HC Deb 16 February 1948 vol 447 cc950-60

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."— [Mr. Simmons.]

10.8 p.m.

Mr. Carson (Isle of Thanet)

I want to draw the attention of the Government to the grave plight that holiday resorts are likely to find themselves in as a result of recent legislation, and to make some constructive suggestions as to what I think should be done. I am quite certain that the Parliamentary Secretary will agree—that a grave situation has been brought about by the abolition of the basic petrol ration. We are faced with the position that approximately 33 million people will have this next summer holidays with pay, and will be wanting to go on holiday, mostly to coastal or seaside resorts. The bulk of them, even though the Government have put forward a plea that they should stagger their holidays and that firms should co-operate, will go in the months of July and August. We very much doubt whether the public transport of this country will be able to cope with the flow of travellers. We fear very much that if public transport cannot carry them they will do what they were urged to do during the war, and take holidays at home. That will be very serious from the point of view of our part of the world.

Speaking for my own constituency, I know from bitter experience about the railways to Ramsgate and Margate last summer, when it was almost a major operation to get on a train to those parts during July and August. One saw the most appalling spectacle of women, very often with young children, and old people standing in the corridors of trains, jammed shoulder to shoulder because there was not enough accommodation for them. I have personal experience of last Christmas, which is out of season, when people were left behind on Ramsgate station when they were trying to get back to London after spending Christmas in my constituency. They might not want to take that risk again, but might be forewarned and stay away. If they did, it would indeed be serious for us, so serious that a great many of our hotels, boarding houses and ancillary industries might well face ruin after a bad season.

I would ask the hon. Gentleman who is to reply to remember that we do not altogether depend on the seasonal trade, but also upon the business we can do outside the season. We have been able to do a certain amount in years gone by at Christmas, Easter and in the winter months. I am told by people in my constituency that, in this month of February, the bookings for many hotels and boarding houses are down by as much as 50 per cent. This has been aggravated, and will be more so in future, by the resumption of travel abroad, and we feel that this is adding insult to injury.

I am not clear at the moment, and I hope the hon. Gentleman will enlighten me, what is the position about taking one's own car abroad, but I see it stated in the Press that one can do it, although the Government discourage it. I cannot see that there is any difficulty in the way of getting one's car towed or carried to a railway station, sticking it on a train to the port of embarkation, taking it across and getting the petrol on the other side. I believe that petrol is quite freely available in France and in most of Europe. There is the further point that the recent devaluation of the franc is going to help our travellers abroad, and will make their £35 go considerably further. Let me make it quite clear that our people do not object to fair competition with coastal resorts abroad, but we want it to be fair, and this is really as good, in effect, as 10 yards' start in a 100 yards race, to the coastal resorts abroad.

I do not want to labour the difficult position in which we find ourselves. I only want to impress upon the hon. Gentleman how serious it is. I want to try to give him some ideas about what can be done about it, and I hope the hon. Gentleman himself will have some suggestions which he can put forward on behalf of the Government, as I am sure they realise how serious the position is. May I first ask him one or two questions, and then make some suggestions of my own?

We have been told by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Fuel and Power that more coal is to be given to the railways in the coming year in order to alleviate the strain on transport. I think the figure is about 250,000 tons. I wonder if the hon. Gentleman can say, first, approximately how many extra trains over last year can be run as a result of that increased allocation of fuel, and, secondly, whether he is convinced that the tracks running to the coastal resorts can carry the additional rolling stock, and whether that additional rolling stock is there to be carried? I would like to know whether many more additional trains can be put on. If they can, may I make a suggestion? We are afraid that, if people think they are going to travel in appalling conditions, they will not travel at all.

Therefore I suggest that, instead of cutting out the reservation of railway seats, which has been the policy of the Government up to now, he should not only not cut them out, but extend the privilege to the ordinary third-class carriages. The ordinary person who knows in reasonable time in advance that he is going on holiday, and who knows that he is taking his family away with him, would find that it would be an enormous satisfaction to him to know that he would be certain of getting a seat for himself and his wife, and, what is far more important, for his small children. Would it not be possible to extend railway seat reservations, rather than cutting them out?

My next point is with regard to buses. It really is a major operation to get about in the coastal resorts in the summer. We have seen how the increased number of single decker buses operating in London have helped enormously to ease and alleviate queues during the rush hours. Would it not be possible for the Government to work out some scheme whereby extra buses could be sent to popular seaside resorts during the summer months? That would help very substantially not only the holiday makers but also the people who have to go to work day by day. The Government have abolished workmen's priority tickets on buses, which I think is quite wrong. They will find their mistake when the summer comes, by the hours which workers will take in queueing for buses. Such a scheme as I have suggested would alleviate that to some extent.

