HC Deb 03 April 1947 vol 435 cc2236-43
The Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Thomas Williams)

I will, with permission, make a further statement about agricultural losses due to snow, frost and floods, and the steps which the Government are taking to assist farmers to recover as soon and as fully as possible from these grave setback to food production.

Taking the country as a whole, the pressure of flood waters on our embanked river systems has greatly eased in the past 10 days. Most of the breaches in the embankments have been closed or are in process of being closed, but the position remains one of great difficulty an the east bank of the River Trent below Gainsborough and in the Yorkshire Ouse Catchment Area. My Department has been in constant contact with the catchment boards concerned with a view to providing all possible help. Material assistance from Government resources has been sent to the Trent Catchment Area, where it is essential that the breach at Morton should be closed before the high tides at the end of this week.

Many waterlogged areas in the Fens have already been cleared or will be cleared in the next few days. It will take longer to clear those areas which have been deeply inundated through breaches in the embankments, but the work is being pressed on night and day. Some 75 heavy pumping units mobilised by my Department have already been sent out and are working or being erected. Many more are being prepared and will be brought into early operation.

It is still only possible to give a rough interim estimate of losses of stock and crops due to winter weather and floods. The losses of livestock, particularly hill sheep and lambs, due to exposure and starvation cannot yet be accurately assessed; losses of crops and stock due to floods are still taking place in some areas; even where the floods have started to recede it is still too early to estimate the extent of the damage.

My present information, however, is that losses of sheep and lambs in England and Wales total over 2 millions. About 32 per cent. of hill sheep and 7 per cent. of lowland sheep have been lost. Some counties have lost half their sheep. About 30,000 store cattle have also been lost.

Floods in 31 counties have inundated some 600,000 acres of agricultural land, that is, an area equal to the size of the county of Kent. About 70,000 acres of winter corn—almost all wheat—have been destroyed by floods and about 200,000 acres by frost. About 50,000 tons of potatoes have been destroyed by the floods, and a further 30,000 by frost in the clamps.

Losses of this magnitude would in any circumstances constitute an unparalleled disaster to the agricultural community and the nation. Coming at the time of food shortage as well as dollar shortage they bring us face to face with a situation which will require all our energy and resolution to meet and overcome. The Government have given earnest and argent consideration to the many problems which arise.

First, there is the human problem of the personal distress and losses caused by the floods. The Prime Minister informed the House on 24th March of the immediate relief measures set in operation to assist in relieving distress. As further announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 25th March, the Government are contributing £1 million to the Lord Mayor's Fund. This fund is available for the relief of farmers and farm workers, as well as urban householders, who have lost personal belongings and household goods in the floods. The loss of crops and stock and the means of production is a purely agricultural problem which the Agricultural Disaster Fund, launched by the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, is designed to alleviate. Losses of this description are a matter of grave concern to the nation, not only by reason of the hardship involved to individual farmers, but because of the serious effect on food production.

The Government consider that it is a matter of national importance that food production in the areas which have suffered these heavy losses should be restored at the earliest practicable moment. To this end they will contribute to the Agricultural Disaster Fund a sum approximately equivalent to that raised by subscription and will co-operate closely with the National Farmers' Union in the administration of the Fund. Urgent interim payments will be made from the Fund. A suggestion is being explored with the National Farmers' Union and the other organisations concerned that farmers throughout the country should be invited to contribute either by way of specified deductions over a period of twelve months from payments due to them on the sale of their products to a Government Department or Marketing Board or other central agency, or from acreage payments, or in other cases through appropriate channels.

In addition, in order to encourage maximum production for the forthcoming harvest, the Government have decided to assist farmers whose lands have been subject to abnormal flooding to carry the risk of a poor crop which may result from late sowing and the condition of the land. A scheme for making special acreage payments in such cases is being worked out in consultation with the Emergency Advisory Committee which I set up ten days ago and the details will be announced at an early date. While reducing the farmer's risk, this payment will give him every incentive to produce the best crop he can. The rates of payment will be based on a rough estimate of what the general loss of yield is likely to be as a result of the late sowing or planting and the state of the land as a result of the floods. Farmers can, therefore, make their plans on the assumption that the payments will make it well worth their while to grow crops where the land is in reasonably fit condition for cultivation, and where the date of sowing or planting is not hopelessly late.

