§ 6.35 p.m.
§ LORD SEMPILL rose to ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is the intention of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board to close their research organisation for investigating the application of electric power to the processing of mineral and other raw materials in their area, having in view the success already achieved, and the need for encouraging the re-creation of crofting industry in the Highlands by the introduction of modern techniques, and to move for Papers.
759§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. I should like to draw your Lordships' attention to the valuable work which is being done by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, presided over by my noble friend Lord Samuel, with his wide experience of applying modern techniques to the problems of the day. I learned the other day from the Lord President of the Council, Lord Woolton, that his intention was to quicken its purpose, and as an engineer I was delighted to hear this.
§ British contributions in the field of invention have ever been of world significance. To-day's contributions are no exception. I would mention but two—radar and the gas turbine. An eminent English jurist has stated that the purpose of science is to discover truth and the purpose of art to facilitate action. These words are well spoken, since both science and art are interdependent. Progress surely can come only through a wide programme of research and development backed by an intensive plan for application. Every day it is manifest in your Lordships' House and in another place that our immediate situation demands a greater output from every one of us, with the full use of modern techniques and, where possible, with the natural resources of these islands in preference to those coming from foreign lands. These thoughts were in the front of my mind when framing the Motion that I have the honour to submit to your Lordships this day.
§ Up to the last century all raw materials needed for the life of my brother Highlanders in their crofts in the Highlands and Islands were produced locally. As your Lordships will know, the crofts were built of materials on the site. The lares and penates were made of wood, horn or stoneware; the tartans and tweed for clothing of wool from the sheep, coloured with natural dyes; the brogues from the home-cured hides of cattle. The food was grown on the croft or won from the sea. And from this life sprang those who have made history over the world. To-day the position is very different. Most things used in the Highlands and Islands are imported from the Lowlands, even food—and that includes that tooth-decaying, stomach irritant, the white phantom 760 masquerading under the name of bread. There has been a long period of decay of the ancient industries, and raw materials available in the Highlands have been neglected. To-day, those who are striving to revive these industries meet with many obstacles, in that officialdom is slow, and often not effective, in moving. Such are the difficulties that one might think the gallant effort being made to-day in Braemar to revive the manufacture of traditional articles from the horn of Highland cattle was an anti-social effort that should be discouraged.
§ In the direction of hydro-electric development, reafforestation, roads and agriculture, great plans are afoot, all of which make great demands on raw materials. The use of local materials must be encouraged wherever possible, I suggest, and this calls for an unbroken effort in research and development. The provision of electric power makes the working of these raw materials possible for the first time, not only for local use but as a substitute for similar materials imported. There has been some progress, as for example in the diatomite field in Skye. For this the Hydro-Electric Board are to be congratulated. The research they initiated shows great promise. It will be most unfortunate if this promising beginning, which cost some £3,000 a year and is but one line of a general research undertaken by the Board, is abandoned. Such research would be of great use to the Department of Agriculture in the field of limestone and other fertilisers, to the Department of Health in building materials, and to the Ministry of Transport in road materials.
§ The Hydro-Electric Board research work has been under way for several years and must have laid the foundations for further valuable work. This should not be abandoned, since results can lead to the establishment of small units of industry that would bring to the crofts and small townships the possibility of using new techniques and machinery with the electric power available. Will the noble Earl, the Minister of State for Scotland, arrange for the results of the research done to be made available? This will be extremely interesting. This research must cover a wide range, as your Lordships realise, and will certainly be of great interest to the Scottish Council (Development and Industry), which, through its mineral resources panel, has 761 been urging the Government for a long time to set up a mineral resources research station in Scotland. I feel that this should be done without delay; a director should be appointed, and a laboratory established.