Could sympathetic consideration also be given to private hired cars operated in coastal areas, especially in the summer months? The Government have been rather hard in respect of the allocations for private hire use. Could they be more sympathetic in respect of those in coastal resorts. I have tried to keep off the basic ration problem, which is a major bone of contention, but the ideal answer, from our point of view, would be to have some sort of holiday coupon scheme, whereby motorists could use their cars for a fortnight in the summer for holiday purposes. We realise that the difficulties, however, are mainly administrative, but I make this suggestion. Would it not be possible to allow people, who have their cars on the road at the present time for essential purposes, to use some of their coupons for a fortnight's holiday per year. That would wipe out the administrative difficulty. I realise that it sounds unfair and like creating class privilege, but we are concerned with taking the strain off public transport. At the same time the Government could send out an appeal —and it could be no more than an appeal —to those lucky people who have cars on the road to do their utmost to take the people on holiday with them.

The petrol restriction has hit holiday resorts in many ways. There is the question of pleasure boats for example which go to make up the stock in trade of coastal resorts. Our whole structure depends on holidays and without them we face a very bleak future. I am certain the Government do recognise the value of holidays with pay, and I hope they will consider the points I have tried to raise. I have raised them because we are really worried about the situation in coastal resorts. I have no desire to score a party point of any sort. I hope the hon. Gentleman will be able to give us some hope for the coming season.

10.20 p.m.

Mr. Edward Evans (Lowestoft)

I wish to support the very clear statement of the case for holiday resorts made by the hon. Member for the Isle of Thanet (Mr. Carson). I make no apology for special pleading. All of us who represent coastal resorts know the work done there and how vital it is as a means of livelihood. We must represent that to the Government, but it is done from no desire to embarrass the Government. In this connection the Government should realise that it is a question of the survival of an industry. The tourist trade is our very means of existence, and if it is wiped out, only for a season, the result can only be described as a catastrophe.

All kinds of interests are involved. There is the large hotel keeper with his staff, the small boarding house keeper, people who provide amusements and entertainments, and the catering communities and enterprises. There are also those who provide sea trips and, particularly on the Broads, those whose livelihood depends on the hiring of boats. Every local authority concerned with a holiday resort must spend huge capital sums in providing expensive amenities, such as the upkeep of the sea front and the sea wall, maintenance out of current income of entertainments, facilities for travel, and provision for advertising. Any depletion of the tourist traffic hits every aspect of this industry both private people and community enterprises, and also the local authorities.

Another thing to be borne in mind in connection with the hotel industry is the implementation of the new catering wages regulations. That will add a tremendous cost and make necessary the engaging of new staff. Unless business is done, many of these people will be thrown on the streets. The best employers endeavour to keep their employees engaged during the winter. That is a difficult task. In a hotel in my constituency, only a fortnight ago, on a beautifully fine day, there were no visitors from outside the town. The only people to have lunch on the premises were permanent residents. Another hotel proprietor has written to me to say that during the whole of January he served two lunches and one dinner to visitors. I give those illustrations to show how difficult and tragic is the situation. I hope that no one in this House considers that the catering industry in the holiday resorts is a parasitic industry. It performs a national function and has as much right to consideration as any other industry.

I ask the Government to examine any means of alleviation that they can discover. We heard recently of the allocation of extra fuel for the railways. In my constituency, however, there are a number of fair-sized resorts which are remote from railheads. We have a most inadequate rail service, and the increased difficulties due to the elimination of the basic petrol ration will make it almost impossible for the people in the industry in these resorts to carry on. I urge the Government to consider this problem most sympathetically.

10.24 p.m.

Mr. Baker White (Canterbury)

I wish to make a special plea for the small resort which has not got extensive motor coach services. I have in mind two such places in my constituency, Herne Bay and Whitstable. They are served by an already over-loaded motor bus service. The service is over-loaded in winter. The question of workers' priorities has been mentioned. We are faced now with a situation in which telephone workers coming to Canterbury from the coast towns cannot get a bus because their priority has been cancelled. That is the position in Canterbury. I cannot imagine what it would be like in the summer. These towns have no big hotels. They consist mainly of small private boarding houses. The people who run them suffered six barren years. They were just getting round the corner when they received this blow which may drive some of them to bankruptcy.

