HC Deb 22 January 1947 vol 432 cc233-45

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (in this Act referred to as the Minister) shall establish an agricultural wages committee for each county in England and Wales and an Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales.

(2) An agricultural wages committee and the Agricultural Wages Board shall respectively be constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule to this Act.

(3) The Minister may, if he thinks it expedient, establish one agricultural wages committee for two or more counties instead of a separate committee for each county should resolutions in favour of such combination be passed by the representative members of the committees for the several counties, and thereupon that committee shall be the agricultural wages committee for the combined counties.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Section there shall be one committee for each combination of counties specified in the Schedule to this Act.

(5) Where one committee has been established for a combination of counties the Minister at any time thereafter may, and on the representation of the committee by resolution of the representative members shall, dissolve the committee, and until such committee is dissolved the counties included in the combination shall, for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be one county.— [captain Crookshank.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

4.2 p.m.

Captain Crookshank (Gainsborough)

I beg to 'move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

I should like to explain, if I may do so shortly, that I do not in the least wish to discuss the merits of this proposed new Clause. This Bill deals with agricultural wages, and there is a great deal to be said for having, after it is enacted, all the provisions dealing with agricultural wages in one document, in one Act. This was a point made by one of the right hon. Gentleman's supporters, the hon. Member for North-West Hull (Mr. R. Mackay), during the Second Reading Debate. In fact, he pointed out that under the Bill, as we then had it, the provisions in the Third Schedule with regard to amending the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) Amendment Act, '1940, were quite ridiculous. When we reached the Committee stage, my hon. Friends and myself devised certain Amendments to get over that difficulty, and to that extent to consolidate the Bill. The right hon. Gentleman was unable to accept our form of wording, but afterwards did accept the proposal, and the specific point made by the hon Member for North-West Hull was, therefore, dealt with.

Emboldened by our success on that occasion the Opposition—who are constructive when it is necessary and wise to be constructive—have put down on the Order Paper dozens of Amendments which, it passed by this House, would have the effect of making this Bill not only an amended Bill, but a consolidating Measure, and the whole of the law would be quite clear. The key to this long string of Amendments—if it is not out of Order to refer to them—is contained in the very last two Amendments on the Order Paper:—In page 11, line 32. column 3, to leave out lines 32 to 45, and to insert" the whole Act": and in page 12, line 3, column 3, to leave out lines 3 to 13, and to insert "the whole Act." If the House accepts this long string of Amendments —which I think I may call, if it is not a contradiction in terms, anticipatory consequential Amendments—it would mean that the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) Act, 1924, and the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Scotland) Act, 1937, would no longer have to be referred to by anybody who wanted to know the position regarding agricultural wages. That is the object of this proposed new Clause. I must apologise to the House on behalf of my hon. Friends for haying put down so many Amendments which all deal with the same point.

If we agree to the idea of consolidation, then all the other Amendments follow. If we do not agree now, then they fall to the ground. I, therefore, move this proposed new Clause, because I think it is the right thing to do. Any Government, when one wants to amend and consolidate, are always in this difficulty, that if they put into the original Bill all the Clauses which are merely consolidating Clauses they become vulnerable about them, because they are then all open to debate. There is, therefore—and I know this as a former Minister—a natural reluctance to take that course, because it means bringing in a Bill twice the length necessary, and if the Opposition are tiresome, which this Opposition are not, an enormous field of debate is invited, which would not be open to the Opposition if that were not put into the Bill because it is the law anyway, and the question does not arise. But it is a very different proposition if the Opposition think that any particular Bill is one which it would be wise to amend and consolidate simultaneously, because the Opposition can bring forward those Amendments and can give, as I give today, a guarantee to the right hon. Gentleman, that if he is prepared to accept the idea and to incorporate all these Amendments he can have the whole lot of them formally. Then the length of time which will be devoted to them will merely be the time taken by the Clerk reading out the title of the proposed new Clauses, you, Sir, putting the Question and me nodding my head. There will be no debate on them, whether we agree on the merits or not. I am not raising that issue; I am not saying we necessarily agree on all that is enacted, but we are not raising that today. We merely put this forward as a public help in understanding the legislation we are passing.

