Sitting of 21 February 1940

Preamble
The House met at a Quarter before Three of the Clock, Mr. SPEAKER in the Chair.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
Ely Cathedral Canonries Bill,
Read the Third time, and passed.
Cornwall Electric Power Bill (by Order),
Read a Second time, and referred to the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (BLACKBURN) BILL,
"to confirm a Provisional Order of the Minister of Health relating to the county borough of Blackburn," presented by Mr. Elliot; read the First time; and referred to the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills, and to be printed. [Bill 21.]

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

  JAPAN (BRITISH SUBJECTS, ARREST).
  Mr. Arthur Hendersonasked the Prime Minister whether he has any statement to make on the recent arrest of three British citizens at Kobe, Japan?
  The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Butler): My Noble Friend has received a report to the effect that the Rev. F. E. Watts, an Australian in charge of the Kobe branch of the Missions to Seamen, Mr. H. J. Griffiths of the firm of J. L. Thompson and Company, and a Mr. V. O. Peters, have been detained by the Japanese police at Kobe since 17th January. The precise nature of the charges against them has not yet been officially specified. His Majesty's Consul-General at Kobe has visited the Rev. F. E. Watts and Mr. Griffiths on two occasions, and reports that they are in reasonably good health. It has not yet been possible
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  for him to visit Mr. Peters. My Noble Friend is in continual communication with His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo on developments in these cases.

  GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA (NEGOTIATIONS).
  Mr. Edeasked the Prime Minister when the White Paper dealing with the negotiations during 1939 between His Majesty's Government and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will be published; and what is the reason for the delay in the publication?
  Mr. Mander askedthe Prime Minister whether he is now able to state when the White Paper containing an account of the Anglo-Russian negotiations promised before the Christmas Adjournment will be published?
  Mr. Butler: The negotiations at Moscow were conducted jointly with the French Government, with whom His Majesty's Government have been in consultation on the subject of the issue of this collection of documents. I am not in a position to name any date for publication.
  Mr. Mander: In view of the fact that a definite promise was given before Christmas that this White Paper was to be published, can the right hon. Gentleman say what is holding it up and whether the statement is to be a full and accurate account of everything that took place during the negotiations?
  Mr. Butler: I cannot go beyond what I have said. I said that we were in consultation with the French Government and that consultation accounts for the delay. I cannot give a definite date.
  Mr. Ede: Were the French Government consulted with regard to the pledge that the documents were to be published during the Christmas Recess?
  Mr. Butler: In all matters which affects the French Government we are always in consultation with them.
  Mr. Mander: Owing to the wholly unsatisfactory nature of the reply I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible opportunity.

  APOSTOLIC DELEGATE.
  Colonel Wedgwood askedthe Prime Minister the terms of the undertaking given when the Papal delegate was admitted to this country that he would in no way interfere in politics, and the date?
  Mr. Butler: As I have previously informed the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, an Apostolic delegate is an ecclesiastical official appointed to carry out certain ecclesiastical duties; he enjoys no diplomatic status or privileges. Consequently there has never been any question of asking for an assurance of the nature indicated.
  Colonel Wedgwood: May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, in view of the rumours that special inquiries are to be made by the Apostolic delegate in connection with Mr. Sumner Welles's visit to Europe, that undertaking is being properly carried out?
  Mr. Butler: I am perfectly satisfied that the Apostolic delegate will behave in a wholly proper manner.

  HOLLAND (BRITISH OFFICERS' ABDUCTION).
  Mr. McGovernasked the Prime Minister whether he can state the present abode of Captain Best and Major Stevens, who were abducted by German police or military near the Dutch frontier; if it was on the Government's initiative that these officers were carrying peace proposals to Herr Hitler or German Government representatives; and whether he will state the nature of the proposals, and from whom they originally came?
  Mr. Butler: So far as is known Major Stevens and Captain Payne-Best are at present in Berlin. There was no question of these officers conveying peace proposals on behalf of His Majesty's Government. All they were authorised to do was to listen to and report on an approach that had been made from the German side. The exact nature and source of this approach could not be ascertained, owing to the forcible abduction on Netherlands territory of our officers by agents of the German Government.
  Mr. McGovern: Can the right hon. Gentleman say who was the individual through whom these proposals came,
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  and whether it was indicated to the Government that proposals were being put forward? Did they urge these two officers to hear these proposals?
  Mr. Butler: It came to the attention of the officers that there was an approach which interested them, and I can say no more than that these officers were abducted in the disgraceful manner I have described.
  Mr. McGovern: The point has not been answered. Was an indication given to the Government that proposals were being put forward, and did they agree to these officers getting them?
  Mr. Butler: These officers referred home for instructions, and that answers the question.
  Mr. Mander: Has the Dutch Government given any explanation why it is unable to protect British subjects on Dutch soil?

