§ 3.4 p.m.
§ LORD CARRINGTON rose to move, That the White Fish Subsidy (United Kingdom) Scheme, 1953, reported from the Special Orders Committee on Thursday last, be approved. The noble Lord said; My Lords, this scheme is the first scheme of subsidy to the inshore, near and middle water sections of the white fish industry to be laid under Section 5 of the White Fish and Herring Industries Act, 1953. There is nothing new about the payment of the subsidy, but hitherto it has been paid under administrative arrangements on the authority of the annual Appropriation Act. It enables the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Secretary of State for Scotland to pay a subsidy for the next two years on the same scale and conditions as have been operating since the 1st April of this year. The system falls into two parts, one for inshore vessels and the other for near and middle water vessels. This is a very heavy subsidy, but we think it justified only because there is reason to believe that during the next five years the industry may recover from its almost overwhelming difficulties sufficiently to carry on, first, with a reduced subsidy and later without any. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the White Fish Subsidy (United Kingdom) Scheme, 1953, reported from the Special Orders Committee on Thursday last, be approved.—(Lord Carrington.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.