Therefore, I hope the right hon. Gentleman will meet me. It may be we have left out something. After all, we have done our best. We had a Christmas holiday and tried to work on this with this object in view. However, we may have slipped up and left out something. I am quite prepared to admit that. If that is so, I will go further and say to the right hon. Gentleman that if he finds that to be the case, and it is necessary to make certain drafting Amendments of a consolidating kind in another place, when those Amendments come back to this House we would, on his guaranteeing to us that they were that kind of Amendment, offer no opposition and no debate. I cannot imagine a more intensive effort on the part of my hon. Friends and myself to try to help the Government to improve this Bill. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will rise and say that he accepts this proposed new Clause, and is prepared to accept all the other Amendments, pages of them, which we do not want to discuss. I am not saying we agree with them on their merits. We are merely putting them into one document, so that the unfortunate people who have to study these things do not have to refer to two, three or four documents.

We realise that this is a field in which this is most important, because here we are dealing with the wages of agricultural workers. If, in the future, any one of them wants to know for himself exactly what his rights are, and is not necessarily prepared to accept the views given to him by outside people—maybe even by his union representatives—he has to get hold of various Acts which are still the law. In the nature of things, the agricultural worker does not necessarily live within easy reach of a public library, nor does he particularly want to spend his earnings—

Mr. Stubbs (Cambridgeshire)

He gets it from the post office, not the library.

Captain Crookshank

The post office does not provide Acts of Parliament. I do not know what the hon. Gentleman is talking about, unless there has been a very great change in post offices since I was Postmaster-General. A post office sells almost anything, but it does not sell Acts of Parliament. I am merely saying, the agricultural community wants to know exactly what the law is. If they have to look up three, four, five or six Acts of Parliament, they are perhaps not in such an easy position to do it as those who live nearer to public libraries and places of reference.

Mr. Gooch (Norfolk, Northern)

The best men for that are in the unions.

Captain Crookshank

I made that exception, but I said they might not always be ready to accept that advice and might prefer to look at the words for themselves. That is the short point. As far as I know, all these Amendments, as we have drafted them, are merely designed to insert into this Bill what is the existing law. The right hon. Gentleman can accept my assurance—and I know I can give it on behalf of my hon. Friends—that if he will do that we shall move all these Amendments formally, and not waste any time in the House today. It will make the published Act, when it receives the Royal Assent something much more valuable to the agricultural community than it is today. I cannot conceive of any reason why the right hon. Gentleman should object to this proposal. There is nothing but a conciliatory attitude on our part, wanting to be helpful; and I simply cannot see why he should not accept the proposal. I hope, therefore, very much that he will do so. You will observe, Mr. Speaker, that, as I indicated at the beginning, I have not said anything about the merits of the new Clause. I am not concerned about that at the moment. It is the law anyhow. I am merely offering this series of Amendments to the Minister and the House in order to make the Bill, when it becomes an Act, far clearer, and to sweep away any difficulties that there may be here in legislation by reference. If it is any consolation to the right hon. Gentleman, we are adopting—we ourselves have previously made the point—a very sensible suggestion made by one of his own supporters, the hon. Member for North-West Hull.

Mr. Turner-Samuels (Gloucester)

On this matter I should like to raise a point of Order. I listened with great interest to the observations of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Gainsborough (Captain Crookshank), in which he gave an explanation why there appear on the Order Paper all these new Clauses and Amendments which are taken bodily from some previous Act which is operative at the present moment. The point I want to raise is this. The present Bill before the House is not a consolidating Bill. The character and the scope of a consolidating Bill are entirely different; because there one is restricted in the area of Debate, and so on. My submission therefore is that it is an abuse of parliamentary machinery to put down on the Order Paper new Clauses and Amendments, as we have here, which are lifted bodily from an Act which already has statutory effect and is in operation at the present moment. What these new Clauses and this large number of Amendments seek to do is to repeat, quite redundantly, the law as it at present stands. That is an absurdity. The idea of the Opposition asking this House to Debate and re-enact something which is already on the Statute Book must be nonsense. First of all, it is unnecessary.

Captain Crookshank

We have done it already.

Mr. Turner-Samuels

Just a moment. First of all, it is unnecessary; secondly, it is duplication; and thirdly, it is a dreadful waste of time and a dreadful waste of paper. My submission is that, on these grounds among others, it is an abuse of the machinery of Parliament. If you look, Mr. Speaker, at page 134, the Clause set down there runs nearly the whole length of that page, and then it runs in to half of page 135. The rest of the page and the whole of the next page and page 137 that follows are all material to be found in already existing Acts of Parliament. The same applies to various other new Clauses and Amendments that follow. The new Schedules on pages 145 to 148 are of the same character. They are merely repetition of what is already in existence, either in the Act of 1924 which refers to England and Wales, or the Act of 1937 which refers to Scotland; and my submission is that not one of these new Clauses or Amendments, that is taken from and merely repeats provisions in already existing Acts and which are simply the material and the verba ipsissima, f those Statutes is in Order, and cannot be debated under the present Bill and is an abuse of Parliamentary machinery.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. and learned Gentleman has made a very good speech against the proposal made by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Gainsborough (Captain Crookshank), but he certainly was not raising any point of Order. If there is any point of Order at all, it is that he is criticising my selection of this new Clause, and that, I am sure, was certainly not his intention.

