HL Deb 02 April 1947 vol 146 cc1005-6
Lord FAIRFAX OF CAMERON

My Lords, I beg to ask the question standing in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Tweedsmuir.

[The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, in view of the repeated warnings given them by those qualified to know the local conditions and in view of the example of the past devastating winter, they will produce or, better still, delegate powers to those conversant with the native difficulties, to produce a workable scheme for the storage of necessitous supplies for the winter which will mitigate the totally unnecessary hardships caused to the inhabitants of the glens and far outlying districts of Scotland.]

Lord HENDERSON

My Lords, such arrangements already exist. Since 1943, people living in outlying districts, whether in Scotland or any other part of the United Kingdom, have been allowed to lay in stocks of rationed foods, in advance, at the discretion of local officers of the Ministry of Food. Divisional food officers have full discretion to give assistance to isolated areas, and any case of hardship caused by lack of stocks can have arisen only through failure to apply. So far as coal supplies are concerned, arrangements exist whereby premises which are inaccessible during the winter, or which involve a long haul, are permitted by licence from the local fuel overseer to stock their full year's supplies during the summer. Coal merchants arc, moreover, required to stock a proportion of their summer receipts to meet winter requirements. These arrangements, which have proved generally satisfactory, should be adequate to prevent any undue hardship to the inhabitants of outlying districts of Scotland.

As regards rationed feeding-stuffs, provision is made for an advance to hill sheep farmers, on application, for feeding mountain ewes. Other livestock are normally fed on unrationed feeding-stuffs which are not controlled. Adequate stocking of non-controlled necessaries is a matter for wholesale and retail traders, who are accustomed to making special provision to maintain supplies against winter weather. The storms and floods of this past season, have, of course, been phenomenal, and transport difficulties might have overwhelmed even an abundant supply position.