§ 45. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will report progress on the Rihand super-thermal power station in India, and the Victoria darn in Sri Lanka.
§ Mr. RaisonAfter some initial delays, progress on the Rihand power station is improving and the work is moving closer to completion in 1988.
Progress on the Victoria project in Sri Lanka remains close to the original programme. The reservoir has just started filling and the power supply is due to start flowing in July.
§ Mr. ChapmanI am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that information. Will he confirm that the Victoria dam project, as well as providing electricity to Sri Lanka, will help to irrigate 112,000 acres? Does he agree that such British overseas aid, drawing upon British building, construction and engineering skills, is the sort of aid that we should commend and encourage?
§ Mr. RaisonI fully agree with my hon. Friend. The project is excellent and is being carried out in an excellent way by the British contractors.
§ Mr. SpearingWhile both these schemes are no doubt excellent in their own way, what is their cost in relation to the possible $6 million extra that might go to UNICEF?
§ Mr. RaisonBoth these projects are valued at more than £100 million and are, therefore, very substantial. They yield considerable benefits to British employment as well as to the social and economic conditions in the countries concerned. The hon. Gentlemen will have to make up his own mind about the relative value of our contribution in this regard compared with that to UNICEF.
§ Sir Peter BlakerIs my right hon. Friend aware that the Victoria dam, which I had the good fortune to visit a 19 few weeks ago, is an extremely impressive engineering achievement which reflcts great credit on British engineering skills and will bring enormous benefit to many thousands of people in Sri Lanka?
§ Mr. RaisonIt is widely accepted that the Victoria dam is an impressive engineering feat, and the House will be interested to know that it was formally Commissioned by the President of Sri Lanka yesterday.
§ Mr. HayesOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I seek your guidance on questions to the Attorney-General. As you know, the Court of Appeal made an important decision about the sentence on Miss Sarah Tisdall. You will notice that a large number of right hon. and hon. Members——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It seems that the hon. Gentleman is seeking to do something which I hope the House will not do—to extend Question Time by seeking to raise a supplementary question as a point of order.
§ Mr. SpeakerI think that the hon. Member was.
§ Mr. StokesOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is it in order for Opposition Members to make direct criticism of Her Majesty's judges — [HON. MEMBERS: "Yes."] — when they should, in fact, table a substantive motion? Furthermore, in spite of all their criticism, should they not be thankful that they live in England, not in Soviet Russia?
§ Mr. WinnickOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I can take only one point of order at a time.
I must tell the hon. Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Mr. Stokes) that it is not in order to criticise Her Majesty's judges, but that it is in order to criticise a sentence.
§ Mr. WinnickOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. As the hon. Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Mr. Stokes) said that we should be grateful that we live here and not in Soviet Russia, is not one of the virtues of having a free Parliament that we can express our point of view? I make no apologies for what I said earlier—none at all.
§ Mr. SpeakerThat is a point of order arising from someone else's point of order, but we must all agree with the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on how fortunate we are.