Mr. Turner-Samuels

No.

4.15 p.m.

Mr. Wilfrid Roberts (Cumberland, Northern)

As a Member who does not belong to the official Opposition I wish to add my word before the Minister replies, hoping that the Minister will be able to accept the proposal that has been suggested by the Opposition. I would add one further reason for his doing so, in addition to the admirable reasons which the right hon. and gallant Gentleman gave. That is that a widespread desire has been expressed that agriculture, if not taken altogether out of party politics, should, at any rate, not be treated in a contemptuous way between the various political parties. This gesture of the Opposition, in making the suggestion that this Bill should be turned into a consolidating Bill, seems to me to be the very thing in which both the Government and the Opposition, and those of us who are independent of those august bodies, could join together. It seems the common sense thing to do. Not only the agricultural worker but the farmer wants to know what the law is, as do all those concerned with the industry, and it would be a good thing to provide for them, in a sensible and commonsense way, a statement of what the law relative to agricultural wages, is. Therefore, I add a humble word to the Opposition's plea that the Minister should adopt this course

The Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Thomas Williams)

After the very sweet reasonableness of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Gainsborough (Captain Crookshank) and the hon. Member for North Cumberland (Mr. W. Roberts) it is rather difficult to resist their plea. The right hon. and gallant Gentleman truly said that the object of these new Clauses, with the Schedules and a host of consequential Amendments, is, in effect, to complete the consolidation of the 1924 and 1937 Acts along with this present Bill. But, as I explained in Committee, I was obliged to resist the general consolidation proposals. I had no objection to accepting a small measure of consolidation, which produced the present Clauses 4 and 11; that was merely picking up outlying bits of legislation and transferring them to this Bill. That can be put down to my sweet reasonableness in responding to hon. and right hon. Gentlemen upstairs. The right hon. and gallant Gentleman knows—none better— that legislating and consolidating at the same time, is totally contrary to every precedent in this country. Having been in Opposition so long myself—for some thing like 18 or 19 years—facing Bills which sought to amend legislation by reference, I have myself had occasion to rail against legislation by reference and at times I have been driven nearly mad by it. So, I am not out of sympathy with the general idea. But, I repeat, it has always been thought, in this country, that the best policy is, first to pass amending legislation, and then to consolidate as quickly as possible afterwards.

I should like to congratulate hon. Members on their assiduity during the Parliamentary Recess, and on the large measure of success they have achieved in what has been irreverently termed their "paste and scissors" effort. On careful examination of the various new Clauses plus the consequential Amendments, I am satisfied that they would not do what hon. and right hon. Members desire, for I find that these Clauses and Amendments are not really complete. For example, if we were to repeal what the right hon. and gallant Gentleman described as the keystone—the 1924 Act—by consolidating at this moment, certain transitional measures would be required. The Agricultural Wages Board would have to be completely re-appointed, and all county wage committees would have to be re-appointed, for until this had been done the Acts would cease to operate. It seems to me, therefore, that while the desire may be very good it is inconsistent with all precedent in this House. The fact is that these new Clauses and Amendments would not nearly meet the case, despite the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's suggestion that they would not object to certain Amendments being made in another place, and despite the fact that he gave his word of honour that he and his hon. Friends would stand by whatever was done. I cannot disagree with him at all on that point; I should always be prepared to take the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's word for anything, but I have sat in this House for something over 20 years and I have never known a period when the leaders of the Government or the leaders of the Opposition could speak absolutely for every one of the Members sitting on the back benches.

