§ 8. Mr. G. Thomasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received from Cardiff concerning the placing of 50 per cent. of the Cardiff cold store on a care-and-maintenance basis.
§ Mr. ThomasIn view of the fact that it is only now that Government-owned stocks of food in this cold storage are coming to an end because the Government have ended the policy of bulk purchase, and in view also of the fact that the closure of the cold storage is merely symptomatic of our basic problem of decreasing trade at Cardiff docks, can the right hon. Gentleman hold out any hope at all that he can help us in this direction?
Mr. AmoryAll my information is that there is ample cold storage space in Cardiff for present needs. If that position changes, I shall be glad to know.
§ 9. Mr. G. Thomasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what attitude was adopted by his two representatives on the Cold Store Corporation, Cardiff, with reference to the decision to place the cold store on a care-and-maintenance basis.
Mr. AmoryThe decision to place the Government cold store at Cardiff, as well as eight other Government cold stores in other parts of the country, on partial care and maintenance was taken by the Board of National Cold Stores (Management), Ltd., on 22nd February, 1956. The Government directors concurred in this decision, which also has my approval.
§ Mr. ThomasDoes the Minister not think that it is somewhat complacent to say that there is sufficient space now for such food as is being imported? What is he doing to try to help the docks recover their former trade in food? He has taken it away from them.
Mr. AmoryAs the hon. Member knows, I cannot exert any influence concerning the port at which food cargoes arrive. The facts as I know them are that about 60 per cent. of the present cold storage space available at Cardiff is unused.
§ 10. Mr. G. Thomasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent consultations he has had with the Cardiff Port Development Committee and the Cardiff Chambers of Trade and Commerce, respectively, concerning the Cardiff cold store.
§ Mr. ThomasIs the Minister aware that he is the guilty partner in this affair? It is thanks to him and to the Government's policy that this cold store is not required. What will the right hon. Gentleman do to put the matter right?
Mr. AmoryI cannot agree that I am the guilty party. As regards food, the hon. Member knows that more food than ever before is now being imported and consumed in this country.
§ 25. Mr. Callaghanasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he 367 will ask the cold store industry to release the Government from the pledge they gave in 1940, that the Cardiff cold store would not be used in competition with privately-owned cold stores.
Mr. AmoryNo, Sir. The Government intend to honour the pledges to the cold storage industry and it would be contrary to those pledges to make an exception in the case of the Cardiff store.
§ Mr. CallaghanDoes that mean that a pledge given sixteen years ago is to continue in perpetuity? Can we have no hope at all in Cardiff that this publicly-owned cold store, which was built at a cost of £300,000, can ever be economically used?
Mr. AmoryA pledge is a pledge and it cannot be broken just by the effluxion of time. I should like to repeat what I have already said, that to the best of my knowledge the amount of cold storage space available in Cardiff is ample for present needs, and there is a large surplus.
§ Mr. CallaghanThat is what we are complaining about. Space, of course, will be ample so long as the Cardiff cold store cannot compete freely with the cold storage interests. Will the right hon. Gentleman approach the cold store interests again and ask them to release the Government from this pledge, which in my view was wrongly extracted and wrongfully given?
Mr. AmoryNo, Sir. I am satisfied that cold storage space is being used economically in the best national interest