  BRITISH PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY.
  Mr. Sorensenasked the Prime Minister whether, in the distribution of propaganda and information to the German people by aeroplane, broadcasting and other means, he has included, and will include, statements concerning the desirable principles of peace and international reconstruction as advocated by the Labour party?
  Mr. Butler: Full prominence is being given in the B.B.C. German programmes to the views of the Labour party, including those expressed in the recent manifesto. The right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition and other hon. Members opposite have broadcast to Germany, and arrangements are now in progress for a series of broadcasts by Trades Union Council leaders. The sense of the Labour manifesto is, also, being conveyed to Germany by other means at our disposal.
  Mr, Sorensen: Do I take it that the right hon. Gentleman and his Government agree that it is highly desirable that Socialists and others in Germany should be fully acquainted with the proposals of the Labour party with regard to peace?
  Mr. Butler: If we did not we would not take such elaborate steps.
  Mr. G. Strauss: Does it mean that the Government accept these proposals?
  Mr. Butler: No; the Government are always very cautious.

  RUSSIA (BRITISH SUBJECT'S CLAIM).
  Sir Cooper Rawsonasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that Mr. Joseph Martin would have received compensation from the Soviet Government if, on the 2nd May, 1923, a demand had been made on his behalf similar to that which was successfully made for Mrs. Davison and Mrs. Harding; and, seeing that these three were the only personal injury cases which had been taken up with the Soviet Government and in which compensation had been pressed for prior to May, 1923, he can say what reparation it is now proposed to offer Mr. Martin for the suffering caused him through negligence on the part of His Majesty's then Government in omitting to include a demand for compensation for him also in the note of the 2nd May, 1923, when his claim could have been satisfactorily settled?
  Mr. Butler: I cannot accent the inferences drawn by my hon. Friend, particularly in regard to negligence on the part of the Government. An attempt has already been made to explain to him the difficulties of this case. There is, unfortunately, no certainty that a demand made on Mr. Martin's behalf in the circumstances described would have been successful.
  Sir C. Rawson: Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the other two cases dealt with they were held out as an ultimatum, subject to the trade agreement being signed, and that Mr. Martin's case is on a similar footing? Does the Government deny any liability at all?
  Mr. Butler: There is no question of negligence on the part of the Government. The two cases were put forward on definite grounds and I can only say that Mr. Martin's case has not been accepted.
  Major-General Sir Alfred Knox: Is it not true that Mr. Martin suffered frightful hardship and is it not the duty of the Government to give him some reparation?
  Mr. Butler: We know only too well of the hardships he suffered and he has our sympathy.
  Sir A. Knox: Sympathy is no use.
  Sir C. Rawson: Will the Government review Mr. Martin's case?

  FINLAND (FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS).
  Mr. A. Henderson askedthe Prime Minister whether he has been informed if the recent declaration of the Swedish Government that foreign troops would not be permitted to pass over Swedish territory applies to foreign volunteers travelling to Finland?
  Mr. Butler: I understand that the declaration in question does not apply to volunteers.

  GERMAN PRISONERS (WORK).
  Colonel Wedgwoodasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the German treatment of Polish prisoners, he will consider whether German prisoners from scuttled ships may be usefully employed on dredgers, trawlers and lightships instead of keeping them in idleness for the rest of the war?
  Mr. Butler: It would be undesirable for a variety of reasons to adopt this practice.
  Colonel Wedgwood: Are the Government aware of the treatment administered to our Allies by Germany and cannot that be affected by our dealings with German prisoners?
  Mr. Butler: I am afraid not in this case, because these men are civilian internees.

  ROYAL AIR FORCE.

    PROPOSED AEROPLANE FACTORY, WARWICKSHIRE.
    Mr. Higgsasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that there is great concern at the proposal to erect an aeroplane factory on some of Warwickshire's best agricultural land where there is no surplus labour and no accommodation for the same; and will he consider erecting it in an industrial area more suitable for the purpose?
    The Secretary of State for Air (Sir Kingsley Wood): In deference to the views of my right hon. and gallant Friend the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, I have given this matter further consideration and an alternative site for this factory is now under investigation.
    Mr. Higgs: Is the Minister aware that if this factory is erected in an industrial area the cost of operation will be considerably less, and does he consider that cost is of paramount importance?
    Sir K. Wood: There are, of course, other considerations.
    Mr. W. John Stewart: Would the right hon. Gentleman consider erecting a factory in Northern Ireland, where every facility would be given?
    Mr. MacLaren: It is not safe in Northern Ireland.