Therefore, while I am not out of sympathy with the general proposal, or with the urgent need for consolidating as quickly as possible, I feel that I cannot agree to the suggestion the right hon. and gallant Gentleman makes that I should accept all the new Clauses, Schedules and consequential Amendments on the Order Paper. I will, however, give this assurance to the right hon. and gallant Gentleman and to hon. Members sitting opposite. The Government are at this moment actively considering whether they can provide themselves with a machine to expedite and facilitate consolidation legislation. I want to make it plain that I can give no definite guarantee, but I am very hopeful indeed that we shall be able to get a consolidation Measure for this particular Bill in the next Parliamentary Session. With that assurance, first that the Government recognise the need for consolidating as quickly as possible, and secondly that I am convinced that steps will be taken—I am hopeful, to put it no higher than that, that in the next Parliamentary Session we shall get a consolidation Bill—I hope that they will not feel disposed to press this Clause, but will take my word for it that as soon as consolidation legislation can be produced it will be brought before the House.

Captain Crookshank

While the right hon. Gentelman says he would accept my word on what we would hope to do, may I say that I accept his word that he hopes that next year this may be done, but quite frankly I do not think it is good enough. Here are all these Clauses, perfectly adequate to the purpose, and I cannot imagine why he should not accept them. He says that this is without precedent. That may be, but on matters of this kind I think that the initiative, in the very nature of the case, must come from the Opposition, because the Government expose too many flanks if they bring into a Bill a lot of Clauses re-enacting the law. If, on the other hand, the Opposition are anxious to be helpful in consolidating at once instead of in 12 months' time, I think it is a very poor response on the part of the right hon. Gentleman to say that he cannot do it because it is contrary to precedent, or because some of these Clauses do not fully cover the case. We think they do cover the case, but we would not object to any alterations which are necessary either now or hereafter, and I am very disappointed indeed that our efforts to help make this Bill, when it is passed, a really good and complete Act are not acceptable to the right hon. Gentleman. I feel very much in

clined, if my right hon. and hon. Friends agree with me, to register our protest in the Lobby at this somewhat ungenerous treatment of a really wise suggestion. Question put, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

The House divided: Ayes, 128; Noes, 244.

