§ 2.30 p.m.
§ LORD ROBERTSON OF OAKRIDGEMy Lords, with the kind permission of the House I beg leave to make a short personal statement. Speaking on the Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Nugent of Guildford, on January 31, I said that when I joined the British Transport Commission I found on record an opinion of the noble Lord, Lord Hurcomb, against the creation of a Select Committee on Nationalised Industries. It has been pointed out to me that while there had been some opposition among members of the Commission, Lord Hurcomb did not share it and that my statement was incorrect. I have apologised to the noble Lord, Lord Hurcomb, and I am grateful to your Lordships for giving me this opportunity to amend my statement, especially as I hold the noble Lord in particularly high esteem.
§ LORD HURCOMBMy Lords, may I thank my noble friend Lord Robertson for what he has said, and apologise to him and to the House for not having been in my place when he made his original statement? Although I was very much interested in the debate initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Nugent, I was prevented by various engagements from giving it more than spasmodic attendance. I therefore did not think it right to intervene in a debate of which I had not heard very much; and I happened not to be in my place when the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, made his original statement.
96 If I had been I would have corrected it, and would have agreed with the noble Lord, Lord Nugent, and expressed my satisfaction that the experiment of a Select Committee on Nationalised Industries has now been admitted to be generally successful. That was not the view of any of the chairmen of the nationalised Boards at the time. I was alone in the advice I tendered when, with your Lordships' permission, I appeared before a Select Committee on the matter. I was alone in the opinion I expressed, and I am glad to think that so many people have now convinced themselves that they were always in favour of the idea.