§ 3.44 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SWINTONMy Lords, I should like to make a Statement in regard to the Report of the Cotton Import Committee which has just been made in another place.
The Report of the Cotton Import Committee which my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade and I set up has been laid before Parliament and is now available in the Printed Paper Office. The Committee, whose terms of reference were to consider how in the current foreign exchange position cotton could best be supplied to the United Kingdom cotton industry, included representatives of the cotton industry, the cotton merchants, the trade unions, the Cotton Board, and the Raw Cotton Commission, under the Chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Hopkins. I am glad to say its Report is unanimous. I am sure that the House would wish me to express our gratitude to the Chairman 268 and members for the work they have done.
The main feature of the Report is the recommendation that each year spinners will be given an option to buy their cotton on their own account, using merchants as they wish. The Raw Cotton Commission will continue to supply those who choose to buy from it. The Report recommends that the spinner shall make his choice annually of how he wishes to buy all his cotton in each of the main types. So long as the import of particular growths, for example, United States' cotton, has to be restricted for currency reasons, each spinner who chooses to buy these growths on his own account will be entitled to import a share calculated on the same basis as will apply to the Raw Cotton Commission. Entitlements shall be transferable so that spinners can thereby obtain the cotton best adapted to their particular requirements. It is recommended that the Raw Cotton Commission shall provide appropriate futures cover arrangements for those spinners who do their own buying, and for the merchants who serve them. The Report also recommends the setting up of a Panel to advise on the administration of the scheme.
Her Majesty's Government accept the recommendations in the Report. Arrangements are being made to put them into effect as soon as possible, so that they may operate during the forthcoming buying season.
§ 3.47 p.m.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, on behalf of my noble and learned friend Lord Jowitt, who is to-day absent on legal business, I should like to thank the noble Viscount for the Statement he has just made to the House. I do not wish to comment in detail upon the Statement, but there are two points that I feel I should raise. The first is that we are glad to know that the Report is unanimous. That, of course, will influence any views we may hold upon this matter. We have sufficient faith in the common sense of the Lancashire cotton workers to realise that they would not consent if they felt that consent would be wrong. The second point has reference to the last paragraph of the Statement, where it says:
Arrangements are being made to put them"—269 that is, the recommendations—into effect as soon as possible, so that they may operate during the forthcoming buying season.I wonder whether the noble Viscount could explain to us what the steps are. Will the recommendations of the Report be put into operation by Order in Council, or by Special Order; or can they be put into operation without reference to Parliament at all? I do not wish to say anything beyond that at present, but, as the noble Viscount will realise, if later on we feel we should like to discuss this matter, we shall be glad if a date can be arranged.
§ VISCOUNT SWINTONMy Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord. I should like to echo what he has said as to how highly satisfactory it is that this Report is unanimous. I think it is a remarkable achievement, Every single section of the cotton industry was represented—spinners, weavers, doublers, converters, manufacturers, the unions concerned in the different sections of the trade, the Liverpool Cotton Association, the Manchester Cotton Association, the Cotton Commission, and the Cotton Board—and they produced a Report containing a number of extremely practical recommendations which is absolutely unanimous on every point. I also agree with the noble Lord that we could not have had a more practical set of men to look after their own individual and collective interests. I am sure that we all wish the scheme success. With regard to the power to put it into force, I am advised that that power exists already under the Act. I understand that it can be done by mere administrative action by the President of the Board of Trade and myself. Therefore there is no question of making an Order in Council, which has to be laid. It was because the President of the Board of Trade and I could proceed by executive action that I felt it desirable, not only to lay the Report, but to make this full Statement to the House.
All that is really required is the setting up of a small committee to work the recommendations. That committee is being set up, and it will have an official chairman. To be effective, it needs to be a small but thoroughly representative committee. The advisory committee, and 270 the body to administer the plan, will be set up. I must do it at once, because the buying season for all the main types of cotton opens in June, and the whole scheme must be in operation so that merchants who want to opt out can do so. We have the Report well in hand, and have kept in touch with all those connected with it and with the interests in Lancashire. There ought not to be any delay, and I believe we shall get it working all right. I should like to add that I have the assurance of the Chairman of the Cotton Commission—who, with his practical knowledge, made a great contribution on the Committee—that the fullest help will be given by the Cotton Commission in the way recommended in the Report.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I presume that if we do want to discuss the matter further there will be no objection.
§ VISCOUNT SWINTONMost certainly not. If the noble Lord cares to put down a Motion, or a Question, I shall be delighted to give him any information. I have given all the information I can give at the moment, and, in any event, the noble Lord would probably like some little time to study the Report. If there are any points that occur to him then which he would like to be cleared up, I shall be delighted to deal with them in any way he desires.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, I am a little puzzled. The noble Viscount says that he can proceed by administrative action. The Cotton (Centralised Buying) Act, 1947, set up the Commission as a monopoly. Can the noble Viscount give us an assurance that administrative action is quite lawful, when it appears to be contrary to the Cotton (Centralised Buying) Act, 1947?
§ VISCOUNT SWINTONAs a matter of fact, it is not. I have not the Act with me, and I am not going to pronounce legal judgment. However, I am told by my legal advisers that this is quite right. If the noble Lord looks at the Act he will see that even his own Government had the foresight to insert provisions that this should not be an unrestricted monopoly, but that a wise measure of competition, licence and so on, should be introduced. The noble Lord will see that not only does it include arrangements by which 271 people can buy outside the Commission—that ceases to make it an exclusive monopoly—but also envisages the possibility of finding cover. I believe that is in Section 10 of the Act, and if the noble Lord looks at that section he will find that all this has been provided for. I believe I am quite right in saying that.