IMPERIAL TELEGRAPHS BILL. (Hansard, 21 July 1938)

§ LORD TEMPLEMORE
I beg to move that the Bill be now read a third time.

§ LORD PENDER
My Lords, I hope that the few remarks which I should like to make in addressing your Lordships' House for the first time will receive the same sympathy as I have noticed and 1080 admired so much on other similar occasions during the very short time that I have been a member of your Lordships' House. I have been very reluctant to intervene in your Lordships' debates on this Bill, for, being so intimately connected with this group of cable and wireless companies, naturally I must be considered biased, and therefore, while the Bill was being discussed rather as a political issue, I preferred to remain silent. I have, however, noticed that in the debates in another place and also in your Lordships' House, very severe criticisms were made about the over-capitalisation of this company, and it is on that aspect that I should like to say a few words.
Lord Mancroft, on the Second Reading in this House, told us that this Bill had been originally put on the Table in 1928. It was obvious that Lord Mancroft got up on the spur of the moment, and I may perhaps be allowed to congratulate the noble Lord on the wonderful memory that he has after ten years. He told you that after a Conference at which all the Dominions and Colonies were members—and at which I think he was Chairman of one of the Committees and might have been called the chief examiner of another—had recommended the scheme and it had been subjected to an examination by three or four of the best financial experts in the country, it was set up. But let me draw your Lordships' attention to this fact: that the figures which were supplied to those eminent experts of finance had been influenced by the three or four previous years, which we now look back on as the boom trade years. I need not remind your Lordships that this company originally came into being in 1929, which was the eve of the worst international economic crisis known, which paralysed international trade, and naturally made this company look worse that it has ever done, because international trade is so vitally essential to its prosperity. In those years there also arose a far greater threat to the Empire and to the company: the interference of foreign Governments in setting up rival communications. That was an entirely new problem which had to be dealt with, and at once.
This Bill which is now before your Lordships' House and is of such a broad character was reached by agreement between two men: Sir Campbell Stuart, the 1081 chairman of the Advisory Committee which was composed of representatives of all the Dominions and Colonies, and Mr. Edward Wilshaw, chairman of the Communications Company. Your Lordships may agree with me that those two men, who have had very great difficulties to overcome, have achieved something which is unique at the present day: a Bill agreed by every one of our Dominions and Colonies. That is a thing which I am afraid does not look so easy in other parts of the world at the present moment. On the Second Reading in this House there was only one dissenting voice against this scheme: that of the noble Lord who is sitting on the Front Bench opposite. Lord Strabolgi, myself and other members of this House have been, may I say, educated in another place, and I should like to be the first to tell him that I have learnt to respect his political opinions. I merely allude, therefore, to his dissentient voice, and thoroughly understand the attitude that he has taken.
For the future can we not say that the moment has arrived, with the final passing of the Bill, for past squabbles to cease? We may be confident that all who are connected with the future of our communications will now unite to help those who have to run these communications. With all that co-operative help, I believe that this scheme is the best that could be devised in the circumstances. I look to them with confidence to keep intact a most vital communication of the Empire and to see that the Empire's communications within itself are safe and cannot be interfered with by any foreign Government. My Lords, I thank you.

§ EARL STANHOPE
My Lords, although I have inflicted myself on your Lordships at considerable length already, I cannot resist taking the opportunity of congratulating the noble Lord on his maiden speech in your Lordships' House. He and I used to sit alongside one another in the London County Council many years ago, far more years ago than either of us cares to remember. I am very glad that he has now come to your Lordships' House, and I hope that we shall often have the opportunity of hearing him again, with his great experience not only of this subject but also of many other subjects, as I happen to know. I am sure we shall welcome his constant appearance 1082 and hope he will often address us in the future.