Hill farmers will be eligible for relief in respect of direct losses from the Agricultural Disaster Fund. But the rebuilding of their flocks is necessarily a slow process. The Government have, therefore, decided to adapt the hill sheep subsidy scheme to deal with this entirely abnormal situation. Hill farmers can, therefore, be assured of suitable relief and will, I hope, be encouraged to start recovery from the wreckage caused by this disastrous winter in the knowledge that they will not be without financial assistance in their difficulties. Details of this scheme will also be announced shortly. So far as we can we are re-distributing stocks of fodder and feedingstuffs to give as much immediate practical aid as possible.

To supplement other sources of credit the Agricultural Goods Services Scheme will continue to be available. The scheme will be widened to include livestock, so that it may be used for restocking sheep farms. It is proposed under the Agriculture Bill to extend the scheme, both for livestock and other goods and services, beyond 31st December next, when it is due to expire.

In successive broadcasts over the past three weeks the President of the National Farmers' Union, the President of the National Union of Agricultural Workers and I have explained the gravity of the food production position in this country both to the general public and to the farmers and farm workers. The Government are doing their utmost to help. In addition to the measures of financial assistance which I have outlined above, action has been taken to secure high transport priority for urgent agricultural requisites, improved rations for farm workers, and, for the immediate future, the diversion of machines from export to the home market. I am confident that the agricultural community will do all in their power to respond to the nation's need, as they have always done in the past.

Mr. R. S. Hudson

While I welcome the broad indication of Government help over a period, will the right hon. Gentleman give us a little more detail of what the individual sufferer has to do at once? That, after all, is the important thing—how is he to proceed in getting his immediate relief? Does the right hon. Gentleman really think that the fund he mentioned, started by the N.F.U., even with Government assistance on a pound-to-pound basis, will really be adequate to make good the losses which these unfortunate men have suffered through no fault of their own?

Mr. Williams

Having got the best estimate we can of the total losses of sheep and lambs, we think that if the N.F.U. fund rises to the point that we anticipate it may with the Government contribution, there will be sums available large enough to compensate for loss of stock.

Mr. Hudson

What is the man to do at once?

Mr. Williams

In my statement I said that immediate assistance will be made available.

Mr. Emrys Roberts

Can the Minister say whether this source of relief will be applied to hill farmers who are facing real financial hardship, if not worse than that? Such relief will be of very little assistance to the hill farmers in the remote areas of Wales. Further, if this national disaster should be a national charge, is it not highly unsatisfactory to meet it on a pound-to-pound basis of the contributions of the farmers themselves?

Mr. Williams

I think the hon. Member will be aware that in no similar case in the past has the Government made itself responsible for financial assistance at all, and this gesture on the part of the Government is, I think, a right gesture in view of the seriousness of the losses and the enormity of the troubles.

Mr. Roberts

They want more than a gesture.

Mr. M. Philips Price

Will the Minister bear in mind that, owing to the continuation of these disastrous rains right into April, large areas of the heavy clay lands in the Midlands and South-West of England have not been ploughed, and that very probably large areas will never be cultivated? Will he also bear in mind that that will also mean that next autumn and winter there will be insufficient feeding-stuffs to feed dairy cattle, and that therefore it is absolutely necessary to secure that adequate imports of feeding-stuffs are obtained, otherwise there will be mass destruction of herds next winter?

Mr. Williams

I think my hon. Friend can take it from me that we are aware of the condition of the land, North, South, East and West, and that is why we have endeavoured to provide a scheme to underwrite the production of crops which may only reach 60 or 65 per cent. of their normal because of the nature of the land. It is the underwriting scheme that I commend to the House as the most practical piece of assistance we can give.

Sir I. Fraser

Does the right hon. Gentleman not think that the desire to try to deal with this disaster nationally, within the financial limits, would best be met by allowing the law of supply and demand to operate, so that, owing to the scarcity, particularly in sheep, prices would rise? Would not that be the best way of spreading the burden over the consumers as a whole?