Division No. 55.] AYES. 4.26 p.m.
Aitken, Hon. Max Hinchingbrooke, Viscount Raikes, H. V.
Amory, D. Heathcoat Hollis, M. C. Ramsay, Maj. S.
Assheton, Rt. Hon. R. Hudson, Rt. Hon. R. S. (Southport) Rayner, Brig. R.
Baldwin, A. E. Hurd, A. Reed, Sir S. (Aylesbury)
Barlow, Sir J. Hutchison, Col. J. R. (Glasgow, C.) Roberts, H. (Handsworth)
Bennett, Sir P. Jeffreys, General Sir G. Roberts, Maj. P. G. (Ecclesall)
Birch, Nigel Kerr, Sir J Graham Roberts, W. (Cumberland, N.)
Boles, Lt.-Col. D. C. (Wells) Kingsmill, Lt.-Col. W. H. Ross, Sir R. D. (Londonderry)
Boyd-Carpenter, J. A. Lambert, Hon, G. Sanderson, Sir F.
Braithwaite, Lt.-Comdr. J. G. Lancaster, Col. C. G. Scott, Lord W.
Buchan-Hepburn, P. G. T. Langford-Holt, J. Shephard, S. (Newark)
Butcher, H. W. Law, Rt Hon. R. K Shepherd, W. S (Bucklow)
Butler, Rt. Hon. R. A. (S'ffr'n W'ld'n) Linstead, H. N. Smith, E. P. (Ashford)
Byers, Frank Lloyd, Maj. Guy (Renfrew, E.) Smithers, Sir W.
Challen, C. Lloyd, Selwyn (Wirral) Snadden, W. M.
Clarke, Col. R. S. Low, Brig. A. R. W. Spearman, A. C. M.
Clifton-Brown, Lt.-Col. G. Lucas, Major Sir J. Stanley, Rt. Hon. O.
Cole, T. L, - Lucas-Tooth, Sir H. Stewart, J. Henderson (Fife, E.)
Conant, Mai. R. J. E. MacAudrew, Col. Sir C. Stoddart-Scott, Col. M.
Cooper-Key, E. M. Macdonald, Sir P. (I. of Wight) Strauss, H. G. (English Universities)
Co.bee'. Lieut.-Col. U. (Ludlow) Maclean, Brig. F. H. R. (Lancaster) Stuart, Rt. Hon. J. (Moray)
Crookshank, Capt. Rt. Hon. H. F. C. Macphsrson, Maj. N. (Dumfries) Studholme, H. G.
Cuthbert, W. N. Maitland, Comdr. J. W. Sutcliffe, H.
Darling, Sir W Y. Manningham-Buller, R. E. Taylor, C. S. (Eastbourne)
Davidson, Viscountess Marlowe, A. A. H. Taylor, Vice-Adm. E. A. (P'dd't'n, S.)
Digby, S. W. Marshall, D. (Bodmin) Thorneycroft, G E. P. (Monmouth)
Dodds-Parker, A. D. Mellor, Sir J. Thornton-Kemsley, C. N
Drayson, G. B. Molson, A. H. E. Thorp, Lt.-Col. R. A. F.
Dugdale, Maj. Sir T. (Richmond) Morris, Hopkin (Carmarthen) Touche, G. C.
Eccles, D. M. Morris-Jones, Sir H. Turton, R. H.
Fraser, Maj. H. C. P. (Stone) Morrison, Rt. Hon. W. S. (Cirencester) Vane, W. M. F.
Galbraith, Cmdr. T. D. Mott-Radclyffe, Maj. C. E. Wadsworth, G
Gammans, L. D. Neill, W. F. (Belfast, N.) Walker-Smith, D.
Glyn, Sir R. Neven-Spence, Sir B Ward, Hon. G. R.
Gomme-Duncan, Col. A. G Nicholson, G. Watt, Sir G. S Harvie
Graham-Little, Sir E. Noble, Comdr. A. H. P. Wheatley, Colonel M. J.
Grant, Lady O'Neill, Rt. Hon. Sir H White, J. B. (Canterbury)
Gridley, Sir A. Orr-Ewing, I. L. Williams, C. (Torquay)
Grimston, R. V. Peake, Rt. Hon. O Wiloughby de Eresby, Lord
Gruffyd, Prof. W. J. Pickthorn, K. Young, Sir A S. L. (Partick)
Hannon, Sir P. (Moseley) Pitman, I. J.
Hare, Hon. J. H. (Woodbridge) Poole, O. B. S. (Oswestry) TELLERS FOR THE AYES:
Harvey, Air-Comdre. A. V. Prescott, Stanley Mr. Drewe and
Head, Brig. A. H. Price-White, Lt.-Col. D Commander Agnew.
NOES
Allen, A. C. (Bosworth) Braddock, Mrs. E. M. (L'pl, Exoh'ge) Colman, Miss G. M.
Allen, Scholefield (Crewe) Braddock, T. (Mitcham) Comyns, Dr. L.
Alpass, J. H. Brook. D. (Halifax) Cook, T. F.
Anderson, A. (Motherwell) Brooks, T. J. (Rothwell) Cooper, Wing-Comdr. G.
Anderson, F. (Whitehaven) Brown, George (Belper) Corlett, Dr. J.
Attewell, H.C. Brown, T. J. (Ince) Daggar, G.
Austin, H. Lewis Bruce, Maj. D. W. T Davies, Edward (Burslem)
Awbery, S. S. Buchanan, G. Davies, Harold (Leek)
Ayles, W. H. Burden, T. W. Davies, Hadyn (St. Pancrat, S.W.)
Bacon, Miss A. Butler, H. W. (Hackney, S.) Davies, S. O. (Merthyr)
Balfour, A. Carmichael, James Deer, G.
Barnes, Rt. Hon. A. J Chamberlain, R. A Dobbie, W
Barstow, P G. Champion, A. J. Dye, S.
Barton, C. Chater, D. Edwards, N. (Caerphilly)
