§ The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Peter Walker)With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I wish to make a statement.
I am glad to be able to tell the House that the operation to clear the beaches of Cornwall of drums washed from the sea was successfully completed over the weekend, with no injury to people or property. 989 Of about 150 drums washed up none contained toxic chemicals and those which contained inflammable material were blown up. The rest are now being disposed of by the local authority.
Following the "Torrey Canyon" incident it was agreed that local authorities should take the lead in dealing with oil on beaches with support as necessary from central Government. A similar procedure was followed in this case, and I congratulate all concerned—the local authorities, the Navy, the Coastguard and its auxiliary volunteers, and the several private firms whose scientists gave help—on the speed and efficiency of their actions.
The normal practice whereby the coastguard informs the local authorities about such threats, and whereby a local authority looks to central help only if it is unable to cope with the problem itself works well. In this case the coastguard told local authorities about drums from the s.s. "Germania" on 13th January. My Department was told on the morning of Friday, 14th January, of the potentially dangerous nature of the cargo. The Cornwall County Council was then asked if it required help.
It accepted; and help was sent by air that evening. My right hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State kept constant and close watch over the incident and himself visited Cornwall on 20th January and was satisfied that the operation was running smoothly and effectively. Hazardous cargoes may be carried by most cargo ships; unfortunately there was no warning in Lloyds List or elsewhere about the "Germania's" cargo.
The incident does disclose the urgent need for international agreement on better procedures to be followed when potentially dangerous cargos are lost at sea. Much work was already in hand before this incident and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is proposing, as a matter of urgency, at the next meeting of the I.M.C.O. Maritime Safety Committee that, where vessels carrying hazardous cargoes are involved in incidents in which such cargoes are lost or might be lost, the governments of countries whose coastlines are at risk should be immediately informed by the flag State.
990 Meanwhile, one of the research ships of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is sampling fish in the area of the wreck and another the sea water in the area. This monitoring will continue until the Ministry of Agriculture think there is no need for further surveillance.
Against that background, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food wishes me to assure the House and the public that fish caught by our vessels are completely safe for human consumption.
Finally, careful surveillance is being maintained by all concerned to protect our beaches for holiday makers and all other users.
§ Mr. CroslandThe House will be relieved to hear that the threat to the Cornish coastline is apparently over, and the whole House will wish to echo the congratulations proffered by the right hon. Gentleman. Nevertheless, this incident has left behind some anxieties and unanswered questions. I put three points to the Secretary of State.
First, is it not the case that the Department of Trade and Industry knew of this incident almost immediately after the wreck of the ship occurred, a few days before Christmas, but did not inform local authorities or the Department of the Environment because, as mentioned in the statement, there was no warning in Lloyd's list or elsewhere about the "Germania's" cargo? If that is so, is there not something seriously wrong with the Lloyd's list and wrong with the information available to the Department of Trade and Industry. This failure led to a delay of very nearly a month before any preventive action could be taken.
Second, even after that delay, was there not a further delay of some days due to the difficulty of discovering the ship's manifest and, having discovered it, translating and comprehending what it meant? Does not this suggest that we need a very much better and quicker notification system so that some court authority knows exactly what cargo is in every ship? May I take it that the prime purpose of the I.M.C.O. meeting mentioned by the right hon. Gentleman will be to secure such an improvement in notification?
991 Lastly, one reads in the Press—naturally one does not know whether to believe it—that the majority of the drums on board the "Germania" were not washed ashore but went down with the wreck of the ship, and that the ones that went down were mainly the ones carrying the dangerous toxic chemicals? The right hon. Gentleman talked about surveillance being carried out by a Ministry of Agriculture research ship, but, supposing that this surveillance showed that there was cause for concern, from the drums that presumably are now lying on the sea bed, and a hazard to either fisheries or marine life, what further action would the Government take? Would they undertake a salvage operation?