§ The need for more skilled men to tackle the immense problem in the development of Empire resources has often been stressed in your Lordships' House. In many different fields numbers are being trained to-day. In geology, field training is essential, and since the only large, under-developed area in Great Britain is in Scotland, an excellent opportunity exists for the training of geologists, as well as for the other purposes. Until quite recently, one of the leading scientists of the day, the technical director of the Royal Institution, Sir Robert Robertson, of Struan, who has recently died, gave a great deal of attention to the question of developing the natural resources of Scotland. He took care to see that his son was given as thorough a scientific and technical education as was possible. His son has been engaged on research work for the Scots Co-operative Movement, in which my noble friend Lord Morrison is keenly interested, as he told your Lordships a few days ago. If, as I hope, this work is still being carried on by the Co-operative Movement, it is all to the good. Whatever the answer may be, the son of the late technical director of the Royal Institution is the type of young Scot, technically well qualified, who should be permanently engaged on work of the kind under discussion. I think that is a most important point.
§ We in Scotland are very fortunate in that the noble Earl, the Minister of State, who is to reply, is keenly interested in the affairs of the Highlands and Islands. I suggest that as soon as that very active Permanent Secretary of the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research, Sir Ben Lockspeiser, has returned from Pakistan and Australia, he should be invited to direct his personal attention to the setting up of an establishment that will adequately cover the field—possibly more than one establishment may be required. I thank the noble Earl who is to reply for the keen interest he is taking in this matter, and can assure him that I was only too glad, since we both sing the same song, "My heart's in the 762 Hielands," to submit this matter to your Lordships on a day that suited his convenience. To the words, "My heart's in the Hielands," I might add, "a hunting the deer," which he and I may do one day if there is, as has been so rightly suggested, a close season. I beg to move for Papers.
§ 6.45 p.m.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for arranging to take his Motion on a day when I could be here. I do not know that the terms of it warned me of the width of the subject that the noble Lord was going to raise. On another occasion I shall be glad to deal with the wider questions of High and development; but the noble Lord will realise that such matters as those which are raised by his Motion are not matters in which the Secretary of State is directly concerned. The Hydro-Electric Board make their own arrangements about research and kindred matters. I think I can allay the noble Lord's apprehension, which I feel has arisen because the Hydro-Electric Board have lately ended a three-year's contract which they had with one individual. That does not by any means imply that they intend to put an end to the research work they are doing.
This work comes wider two heads. As the noble Lord is aware, the Board have their own investigation laboratory at Dundee, where the) are doing a wide variety of research work. They are doing research into the possibility of de-watering peat and diatomite; they are experimenting with an electric counter to count salmon as they go no the fish pass; they are experimenting successfully in the drying of hay—this may be a most valuable experiment; and they are experimenting with the firing of a gas turbine which may enable us to use peat as a fuel on a larger scale than we have done hitherto. In addition to their own work at the laboratory in Dundee, the various universities are doing research for them—namely, Aberdeen, St. Andrew's, Glasgow and other universities. They are doing such experiments for the Hydro-Electric Board as experiments in the discharge of water into rivers, stress distribution in dam structures, and matters of that kind.
Like the noble Lord, I am very much interested in these matters, and keenly 763 aware of how vital research is, not only in the Highlands but throughout the whole of the field of Scottish industry. We must keep ahead of the field in production; and as long as we always have the best there will always be a ready market for it. The noble Lord will find me as keen as he is in these particular matters. I would say that the Hydro-Electric Board are in the closest touch with the Scottish Council (Development and Industry), and with the noble Lord, Lord Bilsland. I shall have talks with Lord Bilsland shortly about the matters the noble Lord has raised to-day, and in particular about the possibility of a mineral research station, which he has brought to my notice. I thank the noble Lord very much for raising this matter to-day.
§ 6.49 p.m.
LORD SEMPILLMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl the Minister for his enthusiastic reply in regard to the encouragement and promotion of research in these different directions. I hope that he will 764 do as he indicated, and discuss very carefully with the permanent Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research the matters submitted to your Lordships this evening. We have a particular line of thought in this work which will be extremely valuable to all the other aspects concerned. I apologise for having framed my remarks rather more widely than I indicated to the noble Earl the other day, but as he has said that he will give consideration to them, perhaps we can return to them on another occasion. In the meantime, I thank him and beg leave to withdraw my Motion.
§ Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.