    CAPTAIN JOHNSON.
    Mr. Rhys Davies asked: the Secretary of State for Air whether his attention has been called to the fact that Captain Johnson, employed by his Department on aerial surveys in the Manchester area to check the black-out, was recently fined by the local magistrates the sum of £25 for driving a motor-car when under the influence of drink and an additional fine of £5 for driving a motor-car when he was disqualified from doing so, and that he was convicted at Dundee last June for a similar offence; and whether this man is still employed by his Department?
    Sir K. Wood: The individual in question is not an employéof the Air Ministry. The second part of the Question does not therefore arise.
    Mr. Davies: Can the right hon. Gentleman tell me whether this man is now employed by any Government Department in any capacity?
    Sir K. Wood: I understand that he is employed by a private company.

    AERODROMES AND CAMPS (UNCULTIVATED GROUND).
    Mr. Wakefieldasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware of the considerable amount of unused ground at Royal Air Force aerodromes and camps suitable for the growing of vegetables; and, in view of the need for increasing the production of foodstuffs, what steps does he propose to take to utilise such ground?
    Sir K. Wood: The attention of Commanding Officers at Royal Air Force stations has recently been drawn to the desirability of utilising all available land at aerodromes for food production; and they have been advised to consult the statutory Allotment Authority or the County War Agricultural Executive Committee, as the case may be. There are standing instructions regarding the letting for agricultural purposes of surplus land at Royal Air Force stations.

    AERODROMES AND FACTORIES, NORTHERN IRELAND.
    Dr. Littleasked the Secretary of State for Air whether, as Northern Ireland occupies an ideal situation both geographically and meteorologically for the training of pilots and observers for the Royal Air Force, he will immediately consider the desirability of having additional aerodromes established there; and whether he will alleviate unemployment and utilise the skilled labour available by the establishment of another aircraft factory in Belfast or its vicinity in the near future?
    Sir K. Wood: The possibility of establishing an additional aerodrome in Northern Ireland is under consideration. Extensions to factories in Northern Ireland are in hand and these will in due course provide a greatly increased demand for local labour.
    Dr. Little: Has the right hon. Gentleman received an offer of free sites for any buildings which may be required in connection with this matter?
    Sir K. Wood: Yes, Sir, I understand that a communication reached me this morning, and I am examining it.

    PARNALL AIRCRAFT FACTORY.
    Mr. Gallacherasked the Secretary of State for Air what complaints he has received of the inefficiency of the running of the Parnall aircraft factory, and whether he is aware that these complaints have led to a meeting of the workers taking a decision to ban all overtime; and will he take steps to inquire into the conditions prevailing at this factory?
    Sir K. Wood: The answer to the first part of the Question is in the negative. The hon. Member has written me on various matters connected with this firm and I will let him have a reply as soon as possible.

    BUILDING MATERIALS (BRICKS).
    Mr. Sloan askedthe Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that many brickworks in Scotland are idle, and if he will give an assurance that English bricks will not be used for Air Ministry work just commencing in Scotland, as bricks of an excellent quality are manufactured at New Cumnock collieries where 30 men are at present idle, and as each 1,000 bricks weighs four tons, which means further strain on the railways and adds additional cost to the various schemes?
    Sir K. Wood: Scottish bricks have generally been used in the construction of Royal Air Force buildings in Scotland, but instances may occur where local bricks are either unsuitable or are more expensive than others. For the work which I think the hon. Member has in mind, Scottish bricks will be used.
    Mr. Sloan: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that brickworks are idle in many districts in Ayrshire, and that the workers can see bricks passing through on the railways?
    Sir K. Wood: We are endeavouring to deal with these matters.
    Mr. Lipson: In considering the question of the cost of bricks, may I ask whether the question of petrol and transport is also taken into account?
    Sir K. Wood: Yes, Sir.

    MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS (T. FARR).
    Mr. W. A. Robinson askedthe Secretary of State for Air whether he will inform the House on what medical grounds Tommy Farr, 26 years of age, boxing champion, was released from military service?
    Sir K. Wood: This man was found on medical examination to be below the required standard for the Royal Air Force and he was accordingly recommended for discharge.
    Mr. Robinson: Is the Minister aware that physically this man must be fit because he has signed to fight for a £20,000 purse for the heavyweight championship of the world? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this case is causing great concern in the country, when a man living in my own division who is blind in one eye cannot get out of the Army?
    Sir K. Wood: I am sorry to hear of the latter case. It is a matter for the Secretary of State for War. As regards the former case, however considerable are the qualifications to which the hon. Member has referred, the man is still not up to the required standard.
    Mr. T. Smith: Can the right hon. Gentleman say how long this man was in the service and whether he was physically fit when he was passed?
    Sir K. Wood: This decision was reached on a further examination, I understand.
    Mr. Robinson: Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment.

