HL Deb 26 July 1944 vol 132 cc1125-31

Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (THE DUKE OF NORFOLK)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time. It is another of those Bills which it has been necessary for us to introduce in war-time to deal with matters connected with the agricultural industry. It has been delayed, I am afraid, in coming to your Lordships' House on account of its hybrid nature, and also because it had to go before a Joint Select Committee of both Houses. Those formalities have now been complied with, and I am asking your Lordships that this Bill should be passed through all its stages to-day. The Bill, unlike its predecessors, contains provisions of vital importance to the future of the agricultural industry. The two most important of these are the establishment of a National Advisory Service and the proposals which will enable the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation to extend its business and so facilitate the arrangements by which farmers will be able to borrow money at favourable rates of interest for long periods for the purpose of buying their farms or making the necessary improvements in their farm buildings and other capital equipment.

Clause 1 imposes on the Minister of Agriculture the duty of establishing and maintaining a National Agricultural Advisory Service and, with the Schedule to the Bill, provides for the Transfer of personnel to the new Service, for the conditions of that transfer, and for the compensation of certain persons who might be adversely affected by the establishment of the Service. As your Lordships will remember, the Committee presided over by Lord Justice Luxmoore, which reported last year on the whole question of the post-war situation regarding agricultural education, recommended the establishment of this National Advisory Service in place of the dual system of advisory work existing before the war, under which there was a general advisory service run by individual county councils as an extension of their agricultural education service and a specialist service run by university departments of agriculture and agricultural colleges on a provincial basis.

During the war the bulk of these staffs have been seconded to the war agricultural executive committees, with the result that a great measure of co-ordination has been effected and a great deal of help has been given in the way of advice to farmers. There is no doubt that as a result of this service a great deal of help has been given in the production of food for the country. Although this system was started under the stress of war, it has been of such great benefit that we feel that this technical advice should be continued after the war. It has afforded abundant justification for an adequate service of advice for those engaged in the industry, so that they will be able to make use of the very latest methods and science available. I think it can be admitted that the case for such a service is unanswerable. So long as the Minister of Agriculture is responsible to Parliament and to the nation for the general welfare and efficiency of the industry, he must also be responsible for the execution of any measures which he regards as necessary to secure this end.

We can with justification claim that the proposal to make this a National Advisory Service has met with a very favourable reception. I recognize that there is a feeling in some quarters that our proposal is objectionable in principle on the grounds that it encroaches on the powers of local authorities. But if, as I submit, it cannot reasonably be contended that it is an appropriate function of local authorities to ensure the development and efficiency of a nationwide industry, then this objection goes by the board.

Your Lordships will also remember that the Luxmoore Committee recommended that farm institutes should be placed under the same central control as the advisory service. In spite of certain manifest advantages which it offered, we rejected that recommendation because we were satisfied that it would not in the long run be of advantage to the nation or to agriculture, that agricultural education should be outside the general educational structure of the country. At the same time, we recognize that this decision, however abundantly justified, that farm institute education should remain the function of local authorities, does create a number of difficulties for all concerned. If we are to achieve our objective, it is essential that the service of agricultural education, which will be provided by local authorities and for which the Minister of Agriculture will remain to some extent, even if only indirectly, responsible and the service of advice and guidance to be given to the industry and for which he will have direct responsibility, should not be kept in water-tight compartments. How these two services can best be made complementary and any overlapping prevented, are matters which will call for the most careful consideration. In working out the necessary arrangements we are assured, I am glad to say, of the good will and co-operation of the County Councils' Association.

Before leaving this clause, there is one point to which I should like to take this opportunity of drawing attention. It will be seen that the right to transfer to the new service under certain assured conditions, is offered to some classes of officers who have been engaged on advisory work. In order to prevent any possible misapprehension, I wish to make it quite clear that while this right to transfer is restricted, the new service will also afford opportunities for employment to many other of the technically qualified officers who have during the war been working under county war agricultural executive committees and in other capacities. Any application for appointment to the new service from anyone with the appropriate qualifications and experience will, when the time comes, receive favourable consideration. I will only add that the date when this system comes into force is one that I cannot give at the present time.

In Clause 2 of the Bill provision is made for the supply of necessary credit to agriculturists on favourable terms. There is much maintenance work to be done on our farms. Buildings and equipment have suffered through lack of proper attention during the war years and, as soon as labour and materials are available, landowners and farmers will want to put these repairs in hand. They will also wish to modernize their buildings to carry out the necessary improvements, and so be able to press forward with the schemes for the future development of the industry. It is, therefore necessary that adequate arrangements should be made to enable farmers to borrow the money they require at reasonable rates of interest. The Agricultural Credits Act of 1928 enabled the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation to make loans "on terms most favourable to the borrowers." The story of the activities of the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation from the time it was established in 1928 and the difficulties that were encountered during the intervening years up to 1939 is rather long and complicated and, as it was so fully discussed by the Joint Committee set up to consider this. 13ill under the Chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Hemingford, I do not think there is any need for me to worry the House with a long description of it.

