§ 27. Mr. Gerald Williamsasked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will give special consideration to owners of cars wishing to use them to help blind people through the Social Club for the Blind, so that the basic ration will not be deducted 638 from supplementary coupons allotted for this purpose.
§ Mr. GaitskellI am afraid I cannot make an exception to the general rule that the amount of the standard ration must be deducted from all individual supplementary allowances but I am asking the Standing Advisory Committee to examine whether any special arrangement can be made with organisations concerned with voluntary work of this kind.
§ Mr. WilliamsWhile I thank the Minister for looking into this, I hope he is aware that the blind are desperately in need of cars to take them to social centres, and if there is no supplementary as well as the basic, it is a question of the blind or charitably disposed suffering, and I hope this is not the intention of the Government.
§ Mr. GaitskellI appreciate the hon. Gentleman's point, but, of course, there are administrative problems here which we have to look into carefully.
Vice-Admiral TaylorWill the Minister also give consideration in the case of the disabled ex-Service men at Roehampton?
§ Mr. GaitskellMy answer referred to voluntary organisations of this kind and no doubt that would cover the organisation mentioned.
§ 38. Mr. Henderson Stewartasked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he is aware that parking accommodation and petrol was provided for the attendance of 70 cars for the National Agricultural Advisory Service at the Bath and West Show; and since it is the policy of his Department to support such agricultural demonstrations, why he has refused 12 leading firms of agricultural machinery manufacturers the necessary petrol facilities to enable them to demonstrate their machines adequately at the Highland Show at Inverness next week.
§ Mr. GaitskellYes, Sir; allowances were granted to certain officials, exhibitors and farmers to attend the Bath and West Show where alternative public transport was not available, and where their normal business allowance was insufficient. I am prepared to grant allowances in similar circumstances for any agricultural show, including the Highland Show at Inverness. The particular cases referred to in 639 the second part of the Question were to enable certain exhibitors to take their cars all the way from London and other far-distant places to Inverness. There are adequate rail services between these places and these applications were not supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
§ Mr. StewartI think the right hon. Gentleman will agree that not all the cars are from places as far away as London. The real reason why people want the cars at Inverness is the difficulty, almost the impossibility, of getting accommodation there and the necessity for the demonstrators to be in daily contact with the show in Inverness.
§ Mr. GaitskellWe are aware of the difficulty and the Regional Transport Commissioner has, in fact, laid on special local services to meet it.
§ Mr. HurdWill the Minister again draw the attention of his regional petroleum officers to his undertaking in the House on 6th November that the officials carrying out essential work at agricultural shows would be allowed an allocation of petrol, as many firms are finding it impossible to get petrol?
§ Mr. GaitskellI am not aware of a new instruction but if the hon. Member will give me particulars I will look into them.
§ 40. Mr. Skinnardasked the Minister of Fuel and Power what allocation of petrol was made by his Department to the promoters of the recent midget-car racing at Stamford Bridge.
§ Mr. GaitskellNone, Sir.
§ 42. Mr. Niall Macphersonasked the Minister of Fuel and Power why petrol allocation to insurance agents is governed by a rigid maximum without regard to previous consumption; and whether he is aware that as a result the petrol allocation is in some cases less than half what is required in order to enable insurance agents to maintain the commission which formed their livelihood.
§ Mr. GaitskellIt has always been a principle of the petrol rationing scheme, since its introduction in 1939, that a maximum allowance should be fixed for various 640 classes of consumers. The maximum for insurance agents has been altered from time to time as the petrol supply position has varied, and is now more than double the level ruling at the end of the European war.
§ Mr. MacphersonWill the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the maximum allowance now, in view of the fact that the livelihood of many insurance agents is at present seriously restricted?
§ Mr. GaitskellI have no evidence of the suggestion in the last part of that supplementary question, and I must remind the House that we are extremely short of petrol and I cannot afford to increase maximum allowances generally.