    CIVIL AVIATION (ATLANTIC AIR-MAIL).
    Mr. Roland Robinsonasked the Secretary of State for Air whether, in view of the delays incurred by sending the Atlantic air-mail by rail to Lisbon, he will consider setting up a feeder air service between London and Lisbon to connect with the Pan-American Clipper service?
    Sir K. Wood: I am hopeful that the facilities for flight over the countries concerned in the operation of this service will shortly be accorded; and that it will then be possible to inaugurate this service.
    Mr. Robinson asked: the Secretary of State for Air when it is proposed to reopen the Imperial Airways service between Great Britain and the United States of America?
    Sir K. Wood: It is the intention to reopen the British service across the North Atlantic as soon as possible, but I am not in a position at the moment to indicate when operations will be resumed.

    GOLD COAST (LIQUOR IMPORTS).
    Mr. Barr askedthe Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any statement to make on the Proclamation of 29th December, 1939, by His Excellency the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, bringing into operation the Geneva and Gin (Restriction of Importation) (Amendment) Ordinance, 1939; is he aware that the Gold Coast Liquor Ordinance of 1st

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    January, 1931, decreed that an annual percentage reduction, based on the importations of 1929, should take place until at the end of 10 years, namely, in 1940, the importation of gin would be entirely prohibited; that the new Ordinance allows the total quantity of Geneva and gin which may be imported into the Gold Coast during the year ending 31st December, 1940, to be 150,000 imperial gallons, and is in direct conflict with the declared objects of the Ordinance of 1931; and what action he proposes to take in the matter?
    The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Malcolm MacDonald): As the answer is rather long, I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
    Mr. Barr: Can the right hon. Gentleman say what is the main reason for this change?
    Mr. MacDonald: Definite reasons are given in my lengthy answer, and perhaps the hon. Member will read it and then decide whether it is necessary to put another Question.
    Following is the answer:
    I am aware that under the Gold Coast Liquor Legislation of 1931, the importation of gin into the Gold Coast was to cease at the end of 1939. After full consideration of the position and in accordance with the recommendations made by the Governor after consultation with the members of the Legislative Council, I decided to bring about a modification of the former policy, which had been adopted to meet the apparent demand of the people of the Gold Coast. The Governor has informed me that, apart from other considerations, the prohibition of the importation of gin would be likely to result in a further growth of illicit distillation and a disregard of the law even by the law-abiding classes of the population. With one exception, the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, both African and European, including all the Provincial Representatives, were in favour of the amending legislation.
    In these circumstances I have approved the recommendation made by the Governor that an import quota for gin should be fixed for 1940 approximating to the importations permitted for 1937.
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    This quota will be subject to review annually, and I have asked the Governor to furnish a full report on the working of the new system at the end of three years, when the whole question will be the subject of further review. I would take this opportunity to assure the hon. Member that the complete prohibition of the importation of "trade" spirits into all West African Dependencies, including the Gold Coast, will remain in force.

    CEYLON (CONSTITUTION).
    Mr. Creech Jones askedthe Secretary of State for the Colonies when he will be in a position to make a statement on the working of the constitution of Ceylon?
    Mr. M. MacDonald: Certain reforms of the Ceylon constitution were suggested by the Governor and debated in the State Council last year. The result of that debate did not disclose a general agreement on the lines of reform and I am in consultation with the Governor as to the further procedure which may be acceptable and helpful.

    BARBADOS (TRADE UNION BILL).
    Mr. Creech Jones askedthe Secretary of State for the Colonies whether peaceful picketing is permitted under the new Trade Union Bill recently considered by the House of Assembly in Barbados?
    Mr. M. MacDonald: The Barbados Trade Unions Bill, which was presented to and passed by the House of Assembly, contained provisions relating to peaceful picketing identical in character with those contained in the United Kingdom Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Acts of 1906 and 1927, but I am informed by the Governor that this particular section was deleted by the Legislative Council. I am awaiting a despatch from the Governor explaining the reasons for this action by the members of the Council.
    Mr. Creech Jones: Will the right hon. Gentleman keep in mind the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the West Indies, in which it is asked that peaceful picketing should be an established thing in our West Indian Colonies?
    Mr. MacDonald: Yes, that principle has my entire support.

    WEST INDIES (ROYAL COMMISSION'S REPORT).
    Mr. Jagger askedthe Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can now give the date when the report of the Royal Commission on the West Indies will be published?
    Mr. M. MacDonald: I would refer the hon. Member to the statement which I made on this subject at the end of Questions yesterday.

    MALAYA (TIN RESOURCES).
    Mr. Graham White askedthe Secretary of State for the Colonies in view of the forthcoming meeting of the International Committee for Tin Control, whether he will see that no reduction or alteration of the quota is made unless he is satisfied that it will not interfere with the maximum use of Malaya tin resources in the prosecution of the war?
    Mr. M. MacDonald: The quota decision rests with the International Tin Committee, but I feel sure that the Malayan and Nigerian delegations will continue to maintain the interests of the Governments which they represent in the Committee, including their interest in the effective prosecution of the war.

