§ 8. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is aware that the terms of reference of the committee of inquiry into the fishing industry, which he has recently set up, are ambiguous; and if he will now make clear how far those terms of reference include not only the owners and workers in the catching side of the industry but also the owners, merchants, workers and transporters in the selling side of the Scottish fishing industry.
§ Mr. John HareI see no ambiguity in the Committee's terms of reference, which cover all sections of the United Kingdom industry concerned with either the catching or the marketing of fish.
§ Mr. HughesWill the Minister have another look at the terms of reference? Does he realise that the usefulness of this inquiry will be much diminished unless it is made perfectly clear that it is comprehensive and will apply to both the owners and the workers on every side of this rather versatile and wide industry?
§ Mr. HareThe terms of reference are very brief, but they are very broad. I should like to read them—
To assess, in relation to developments in fishing and the marketing of fish, the size and pattern, and implications, of an economic fishing industry in the United Kingdom, and to report.Those terms are as broad as they possibly could be.