Mr. Williams

No, if I may say so, I think the hon. Member's suggestion would be almost as disastrous to agriculture in the long run as the shortage itself.

Mr. Stubbs

Is the Minister aware that in the Willingham and Cottenham area, particularly at Over, there is a feeling that nothing short of a local inquiry should be held, and held at once? Further, as he has said nothing about it this morning, will he look at the point of dealing with the question of flooding from a national point of view? I think the farmers would agree now that as a result of this disaster there is only one real solution, and that is to nationalise the waterways of the country.

Mr. Speaker

This is going very far from the original statement.

Mr. Eden

May I ask another question? It must be in all our minds, following the very serious statement made by the Minister and in view of the plight of the industry—I agree with what has been said by hon. Members below the Gangway—whether, as a result of the conditions, the right hon. Gentleman can assure the House that sufficient supplies of labour will be available to the industry this year to enable it to meet these wholly abnormal conditions and the urgent need for the output of the industry?

Mr. Williams

I think I can give that assurance to the right hon. Gentleman at once. We are fully aware of the needs of manpower, both for sowing and harvesting, when the time comes. As far as we can organise available supplies of labour, including prisoners of war, the Ministry of Agriculture will have the first call. Because of that I can give the assurance that when the harvest period comes we shall have sufficient labour.

Earl Winterton

On a point of Order. I desire to say that, as I am the hon. Member with the first subject to be discussed on the Adjournment, I am quite prepared to forgo my rights, with your permission, Mr. Speaker, providing that other Members will do the same, so that we can discuss this matter for the next three hours.

Mr. Speaker

I am afraid that is an assumption I could not very wall make. The other hon. Members are not all here. I would suggest to the House that this is a very important statement, and it would be better if hon. Members were to read it carefully. Then as soon as we come back, at the first opportunity. I have no doubt it will have to be debated.

Major Legge-Bourke

Further to your Ruling, Mr. Speaker. In view of the fact that His Majesty's Government seem to appreciate that this is a national disaster, would it not be desirable that some arrangements should be made whereby this matter could be discussed rather earlier than has been intended? I know it is not possible to move the Adjournment of the House today for the discussion of a matter of urgent public importance, but I suggest that the Adjournment might be moved on Budget Day. It is customary for the House to adjourn after the Chancellor has made his Budget Statement. I suggest that that would be a suitable time which might be allowed for discussion of this matter of urgent public importance.

Mr. Speaker

That is not a matter for me. I cannot rule that that should be so.

Lieut.-Colonel Elliot

We have not had any statement in regard to Scotland. I take it that, in general, the Secretary of State for Scotland is associated with the Minister of Agriculture in the statement he has made, and in the remedies proposed? But I notice that the Secretary of State has not been able to give any estimate as to sheep losses in Scotland. The Minister of Agriculture gave the very heavy figure of 30 per cent. losses in England and Wales, and in some cases counties have lost half their stocks. I wonder whether the Secretary of State would confirm that he is associated with the remedial measures, and also give some information as to losses in Scotland?

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Westwood)

I am associated with the statement which has been made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture. As far as we can get estimates from Scotland of losses—and they are only tentative, because it will be some time yet before we can get a full estimate, as on some of the Highlands the snows are only beginning to melt and there we are going to have a problem—the figure is approximately 10 per cent., varying from what is practically negligible in the North, up to 20 per cent. in the Border counties. Cattle losses are comparatively negligible.

Lieut.-Colonel Elliot

I am glad to hear that the losses in Scotland are not so heavy as they are in some of the English counties, all the more so as they will be necessary for stocking. Will the right hon. Gentleman keep in mind that winter is by no means over in Scotland, and in fact that snow has fallen again today, that the heavy frost has checked the growth of grass completely, and that we may still have very heavy losses before the winter is over?

Mr. Westwood

I can assure the right hon. and gallant Gentleman that these points are being kept in mind. I can also assure the House that the National Farmers' Union in Scotland are willing to co-operate, and are doing very good work in giving advice in connection with these problems.

Mr. Speaker

I think we must get on with Business, and leave to the usual channels the question of time for a Debate.