    ELECTRICITY SUPPLY (RURAL AREAS).
    Mr. De la Bèreasked the Minister of Transport whether he will take steps to secure the necessary statutory powers to enable his Department to compel undertakers to supply electricity to the rural areas where a supply would enable such areas to obtain an increased output from their farms with a view to securing the maximum production?
    The Minister of Transport (Captain Wallace): Where supplies of electricity are required in rural areas for work of national importance such as increasing agricultural production and can be provided on a reasonably economic basis, I have no reason to suppose that the electricity undertakers would not be prepared to afford them.
    Mr. De la Bère: Does the right hon. and gallant Gentleman really mean to tell the House that he is going to allow
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    the Shropshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire Electricity Power Company to treat both him and the Electricity Commissioners with contempt? Is he aware of the inquiry in 1937 in connection with Evesham; and is he aware that this group of Edmondson undertakings have done nothing but thwart every single endeavour to assist agriculture in the areas over which they have control? Does he not think this is an absolute scandal which ought to be ended?
    Captain Wallace: I can assure my hon. Friend that the Commissioners would be prepared to press the undertakers if necessary, in each case where it is definitely shown that supplies were needed for increasing agricultural production and could be afforded on a reasonably economic basis.
    Mr. De la Bère: Is the Minister aware that evidence has been provided that the Electricity Commissioners have not done so? Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment of the House.

  TRANSPORT.

    PASSENGER VEHICLES (DIMENSIONS).
    Mr. Ellis Smith askedthe Minister of Transport whether he will consider allowing an increase in the overall length of passenger vehicles by two feet six inches, in order that the maximum number can be converted without the use of a trailer which is considered by engineers to be a cumbersome and out-of-date practice; and for an increase of three inches in the maximum width so that heavier tyres can be fitted, these allowances being consequent upon the changes already allowed?
    Captain Wallace: To enable a producer-gas apparatus to be fitted on a rear extension of a public service vehicle an increase in the permissible overhang as well as the permissible overall length would be required, as existing public service vehicles usually have the maximum overhang at present allowed. I am satisfied that any general extension of the permissible overhang would be unadvisable, although I have made Orders exempting certain specified vehicles from the Regulations regarding overall length and overhang so that tests with producer-gas apparatus fitted at the back of the vehicles could be carried out.

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    Gas producer plant can often be fitted into public service vehicles without the need for a rear extension: and I cannot agree that the use of a trailer is a cumbersome and out-of-date practice. In connection with the draft regulations relating to gas-propelled vehicles which I have recently circulated, I have had no requests from the transport industry for an increase in width of vehicles so that heavier tyres can be fitted; but if tyre manufacturers can show that they are unable to produce tyres to carry the loads now permitted without increasing the overall width of the vehicles, I will certainly give the matter further consideration.

    TRUNK ROADS (WORKERS' CONDITIONS).
    Mr. A. Jenkins askedthe Minister of Transport whether there is adequate machinery for ensuring that the wages paid to persons employed on trunk roads are on a fair basis; and, if not, what steps is he taking to set up such machinery?
    Captain Wallace: Work on trunk roads is carried out partly by direct labour and partly by contract. Direct labour is employed by a highway authority acting as my agent for the maintenance and repair of the trunk road, and a condition of the agency agreement is that the wages and conditions of service shall correspond with those of the authority's employés of a similar grade and engaged upon similar work. In the case of contract works, a condition is included in the standard form of contract providing that the principle of the fair wages resolution shall be observed by contractors.

    COAL SUPPLIES AND DISTRIBUTION.
    Lieut.-Commander Tufnellasked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that, in connection with the almost universal shortage of coal, the view is widely held that there is ample coal but that delivery is not efficient; whether the fullest possible use is being made of road transport since the railway companies have not been able, in view of their other commitments, to fulfil national requirements; and whether he can make a general statement upon the position of road haulage in relation to coal distribution?
    Captain Wallace: The conveyance of coal by road over long distances is not a practicable way of remedying the position, but as regards local distribution I made arrangements some four weeks ago with my hon. Friend the Secretary for Mines that special issues of liquid fuel rations should be made for goods vehicles delivering coal locally if the applications were recommended by his Divisional Coal Officers.
    Viscountess Astor: Can my right hon. and gallant Friend tell us who is responsible for the coal muddle? Is he aware that the whole country would like to know?
    Mr. Ammon: Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that one of the reasons for the coal shortage is said to be the high demurrage charges, which merchants cannot pay?
    Captain Wallace: I believe that not to be correct. As far as I know, no merchant has yet paid increased demurrage charges. I gave a most specific promise in the House when I introduced the Regulations that in cases where convincing evidence could be brought that merchants had done their best and could not clear their wagons, the charges would not be enforced.
    Mr. Thorne: Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman going to make a statement on this matter this afternoon?
    Sir Frank Sanderson: Is it not the case that the coal shortage is partly attributable to the fact that the Government have controlled all private wagons?
    Mr. Lipson askedthe Minister of Transport whether he is aware that the Shirebrook Colliery, Limited, had 642 loaded labelled wagons of coal in their sidings at 7 a.m. on Friday, 9th February, some of which had been standing there since 15th January; that this has resulted in the colliery working half-time and unemployment, as there are no empty wagons into which coal can be loaded; and will he take immediate steps to remedy this unsatisfactory state of things which is bound seriously to affect the output of coal?
    Captain Wallace: I have had this matter specially investigated. On 28th and 29th January access to the colliery