Battley, J. R. Chetwynd, G. R. Evans, E. (Lowestoft)
Bechervaise, A. E Clitherow, Dr. R. Evans, John (Ogmore)
Benson, G. Cluse, W. S. Ewart, R.
Berry, H. Cobb, F. A. Fairhurst, F.
Bing, G. H C. Cocks, F. S. Farthing, W. J.
Binns, J. Coldrick, W Field, Capt. W.J.
Blyton, W. R. Collick, P. Foot, M. M,
Boardman, H. Collindridge, F. Forman, J. C.
Bowden, Flg.-Offr. H. W. Collins, V. J Fraser, T. (Hamilton)
Gallacher, W. Mack, J. D. Simmons, C. J.
Ganley, Mrs. C. S McKay, J. (Wallsend) Skeffington, A. M.
Gibbins, J. McKinlay, A. S. Smith, C. (Colchester)
Gibson, C. W MacMillan, M. K. (Western Isles) Smith, H. N. (Nottingham, S.)
Gilzean, A.. Macpherson, T. (Romford) Snow, Capt. J. W.
Glanville, J. E. (Cornett) Mainwaring, W. H. Solley, L. J.
Gooch, E. G. Mallalieu, J. P. W Sorensen, R. W
Goodrich, H. E. Mann, Mrs. J. Sparks, J. A.
Grey, C. F. Mathers, G. Stamford, W.
Grierson, E. Medland, H. M. Stephen, C.
Griffiths, D. (Rother Valley) Middleton, Mrs. L Stewart, Michael (Fulham, E.)
Griffiths, W D (Moss Side) Mikardo, Ian Stross, Dr. B.
Gunter, R. J. Mitchison, Maj. G. R Stubbs, A. E.
Guy, W. H Monslow, W Swingler, S.
Haire, John E. (Wycombe) Moody, A. S Symonds, A. L.
Hale, Leslie Mort, D. L. Taylor, H. B. (Mansfield)
Hall, W. 8. Moyle, A. Taylor, R. J. (Morpeth)
Hamilton, Lieut.-Col. R Murray,, J. D. Taylor, Dr. S. (Barnet)
Hannan, W. (Maryhill) Nally, W. Thomas, D. E. (Aberdare)
Hardy, E A Naylor, T. E. Thomas, I. O. (Wrekin)
Harrison, J. Neal, H. (Claycross) Thomas, George (Cardiff)
Hastings, Dr. Somerville Nicholls, H. R. (Stratford) Thorneycroft, Harry (Clayton)
Henderson, Joseph (Ardwick) Noe|-Buxton, Lady Thurtle, E.
Herbison, Miss M. O'Brien, T. Timmons, J.
Hicks, G. Oldfield, W. H. Tolley, L.
Hobson, C. R. Paling, Will T. (Dewsbury) Tomlinson, Rt. Hon. G
Holman, P. Palmer, A. M. F. Turner-Samuels, M.
House, G. Parkin, B T. Usborne, Henry
Hoy, J. Paton, Mrs. F. (Rushcliffe) Vernon, Maj. W. F
Hudson, J. H. (Ealing, W.) Paton, J. (Norwich) Viant, S. P.
Hughes, Hector (Aberdeen, N.) Peart, Capt. T. F. Walkden, E.
Hutchinson, H. L. (Rushoime) Perrins, W. Walker, G. H.
Hynd, H. (Hackney, C.) * Poole, Major Cecil (Lichfield) Wallace, G. D. (Chislehurst)
Iiving, W J. Popplewell, E. Wallace, H. W. (Walthamstow, E.)
Jay, D. P. T. Porter, E. (Warrington) Warbey, W. N.
Jeger, Dr. S. W. (St. Pancras, S.E.) Price, M. Philips Watkins, T. E.
John, W. Pritt, D. N Watson, W M.
Jones, Elwyn (Plaistow) Proctor, W. T. Wells, P. L. (Faversham)
Jones, P Asterley (Hitchin) Pryde, D. J. Wells, W. T (Walsall)
Keenan, W Pursey, Cmdr. H West, D. G.
Kenyon, C Randall, H. E. White, C. F. (Derbyshire, W.)
Kinley, J. Ranger, J White, H. (Derbyshire, N.E.)
Kirby, B. V. Rees-Williams, D. R Whiteley, Rt. Hon. W
Kirkwood, D. Reeves, J. Wilkes, L.
Lang, G. Reid, T. (Swindon) Willey, F. T. (Sunderland)
Lavers, S. Rhodes, H. Willey, O. G. (Cleveland)
Lawson, Rt. Hon. J. J. Ridealgh, Mrs. M. Williams, D. J. (Neath)
Lee, F. (Hulme) Roberts, Goronwy (Caernarvonshire) Williams, J. L. (Kelvingrove)
Lee, Miss J (Cannock) Robertson, J. J. (Berwick) Williams, Rt Hon. T. (Don Valley)
Lewis, J. (Bolton) Rogers, G. H. R. Williams, W. R. (Heston)
Lewis, T (Southampton) Ross, William (Kilmarnock) Willis, E
Lipton, Lt.-Col. M. Sargood, R. Wills, Mrs. E. A
Logan, D. G. Scollan, T. Wise, Major F. J
Longden, F. Scott-Elliot, W Woodburn, A
Lyne. A. W. Shackleton, Wing.-Cdr E. A. A Wyatt, W.
McAdam, W. Sharp, Granville Yates, V F.
McAllister, G. Shurmer, P. Younger, Hon. Kenneth
McEntee, V. La T. Silverman, J. (Erdington)
McGhee, H. G Silverman, S. S. (Nelson) TELLERS FOR THE NOES:
Mr. Pearson and Mr. Daines.

Question put, and agreed to.