We are promised extra trains, but I understand on the best authority that the North Kent coast service cannot take any more trains. The line is already overloaded. The offer of extra trains will be of no use. Anyone who travels from London to the coast in the evenings will know that even in February the trains are crowded. The position in the summer will be much worse.

My third and last point is that this is going to affect not only places on the coast but towns inland. I can cite one example I know very well—Canterbury. In a normal summer countless thousands of people visit the city of one of the Mother Churches of Christianity. They will not be able to do so now to the same extent Already the revenue of Canterbury has dropped as a result of the reduction in the number of visitors. Those are the three points which I wish to put to the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Overseas Trade.

10.26 p.m.

Squadron-Leader Kinghorn (Great Yarmouth)

I should like to add my support to that of the previous speakers. Firstly, I would like to stress that this is as much an industry to the coastal towns as the cotton industry is to Lancashire and the woollen industry to Yorkshire. The majority of the people get their living out of the industry and they are working people. The boarding house keepers in my constituency are working people, and for three months of the year they have to work hard in order to get sufficient to tide them over the winter.

When the Government reintroduced the basic petrol and added extra coupons for one purpose or another a lot of small people in places like Great Yarmouth went in for capital expenditure on such things as cafes and restaurants. Now they are in danger of losing their capital, not because the holiday makers are not coming in large numbers as they will be by train at the peak holiday periods, but there will be a big drop in the number of people who came for the odd meal, and it was from that type of customer that a substantial living was made. A friend of mine has a road house, and in the week that the basic petrol was stopped his £1,000 a week takings dropped to £200. Small people cannot afford to run into debt, and certainly the people of this class who have expended so much during the last three years, as they have in Great Yarmouth, cannot do so. I would emphasise that this is an industry which catered for a lot of working people, and there are also a lot of people who have put their all into it, such as people with Service gratuities, and so forth. If we are to help the public to go to Swiss hotels, these people want to know in fairness what is going to happen here.

10.29 p.m.

Mr. Bottomley (Secretary for Overseas Trade)

The subject which has been raised on the Adjournment is concerned with the abolition of the basic petrol ration and the resumption of foreign holiday travel. The only reason that the two are linked is their combined effect upon our coastal towns and other resorts in the country. The restrictions following the abolition of the basic petrol ration are something we should all like to see ended. With regard to foreign travel, I should have thought that all of us would have been glad that that ban has been lifted, and particularly so the hon. Member for the Isle of Thanet (Mr. Carson). The reason the basic petrol ration has been abolished has been gone into very fully. My right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Minister of Fuel and Power have given full explanations on that subject, and, as the hon. Member for the Isle of Thanet recognises, there is little more to be said about it now.

The hon. Gentleman did put one or two points which I cannot answer as they are matters for the Minister of Transport and the Ministry of Fuel and Power, but I will undertake to convey the requests to them, and I have no doubt that an answer will be given in due course. With regard to the foreign travel ban we are carrying out bilateral trade agreements and in connection with that development the lifting of the ban on foreign holidays does contribute, by establishing goodwill and understanding between our country and others, to the European recovery we all desire. Foreign travel is no longer a privilege to be enjoyed by the few. As the Foreign Secretary said the other day, it is desirable in order to help to a better understanding between peoples and as a contribution towards this stimulation of understanding and good will.

With regard to the effects on the holiday resorts, the maintenance of the ban on foreign travel would itself have produced difficulties for our own tourist trade. Unless we are prepared to send people to other countries, we cannot expect those countries to send people here; and we want people from abroad to visit us, and for that reason this interchange of people is to be welcomed.

Mr. Brendan Bracken (Bournemouth)

That is interesting, because last year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said we expected £16 million from foreign visitors. Can he say how many came? How much did they spend?

Mr. Bottomley

I cannot answer that, but the "Evening Standard" tonight states that large numbers of people are coming. I imagine that their information is fairly reliable. We have the Olympic Games this summer, which will bring many visitors.

Mr. Carson

Surely a lot of these foreign visitors, are, in point of fact. Americans, and does the hon. Gentleman suggest there will be much reciprocal travel to America?

Mr. Bottomley

We want their dollars, but sending visitors from this country to the countries of Europe is not costing dollars. The ban on basic petrol, again, is to save dollars, so the fundamental difference is that in this case we are not losing a valuable source of wealth. This is an opportunity both of developing understanding and of helping trade.