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    by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway was entirely blocked by snow and on 1st and 2nd February access by the London and North Eastern Railway (Great Northern Section) was also entirely blocked. Since that date there has been a progressive improvement both in the number of empty wagons supplied and in the number of loaded wagons cleared. During the first nine days of February the average number of empty wagons supplied each day was 109 and of loaded wagons cleared 147; the numbers for the second nine days of February were 143 and 195 respectively. On 9th February some 627 loaded wagons were standing ready for despatch. By 18th February the pit sidings were completely clear. The hon. Member will no doubt appreciate that the recent severe weather has imposed a severe strain on the railways and their staff. In extremely difficult circumstances they have done their best to provide an adequate service for this colliery.
    Mr. Lipson: Is my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the company say that they have spent pounds on telegrams and telephone calls to railway companies and have simply received excuses galore—that one day they were told there were no engines, on another day no freights, and on another day that there was sickness on the part of the staff; and will my right hon. and gallant Friend give an assurance that this sort of thing is not likely to occur again?
    Captain Wallace: If my hon. Friend will read the answer I have given, he will see that a very remarkable effort has been made to provide railway wagons. No amount of telegrams will make sick railwaymen well again.
    Mr. James Griffiths: Has the right hon. and gallant Gentleman investigated the question whether there are sufficient wagons in the country to deal with the coal, and is any increase being made in the number of railway wagons?
    Captain Wallace: Yes, Sir. We are building all the wagons we can. It was because I was not satisfied that with the present rate of usage there were enough wagons to meet present and prospective demands that, after careful consultation with all the interests concerned, we
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    brought in the demurrage regulations in order that more use might be made of the wagons we have.
    Mr. Arthur Greenwood(by Private Notice) asked the Minister of Transport what steps he is taking to increase the tonnage of coal carried on the railways, in order to meet the needs of the public utility undertakings and other consumers?
    Captain Wallace: The protracted spell of bad weather, including particularly the very heavy falls of snow and the prevalence of fog and other wintry conditions at sea, which are the counterpart in this country of the unprecedented ice-bound conditions which have prevailed throughout Northern Europe, have had two results. In the first place the demand for coal has naturally increased and, secondly, transport of all kinds has been seriously interfered with.
    The situation has for some time past been engaging the urgent attention of the Government and, as indicated by my hon. Friend the Secretary for Mines in the statement which he made on 6th February, various measures were taken, including the direction of consignments and the arrangement of special train loads of coal for the places most seriously affected. The Railway Executive Committee at the same time has been making every effort to accelerate the flow of supplies through the normal channels.
    The inevitable depletion of stocks during the partial hold-up of traffic has, however, resulted in continued shortages in some areas. Last week it was decided that further measures should be taken and arrangements were made for the movement of coal to be specially accelerated.
    I hope that by these means the situation in those areas where there has been a shortage of domestic supplies will soon be relieved. It will, of course, be realised that the capacity of the railways to carry additional freight is not unlimited and that at the present time there are very great demands upon it. The general interest requires that the needs of the public utility undertakings—electricity, gas and water—should be met as well as the domestic supply, and it has been decided, after a careful review of the coal situation generally, that special measures must be

