recreation has been needlessly sacrificed. In the county of Durham it was proposed to plough up a recreation ground while a much larger area of equally suitable land in the immediate neighbourhood was overlooked, although the owner was perfectly willing to allow it to be taken over for cultivation. I am afraid that is not an isolated instance.
There are various considerations which I would ask the Minister to take into account when we are told we should not concern ourselves with recreation during war-time. The first is the immense expenditure already laid out in the provision of playing fields in this country. It may interest the House to learn that in the last 12 years no less than £4,150,000 has been spent by Government, by trusts and by private benefactors upon new recreation grounds, and it must be remembered that on the average it costs as much to level, drain and equip sites for playing fields as to purchase the land. A consequential consideration is that it will be an immensely costly process to revert these recreation grounds, if ploughed up, to suitable turf. This is a most important consideration. There is the length of time it will take to effect this restoration. I own some grazing land which has recently been ploughed up. I asked how long it would take to restore those meadows, and I was told that even to rough grazing it would take three years. It would take even longer, I presume, to 1802 restore arable to fine, level turf suitable for team games. But that is not the whole story. In all probability recreation grounds which have been appropriated for agricultural purposes during the war will not be available to their original owners for a year or two afterwards. When we are told we must postpone any concern for recreation to the end of the war, I can only reply that we shall have to wait much longer than that.
Another consideration should not be ignored. There are large masses of troops, and there doubtless will be throughout the war, in training in this country. I speak from experience when I say that there is no better parade ground than a playing field. Earlier in the war I was posted to a training centre which was so congested with recruits that sometimes we were compelled to carry out drill, musketry and other military exercises in the widest streets we could find. Anyone who has tried that expedient knows how futile it is. Certainly large recreation grounds make admirable parade grounds. The use of the recreation ground by the troops is positively beneficial. Everyone knows that walking on it improves rather than injures turf. For some mysterious reason, while the tramp of martial feet does no harm to grass, it is injurious to weeds, and so by using recreation grounds for the training of soldiers you have one of those rare processes which effect reciprocal benefits. Let us take full advantage of this phenomenon, and do not let us get rid of the best parade grounds before we need. And why should the troops only parade and drill on these recreation grounds? Why should they not play on them too? On a recent Saturday I devoted an hour or two to watching a team of my constituents play a football match with Bolton Wanderers. Incidentally, it was played on turf which would have made the mouth of the Minister of Agriculture water. Every member of that team was either a soldier or an airman or a munition worker, and I am sure they were all better soldiers, better airmen and better munition workers for that game of football.
Last, but not least, youth must be served in the matter of recreation: This is of paramount importance at any time, but it is far more important during this war. That is the root cause of that vast, costly but very successful scheme of 1803 evacuation for which the Government have made themselves responsible. Never has youth been called upon to bear so great a strain. It is all-important that the health of youth should be attended to, and surely I need not stress the point that recreation on playing fields is one of the essential parts of the attention we should give to this particular subject. One of the reasons why I trouble the House with this matter is that I entertain some misgiving that there is not sufficient collaboration between the two Ministries concerned, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food, and that any mistakes that may have been made are to be attributed to a discrepancy in policy between the two Ministries, and that recreation grounds then come between the hammer and the anvil. Further, although earlier in the war the attitude of the Government on this matter was, so far as I was concerned, unexceptionable, I fear there has been some change in policy. A year or so ago Lord Crewe, who was President of the London Playing Fields' Association, of which, incidentally, I am chairman—and that is the reason why I am raising this matter—wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture asking for information as to what was the position of recreation grounds in relation to this policy of the Government, and he received the following reply. I admit it is some time ago, and that a great deal has happened since it was sent. In effect it was this:
So far as general agreement for ploughing up of grassland is concerned, the interests of your Association are fully safeguarded, inasmuch as the power given for the cultivation, management or use of land with a view to increasing food production is limited to agricultural land, and that expression, as defined in the Defence Regulations, 1939, does not include land occupied or preserved mainly or exclusively for purposes of sport or recreation.That, as I say, was sent some time ago, and since then the policy seems to have altered, to judge by a statement issued last month by the Ministry of Food, in which it is said:Municipal land which served a useful purpose in peace-time for providing playing fields for the public may well be adapted to service on food grounds.I should like to ask whether there has been any change of policy, and perhaps the Minister will vouchsafe a reply.1804 Before I conclude my appeal, I should like to make a brief reference to a subject which is closely related to this one. We have heard a great deal lately about a new world and a new order. It seems to me the whole matter needs to be brought into proper focus. This new world, if I am to judge by the great many circulars sent to me by the planners themselves in their more buoyant, or, shall I say, delirious moods, is going to be a pretty elaborate and costly affair. I do not believe the average British citizen asks for nearly as much as those planners seem to think, and certainly does not want many of the things which it is suggested will be provided within the new world—of course, at his own expense. The powers of resistance to any form of uplift are, in most of us, very highly developed. I thing the average citizen wants a decent home, a decent job and a wide expanse of first-rate English turf. There is no turf in the world like English turf, and that is one of the reasons why we are such a sporting race. It was that feeling which inspired a poem which has become exceedingly tiresome from its constant repetition, in which the poet describes England as a "green and pleasant land." Owing to the exigencies of war, our country is beginning to wear a brown and unpleasant appearance. All I ask, in conclusion, is that in fostering the lay-out of food production the Minister of Agriculture, if he has any control over the Ministry of Food, will leave as many playing fields as possible upon which, who knows, we may win further Waterloos.
