§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (LORD LEE OF FARERAM)My Lords, this is a measure of very modest scope, and is strictly limited in its period. Its sole object is to secure that 174 the farmers of this country shall be able to obtain a sufficient supply of fertilisers at a reasonable price during the period when supplies are short and prices are exceedingly unstable. I may say that the Bill merely proposes to continue, for the next two years, the powers which are now exercised and which have been exercised during the war by Proclamation or Order in Council issued under the Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1879. Those powers will come automatically to an end with the declaration of peace, and the results, so far as fertilisers are concerned, if the powers to restrict export are not continued, would be extremely serious to British agriculture. The difference of price of the exported article and that retained for home consumption is so serious that it is quite clear that the home farmer could not be persuaded to purchase fertilisers in anything like the quantity which is absolutely necessary to maintain the fertility of the land if he had to pay the sort of price which is now being paid abroad.
I may give your Lordships an example. At the present time sulphate of ammonia at home is available for the British farmer at about £22 per ton, and for foreign export the price has risen as high as £55 per ton; and in the case of the British Colonies, to which we export such surplus as we can afford, the price even now is £43 per ton for fertilisers in like proportion. I will not weary your Lordships, unless you wish it, by giving you the prices of the different fertilisers affected, but the Bill proposes to deal only with sulphate of ammonia, super-phosphates, basic slag, and potash. I think you will agree, and I know from experience of the British farmer, that if prices are suddenly in-creased from anything like £5 to £25 per ton the inevitable result would be that he would cease to purchase, and the fertility of he soil would be injuriously affected at once.
I may say that there is no desire on the part of the Government to prohibit export of any fertilisers in excess of home requirements. At the present time we are issuing licences for the export of such fertilisers as can be spared, and it will continue to be the policy of the Government to allow every ton of fertiliser that can be spared from home consumption to go freely out of the country at world prices, with a preference to our Colonies, particularly the sugar-producing Colonies; but we 175 should not run the risk of losing our home supply, which could only have a disastrous effect upon the Government's policy of increased home production. It would be disastrous, I venture to suggest. to your Lordships, from the point of view of exchange as well as from that of the ordinary prosperity of the agricultural industry; because if the fertilisers are not used here on British soil it merely means that we shall have to import a correspondingly greater amount of food-stuffs from abroad with an effect which will be obvious upon the exchange.
I may say, in conclusion, that this measure has been fully discussed with the trade, and I should like to pay a tribute to the trade for the way in which it has submitted voluntarily, since the close of hostilities, to control which was previously exercised without their consent, because they recognise the national importance of keeping a sufficient supply of these fertilisers in this country. So far as we can ascertain from consultation with them, this measure will be welcomed by the fertiliser trade as well as by the agricultural community. Therefore I hope that your Lordships will give the Bill a Second Reading.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.— (Lord Lee of Fareham.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.