§ 2.47 p.m.
THE EARL OF HADDINGTONMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether they can give any information as to the progress of the work of the Committee on the Protection of Wild Birds, under the Chairmanship of the Earl of Ilchester, which was appointed in 1947, whether it has yet reported or made recommendations for new legislation; and whether such report or recommendations will be made public.]
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VlSCOUNT JOWITT)My Lords, the Committee to which the noble Earl refers is a Standing Committee first set up in 1920 to advise the Home Office on matters connected with the administration of the Wild Bird Protection Acts. It was reconstituted in February, 1948, with the noble Earl, Lord Ilchester, as Chairman, and with the same terms of reference. As your Lordships are aware, the Committee has been engaged for some time in preparing proposals for new legislation. It is not customary to publish the recommendations made from time to time by a Standing Committee of this kind, but since there is great public interest in these proposals my right honourable friend will consider making a statement with regard to them When he has received them. This he expects to do in the course of a few weeks.
THE EARL OF HADDINGTONMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble and learned Viscount for his reply. May I ask him whether his attention has been drawn to a letter which appeared in a well-known weekly journal a few weeks ago from a northern correspondent, in which it was stated that a hen harrier was shot on a Perthshire moor and the nest of six eggs had been found? Does the noble and learned Viscount appreciate that a hen harrier is a bird of such extreme rarity that an action such as this might well mean that this bird will become completely extinct? In view of that fact, and of the increasing danger to which many of our rare birds are being exposed, can he give an assurance that new legislation for the protection of our wild birds will be introduced in the very near future, if possible in the autumn?
THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I cannot pretend that I am familiar with the correspondence; I do not read very much correspondence, in weekly or even in daily papers. But I am fully acquainted with the rarity of the hen harrier, and I would agree with the noble Earl in deploring the fact that this bird was destroyed. Speaking in my private capacity, I further agree with him in regard to the urgent necessity to do something about this matter, but I am confident that we may leave this matter in the safe keeping of Lord llchester and his Committee, who, as noble Lords will agree, know a great deal about it. I sincerely hope that after their Report has been received it may be found possible to take prompt action to give effect to the recommendations contained in it.