§ Mr. Wakefield (Swindon)I think the hon. and gallant Member for Bolton (Sir E. Cadogan) deserves the thanks of the House for raising this matter. I would like to support everything he has said, and to assure my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture that I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. and gallant Member when he said that there is nothing we wish to do to hinder the production of food, which is so necessary for victory. Every corner of this country will have to grow food of one kind or another. We all know the great and successful efforts that the right hon. Gentleman is making. We know the difficulties with which he is faced—the many thousands of acres taken up, whether for aerodromes or for other purposes, in making this Island a safer fortress. I hope he will not feel that we 1805 are trying to hinder him in his most important work. The point I would stress is this: Will he see that his county agricultural committees use every possible piece of land for growing vegetables before digging up playing fields? There are still many gardens being used for flower growing. Cannot they be used for vegetables before playing-fields are dug up? There are many pieces of park land, not suitable for playing-fields, which could be used for food production. There are numerous odd corners of land which could be used for food production. I would quote a letter which I have received from a women's institute at a village in Hampshire:
In 1935 this village bought a piece of ground in commemoration of Silver Jubilee with money raised by public subscription and with a grant of £50 jointly from King George's jubilee Trust and the National Playing Fields Association, to be used as a children's playground The owner sold it at a very low price for this purpose. It was conveyed to the Lymington Borough Council free of cost to them. This council now proposes to dig it up and hire it out in allotments. This is strongly opposed by the village and subscribers or, the grounds that, this being a country district, there is very little demand for allotments, and also that there is plenty of other ground which could be used. The beach is now prohibited and there is barbed wire round the green, so the need for the playground is obvious. I, as one of the committee who bought the ground, will be very much obliged if you will advise me as to whether there is any means by which we can prevent the council carrying out the intention.That is the sort of thing which is happening up and down the country. I hope my right hon. Friend will use his influence with the county committees to prevent an extension of this kind of thing. The extent to which the process of digging up playing fields for food production is spreading may be seen from these statistics. Recently 118 of the King George's playing fields were examined. It was found that nearly 30 per cent. of these fields are now being used, in whole or in part, for cultivation, and that rather less than 10 per cent. are being used for grazing, to which, of course, no exception is taken. The use put to these playing fields is shown by the fact that 78 of them are now used, or were being used until they were taken over for cultivation, by evacuee children in those places where, owing to evacuation, great crowding takes place and where you must have some form of open spaces for the 1806 children; and 45 of them were being used for drill by military forces and the Home Guard in the manner described by the hon. and gallant Member for Bolton.It seems, therefore, a real tragedy that this process of digging up these levelled grounds, which are so suitable for other purposes in the national war effort, should continue. The growing of food, of course, is vital for our existence, but it is also of the greatest importance that our munition workers, who are putting all they know into their work, should have an opportunity on the half-day in the week which they get free to try and revitalise themselves by playing a game, just as the hon. and gallant Member has described, in the open air on some of these playing fields. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will urge that these playing fields be not dug up but be used for grazing or for other vital war purposes, such as military training or for use by the children and so forth. I also hope that in taking this action, if he will do so, with the county agricultural committees, he will feel that we are in no way hurting that most vital and important work in which he is so diligently engaged, that of seeing to it that this country wins its way to victory by having an adequate food supply.