WORKING PARTY ON GRAIN STORAGE (Hansard, 20 February 1951)

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL)
My Lords, the interests represented on the Working Party on Grain Storage and Drying referred to by the noble Lord opposite are those immediately concerned with the processes of harvesting, drying and storage of grain—the farmers, merchants and ultimate purchasers of grain. The main task of the Working Party is to decide to what extent, and where, the present drying and storage facilities need to be supplemented. A large number of bodies and organisations, including, of course, the land owners, are concerned with the secondary question of how to provide the necessary additional facilities, and it would make the Working Party unduly large to include persons qualified to speak for them. The Chairman of the Working Party has undertaken that representatives of the land owners, and of any other important interests not represented on the Working Party, will in due course be given an opportunity of submitting a memorandum and discussing it with the Working Party.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, does the noble Earl not agree that if the Working Party should come to the conclusion that grain should be stored and dried on the farms, then the responsibility for putting up this storage would rest on the land owners, and that the land owners should be represented on the Working Party?

§ THE EARL OF LISTOWEL
My Lords, I agree with the first part of the noble Lord's question, but I fear that I cannot agree with the second part, for the reasons I have already given in reply to the noble Lord's main Question. I hope that on consideration he may agree with me that a committee of fifteen—that is the size of the Working Party now, excluding the chairman—would become unwieldy and unbusinesslike if it were enlarged by representation of a number of other interests.

§ EARL DE LA WARR
My Lords, I wonder whether the noble Earl is aware that his reply is, in fact, no reply at all. The land owners are likely to be the major participants in any effort to supply grain storage, and I should like to ask whether the noble Earl really thinks that this is the way to obtain the co-operation of those who can most contribute to the solution of this problem. I hope the noble Lord will not leave this most important matter at this stage unless the noble Earl is able to give a more sympathetic reply. May I ask whether the noble Viscount the Leader of the House could be prevailed upon to give his mind to this problem? I think it would be greatly appreciated if he would.

§ THE EARL OF LISTOWEL
My Lords, of course we greatly value the cooperation of the land owners in this matter—

§ EARL DE LA WARR
How do you think you are going to get it by this method?

§ THE EARL OF LISTOWEL
My Lords —if the noble Earl will permit me to continue—I will certainly bring the views of the noble Earl and of the noble Lord about the feelings of the land owners in this matter to the attention of my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture.

§ VISCOUNT SWINTON
My Lords, it is not a question of the feelings of the land owners; it is a question of having 389 the most practical body to deal with the matter. I should have thought that if you are going to have fifteen people (I believe that is the number, though I am afraid I have not familiarised myself with the terms) and there is need for a vital working partnership—and this is a Working Party—with every essential working partner included, it would be necessary to have the land owners represented. After all, they are not as verbose as some other people.

LORD SALTOUN
Will the noble Earl accept this point? In this industry the proprietors providing, as they do, the fixed capital of the industry, are really preference shareholders in that industry; and in commerce you would never make arrangements about the affairs of a company without consultation with the preference shareholders. I am sure that the land owners similarly ought to be consulted in this instance.