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    taken to augment the supplies of coal to such undertakings, especially those in London and the South of England.
    In present circumstances this will involve the drawing of additional supplies of coal by rail from the Northumberland and Durham areas as well as from the Midland Amalgamated District which includes South Yorkshire.
    I have accordingly asked the Railway Executive Committee to make such arrangements as will enable an increase of some 70,000 tons of coal per week to be carried in train loads from collieries in these areas direct to London and the south. This will mean 143 additional coal trains per week, of which 100 will work from collieries in Northumberland or Durham. Essential freight traffic cannot be sacrificed for this purpose and it will only be possible to secure this large increase of coal supplies by rail at the expense of passenger services.
    The additional trains from Northumberland and Durham will necessitate a considerable reduction of passenger services on the main lines between Newcastle and London as well as on a number of secondary and branch lines. There will also be certain curtailments of services on other lines to make room for the additional trains from the Midland district to London. The fullest possible notice of the alterations will be given.
    I hope that the travelling public, who will undoubtedly suffer some inconvenience, will accept the paramount necessity for giving this priority to coal traffic. The long period of exceptionally severe weather has inevitably resulted in an accumulation of loaded wagons in colliery sidings and marshalling yards, but I can assure the House that energetic steps have been taken, and will be continued, on the railways to meet the needs of the coal situation in the fullest measure possible.
    The Prime Minister authorises me to add that he personally is taking a direct interest in this vital matter and that everything possible will be done to resolve the present admitted hardships.
    Mr. Greenwood: May I put a Supplementary Question to the Prime Minister? I would like to ask the Prime Minister whether, in taking this direct personal interest in the problem, he intends to act in concert not merely with the Ministry
    1334
    of Transport but with all the other Departments concerned; whether the plans which the right hon. Gentleman is contemplating are designed to effect a permanent improvement in coal supplies throughout the country in the circumstances of this time; and, lastly, whether the right hon. Gentleman can assure the House that this problem, which is very close to the people, will be solved within a very reasonable period of time, that the situation will be really eased and the hardship really abated?
    The Prime Minister (Mr. Chamberlain): In reply to the first Supplementary Question of the right hon. Gentleman, certainly this is not a matter which concerns the Ministry of Transport only. I shall be in direct consultation with the Secretary for Mines, the President of the Board of Trade and the Minister of Shipping, all of whom are concerned in the matter. In regard to the second point, of course the immediate problem is to try to overcome the shortage which now exists and which is very serious, and to that, I think, our first efforts must be directed; but I fully agree that what we have to do, when we have overcome that shortage, is to try to take such measures that it will not be likely to occur again. As to the third Question which the right hon. Gentleman put to me, I appreciate very keenly the hardships which have, unfortunately, been inflicted upon the domestic consumer, and I know that, in many cases, they must have suffered very much, especially in the extremely hard weather—[An Hon. Member: "And still are"]—and I dare say they still are, although I hope that the milder weather may have mitigated the situation to some extent. I do not like to pledge myself to dates because one does not know but what we may have a recurrence of hard weather which might add to our difficulties; but I think, as my right hon. and gallant Friend has just said, that we are now in a position to assist the domestic consumer as well as the public utility companies. Barring accidents, that is to say, barring exceptional weather and other accidents, we may hope that the situation will be materially eased in the course of a reasonably short time.
    Mr. Cassells: Arising out of the first part of the Prime Minister's reply, and in view of the fact that no reference was