§ Mr. WalkerOn the first question, the recent sinking of the Spanish ship carrying German cargo which sank off the French coast, it is not the practice every time a ship or cargo sinks, in this case, many miles from the English coast, that coastguards are informed. As soon as the coastguards, who are part of the Department of Trade and Industry, see any barrels coming from a ship, action is taken immediately to inform local authorities. It has never been the practice that coastguards warn of every ship sunk many miles from the English coast, as this one was.
As soon as we knew from the manifest that there was a dangerous cargo aboard, immediate action was taken to obtain the manifest and an appropriate translation. A great deal of speedy work was done to that extent. Many details of the manifest contain trade names, which meant nothing in chemical terms. Very quick action was taken to find out what chemicals were involved. But this incident does disclose an urgent need for international agreement that whenever a dangerous cargo on a foreign ship goes down immediate notification is made so that the countries concerned can take action. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that that is the main purpose of the representations that my right hon. Friend is making. As for the cargoes which have gone down with the ship, we have made inquiries and these chemicals were in the parts of the ship which were on fire for three days before the ship sank. It was a very considerable fire. It is virtually certain that 992 the dangerous chemicals concerned were burned before the ship sank. There is obviously a slight risk that this is not so, or that the cargo was not stacked where it was said to be. If this is so, the appropriate action will be taken.
§ Mr. AtkinsonMr. Speaker, would you give the House your guidance about the priorities chosen by Ministers, in that later in the week the House will have one hour longer to debate admission charges to museums than it will have to discuss today the 1½ million unemployed in Britain and the crisis economic situation which now exists? Would you, Mr. Speaker, care to comment on this matter?
§ Mr. SpeakerI might be tempted to comment, but it is not a matter for me. I have no control except, for example, when I try to curtail the proceedings on Private Notice Questions, and then I am rebuked myself, but I do the best I can.
§ Mr. NottMay I add my congratulations to those offered by the Minister to those who worked during this incident? I welcome his statement, and in particular the point that he made about international co-operation. Is it not the case that this incident has been rather over-publicised and exaggerated, not least by one or two Members of the House, to the potential detriment of the Cornish holiday industry. May I ask my right hon. Friend where he will be taking his summer holiday if by any chance we have one in this House?
§ Mr. WalkerOn the first point, I think it is right that the public should show some concern about this matter. It has disclosed that there is a gap in international arrangements which should be closed as quickly as possible, and therefore I welcome the interest in the topic.
The Cornish and other beaches are safe for holiday-makers. I had booked a holiday there immediately before this incident occurred, and I have retained my booking.
§ Mr. PardoeIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the whole House will welcome that statement—almost any statement—about five weeks after the s.s. "Germania" sank? I should like to 993 add my congratulations to the right hon. Gentleman's to all the Cornish authorities, particularly the emergency services and the local authority, for the way in which they handled this crisis.
May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that there has been widespread criticism, both in the Press and in the country, by local council officials of the lack of co-operation between Government Departments, and this has provided a picture of bungling incompetence of the utmost extreme? Has the right hon. Gentleman seen a report that a senior official of his Department said that although the Department had plans to deal with oil pollution, no plans at all existed to deal with chemical pollution? Is that true? If it is, does it not reveal criminal negligence?
§ Mr. WalkerWhen criticism appeared of the Government's handling of this incident, I personally phoned the chairman of the county council and the clerk of the county council and asked if there was any criticism, whether they were dissatisfied with any matters, and whether they were getting the help for which they had asked. They categorically assured me that they were not dissatisfied, and that day the chairman of the county council, with the agreement of the clerk of the county council, issued a statement thanking Government Departments for the full help they had received.
As for the criticism of local authorities, one criticism that I have heard is the manner in which the hon. Gentleman has tended somewhat to exaggerate the circumstances and the potential effect of this incident on Cornwall.
There is a laid down procedure for dealing with oil, but not with chemicals. As regards any threat to the coast, there is a proper procedure: the Department, through the coastguards, immediately informs local authorities, and that is what it did in this case.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I think that it would be the wish of the House that we should move on. Hon. Members who want to question the Minister on his statement can do so in the ordinary way.