§ Dr. KingI desire to make a short personal statement. On reading the OFFICIAL REPORT of last night's debate, I find that I made two inaccurate statements in the debate. The first is at column 2091, in which I am reported as saying:
… in the borough council, the Conservative majority voted against any representations being made.I should have said "Conservative minority." The mistake is a slip of the tongue, which weakened the case I was presenting.The second error is more serious. It occurs at column 2101, in an intervention which I made in the speech of the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Smithers). I said:
The proposals of the county council were made by a finance committee on which sits no Socialist member. I assure the hon. Gentleman that not a single Socialist on the Hampshire County Council had anything whatever to do with the county council's objections to the Boundary Commission's original proposals."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 16th December, 1954; Vol. 535; c. 2091, 2101.]That was my recollection at that moment, but on reading it this morning I remembered at once that there is one Socialist member on the finance committee of the Hampshire County Council and that he would, therefore, presumably have his share in the decision of the finance committee. I apologise to the House and to the hon. Member for Winchester for the error which I made, and I am grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity of saying so.
§ Mr. Peter Smithers (Winchester)I am obliged to the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr. King). What he has said does not vitiate my argument, and I do not complain of the error which he made.