Mr. C. S. Taylor (Eastbourne)

I agree that the foreign tourist trade provided about £20,000,000 last year. But does the hon. Gentleman realise that we in this country cannot keep hotels open solely for the benefit of people from overseas?

Mr. Bottomley

I am not suggesting that. But it will be difficult for overseas visitors to get in because of the great influx of people from all over the country. We must do the best we can to accommodate them. The difficulty will be to cater for the large number of visitors who propose to go to the seaside.

I have some newspaper cuttings here, and I find they are rather revealing. They do not support the hon. Member's contention that it is going to be difficult for the seaside resorts. In the "Evening Standard" tonight it is said that Brighton has double the number of inquiries over those which it had this time last year. [An HON. MEMBER: "Inquiries, not bookings."] Yes, but they are an indication of the bookings which we may expect will be received. Eastbourne is reported to have said, "There has been an avalanche of inquiries in the last few days."

Mr. C. S. Taylor

Well, Eastbourne is a very popular place.

Mr. Bottomley

I agree with the hon. Member. Margate, which is in the constituency of the hon. Member who raised this matter, has a good booking rate which is much higher than it was last year, and Clacton on the east coast promised to have one of the best seasons ever known, so the "Evening Standard" says.

Mr. Bracken

Can the hon. Gentleman tell us something about Bournemouth?

Mr. Bottomley

The "Evening Standard" does not think it worth mentioning. But the "News Chronicle" of an earlier date says that Bournemouth reports that the Government have been very helpful to that centre.

Mr. Bracken

Nobody in Bournemouth thinks that.

Mr. Bottomley

The "News Chronicle" is a very reliable paper and it might be well to look and see what it says. It says that Bournmouth is very ready for visitors, and I imagine the only ones who could say that are the representative agencies responsible for the arrangements. It goes on to say how helpful the Government have been.

These two subjects, then, are linked together though the discussion tonight has been on points rather concerned with other matters.

Mr. Marlowe (Brighton)

Will the hon. Gentleman deal with the question about getting cars abroad? It is a really important matter. A lot of people want to know whether they can take their cars abroad. Are they allowed to do it, and if so, how do they do it?

Mr. Bottomley

Questions of that kind are important and need answering, but for the moment the hon. and learned Member cannot expect me to answer for another Department.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd (Mid-Bedford)

I think I am fair in asking whether if anyone is prepared to take his car to Dover and push it on to the Channel boat, he would be allowed to take it to France?

Mr. Bottomley

At the moment I have it on the advice of the hon. member for Thanet, who has looked into this matter, that there is nothing to stop them. It is essentially a matter for the Ministry of Transport and the Treasury. I think that I did indicate to the hon. Member that there were one or two points I could not answer and which I would take up with other Ministries.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I do not want to be unreasonable to the hon. Gentleman but this is a matter concerning travel—would it be illegal to do it or not?

Mr. Bottomley

May I say that already the hon. Member has made his question plain. I am not disputing it. All I can say is that, so far as the Government are concerned, it is a matter handled by the Ministry of Transport and the Treasury and I will forward to them the views expressed. I have not the least doubt that they will give an adequate reply to the hon. Gentleman. There can be no difficulties as far as foreign travellers are concerned at the moment, for the ban is not lifted until May 1st. I did indicate in connection with the matters raised by the hon. Member that I would report them to the appropriate Ministries and see that consideration is given to them. I do not think it is unfair that this step should be taken when a discussion is raised far wider than that on the paper. I have answered the points raised to the best of my ability. The hon. Member who raised this matter has put it in the most reasonable way and I will give it the fullest and most careful consideration and answer him on the points decided after submission to the Minister.

10.37 p.m.

Mr. Medlicott (Norfolk, Eastern)

I would like to reinforce, in the moment remaining, what has been said before in regard to the Norfolk Broads and the parts of Norfolk which contain holiday camps typical of the many other areas which are very inaccessible except by road transport. These places responded to the appeal of the Government to provide the maximum accommodation to people in this country when it was felt that they could not go abroad They have laboured unceasingly to provide the maximum facilities and they feel very strongly that they are being let down. After receiving the strongest representations, hotel proprietors, boarding-house keepers and boat-keepers have done their best to provide amenities at home. They feel that the Government have treated them very badly by giving people facilities to go abroad without providing facilities at home.

The Question having been proposed after Ten o'Clock and the Debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned at twenty-two minutes to Eleven o'clock.