Clause 3 deals with the fixing of a minimum time rate for piece workers in the agricultural industry and to give holidays with pay. It gives effect to a unanimous recommendation by the Agricultural Wages Board. Clause 4 extends the period of the lime subsidy for another three years. Incidentally, the time orginally granted expires on the 31st July next, which is the reason I am asking your Lordships to give your approval to this Bill to-day. Clause 5 allows the 5o per cent. grant to be paid towards the cost of a water supply to farms and farm buildings. It extends the powers my right honourable friend already possesses in giving financial assistance for the laying on of a supply of water to agricultural land.

The primary purpose of Clause 6 is to extend to boars the system of licensing now applicable to bulls before they can be used for breeding. The pig population has been drastically reduced during the war largely owing to shortage of feeding stuffs, but there are now signs of a revival which is likely to grow as soon as supplies of feeding stuffs improve. In any such expansion it is obviously desirable to use only sound breeding stock and the boar plays a very important part in settling the constitution and quality of the rising generation of pigs. In all essentials the system of licensing for boars will be the same as that now in force for bulls, with similar provisions for appeal to a referee against a refusal to issue a licence.

Clause 7 of the Bill deals with the period during which betterment can be claimed from landowners whose land has been improved by State expenditure on fen roads or on drainage. It has been found that owing to difficulties and delay in ascertaining ownerships, in certifying the completion of all the necessary works, and in getting valuations made, the preparation of claims for betterment and service of notices on the proper parties takes longer than we anticipated. It frequently happens that the actual ownership can only be ascertained after service of a claim on the reputed owner, followed by pressure of a fresh notice upon the true owner after he has been identified. The clause accordingly increases the period in which a notice can be served on him, specifying the amount of his liability, to two years. The effect of the clause is retrospective, but I would ask the House to remember that the owner has had the advantage of these improvements ever since they were made and that he will, therefore, in no way be injured by the extension of the period within which the Minister can make a claim. Clause 8 deals with these matters as they affect Scotland with certain modifications. Clause 9 provides that the Bill, with the exception of the lime subsidy clause, shall not extend to Northern Ireland. I hope your Lordships will give the Bill a Second Reading. I beg to move.

Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(The Duke of Norfolk.)

LORD ADDISON

My Lords, on behalf of my friends on this side of the House I would like to support the Second Reading of this Bill. In particular, I should like to say how gladly we note the provisions of Clause I and the creation of a National Advisory Service, because there has been built up during the war a system of advisory agricultural services of the highest value, and it would be a great pity if afterwards this were to be scattered and not made full use of. I see that there is a prospect, to put it no higher at the moment, of developing that well co-ordinated and well-directed National Advisory Service and of making use of the experience that has been gained by a number of very valuable men during the war period. For that reason we generally welcome the scheme. I sincerely hope that the noble Duke will see that his Department lives up fully to the indications he has offered to us to-day.

I cannot profess any enthusiasm for Clause 2, which proposes to deal with capital improvements on land, through the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation. On a previous occasion I have made some animadversions on this subject in your Lordships' House. The operations of that organization have been almost entirely confined to assisting purchases of land and enabling farmers, in times past, to deal with their overdrafts at the bank which have been incurred owing to land purchase. What we really want is money devoted to improvements—the improvement of buildings, farm roads, water supplies, and a hundred other things. Your Lordships will notice that the advances are to be up to £2,500,000. I suppose we have to be thankful for small things, but if that figure were multiplied by one hundred you would come somewhere near the requirements of the industry in improvements. I suppose we must accept that, as we do as a matter of routine, as a beginning. I am glad that amongst the other provisions the percentage charge is limited. As we know, the big handicap of the Mortgage Corporation hitherto has been that it was bound to charge 5 per cent. It was an advantage to repay loans to the Corporation and borrow money more cheaply elsewhere. It is now proposed to put that right, which is all to the good. I confess that in the long run, looking to what the land requires, I consider this a very piecemeal and inadequate way of dealing with a vast subject. However, such as it is, we welcome it, and we shall try to make the best of it.

I am glad that the grant with regard to water supplies has been continued. The big difficulty there, as all of us know who are associated at first hand with this matter, is that the needs of the industry are prodigious. In a very large number of cases, unfortunately, those who happen to own the land are not able to provide their 50 per cent. The result is that a very large number of schemes which ought to be got on with are not got on with, simply because the money is not forthcoming from one of the parties. However, the more it is encouraged the better, and here again I should like to observe in passing that in existing circumstances this is as much as we can expect the Ministry to do. I am quite sure, however, that by the operation of this scheme as it stands we shall never get the farming industry adequately supplied with water as it needs to be. Nevertheless, I repeat, we welcome the extensions that the Bill provides, and I hope your Lordships will be willing to give the Bill a Second Reading.

On Question, Bill read 2a: Committee negatived.

Then, Standing Order No. XXXIX having been suspended, Bill read 3a, and passed.