    1335
    made to Scotland, may we be informed by the Minister of Transport what can be done to meet the present difficulties in that country?
    Captain Wallace: We are doing our best in every way to meet the shortage, not only in London but in Scotland as well as other places.
    Mr. Shinwell: Will the Prime Minister give his personal attention to the seaborne traffic aspect of this problem, including adequate protection to the crews of colliers, coasters and other vessels employed in the trade, and the provisions of the necessary vessels?
    The Prime Minister: Yes, Sir, certainly. I appreciate that the situation can be solved only by an increase in the amount of coal borne by sea. It can be assisted by land transport, but it is essential to get further supplies by sea. Therefore I will give my personal attention to the point to which the hon. Gentleman has referred.
    Brigadier-General Sir Henry Croft: In view of the very serious position that exists, will immediate planning take place in order to ensure that adequate reserves are held in all those areas which are cut off from sea supplies owing to war conditions; and can my right hon. and gallant Friend give an undertaking that efforts will be made now to see that that is done at the earliest possible moment?
    Captain Wallace: As soon as we have dealt with the immediate situation we shall, of course, do that. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has just said, we shall do what we can to build up reserves and to take such other steps as are possible.
    Viscountess Astor: Is it not a very serious matter that every time there is a muddle like this there is a row in the House and then the Prime Minister says that he will look into the matter? Does not the Prime Minister think it would be fairer to himself and better for the country that he should have Ministers who can do the work; and may I ask my right hon. Friend whether, in fairness to himself, to the House of Commons and to the country, he really ought not to get Ministers who would save us from this muddle?
    The Prime Minister: I thank my Noble Friend for her care for me, but I have every confidence in my Ministers—[Hon. Members: "The King's Ministers"]—I should say, in my colleagues. I was asked by the Leader of the Opposition to take a personal interest in the matter, and to that request I am very glad to accede.
    Mr. Benjamin Smith: Having regard to the fact that, in these days, many poor people are without coal, will the Prime Minister consider utilising the many thousands of vehicles that are laid idle by the Government's policy in the issuing of petrol, because thus he would relieve the railways of certain of their goods and minimise to a great extent the pressure upon passenger transport?
    The Prime Minister: That is a matter which will have attention.
    Mr. Smith: It will have attention?
    The Prime Minister: Yes, Sir.
    Mr. Jagger: Will the Prime Minister make a special inquiry into the effect of the new demurrage rates in causing chaos and will he consider the advisability of reducing the charges of a demurrage?
    The Prime Minister: A Question on that subject has been answered to-day.
    Mr. Poole: If the railway companies are so completely unable to cope with the additional traffic that they must make such an incursion into the ordinary passenger traffic, how does the right hon. and gallant Gentleman hope that they will be able to carry sufficient traffic to earn the revenue which is set out in the recent Agreement?
    Mr. Speaker—
    Mr. Poole: With your leave, Sir, I was coming to the point in relation to this shortage. When the Department of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman took over the railways, was a priority department established to decide the priority of traffics to be conveyed on the railways, as such is very badly needed; and is the Minister aware that it would be completely unnecessary to have 146 additional trains if 20-ton, 30-ton and 40-ton wagons were used, instead of the 10-ton and 20-ton wagons used at the present time?
    Captain Wallace: There certainly is an organisation to secure priority on the railways, as in other places.
    Mr. Poole: It certainly does not function.
    Mr. Watkins: Is there reasonable hope that the people in London who have been without coal for several weeks will be able to have coal, at any rate during the next few days?
    Captain Wallace: I do not think I can add to what the Prime Minister has said on the subject.
    Mr. A. V. Alexander: Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that, although two or three full train-loads are through during the last 24 hours, there are about 40 train-loads—whole train-loads—still outstanding for London alone, and that unless they come through quickly we shall be in a dire position this weekend?
    Captain Wallace: In the answer which I have given I have told the House that we are taking every possible step to accelerate, not only whole train-loads, but individual consignments.
    Mr. Burke: In addition to looking after the interests of London and the south, and into the question of domestic supplies, will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman consider the terrible state of the Lancashire mills? Is he aware that many mills that had average pay rolls of £2,000 per week have been closed down, and that this situation is causing as much distress to the ordinary public as is the lack of domestic supplies? The right hon. and gallant Gentleman knows about the problem; will he be good enough not to neglect it while his eyes are turned to London and to the south?
    Captain Wallace: I shall do my best to have eyes all round my head.
    Mr. Orr-Ewing: Is my right hon. and gallant Friend aware of the magnificent work that has been done under exceptionally trying conditions by engine drivers, firemen, and railway staffs, whose numbers have already been heavily depleted by sickness during this difficult time?
    Captain Wallace: Yes, I am well aware of that, and I am very glad to join in the tribute that my hon. Friend has paid to them.
    Mr. J. Griffiths: May I ask the Prime Minister whether the investigation will
    1338
    include an investigation of the possibility of increasing the supply of coal by providing work for tensor thousands of miners in this country, who will read of this discussion with dismay?
    The Prime Minister: When we have solved the problem of transport, the other problems will very speedily be on the way to a solution.
    Mr. Lunn: When will the Government appreciate the position of the miners in this country?

    MINISTRY OF INFORMATION (MISS VERA BRITTAIN).
    . Sir Henry Fildesasked the Minister of Information what duties are performed in his Department by Miss Vera Brittain; whether this lady is being sent to the United States by his Department; and, if so, for what purpose?
    The Minister of Information (Sir John Reith): Miss Brittain is not employed in or by the Ministry of Information. The other part of the Question therefore does not arise.
    Sir H. Croft: May I ask whether this lady has had any connection with the Ministry of Information?
    Sir J. Reith: No, Sir, none whatever.

  POST OFFICE.

    TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERS (REBATES).
    Mr. Wakefield askedthe Postmaster-General when he will be in a position to announce the amount of rebate which will be allowed to telephone subscribers who have been unable to use their telephones on account of the recent bad weather conditions?
    The Postmaster-General (Major Tryon): I very much regret that many telephone subscribers have been unable to use their telephones on account of the recent bad weather conditions. My hon. Friend will recognise, I am sure, that it is impossible to ensure immunity of the service from interruption in such abnormal weather. The low rentals now charged for telephone service (about 1s. 6d. a week) leave no margin for any general rebate in respect of interruption due to storms or other causes beyond the control of the Post Office; but I am always prepared to consider any individual case where circumstances may have been exceptional.

    TEMPORARY ASSISTANTS (BELFAST).
    Dr. Littleasked the Postmaster-General how many temporary assistants were employed in the Belfast General Post Office for the Christmas postal traffic in the years 1938 and 1939; and what percentages of the said numbers were ex-service men?
    Major Tryon: The numbers of temporary assistants employed at the Belfast Post Office during the period of Christmas pressure in 1938 and 1939 were 966 and 1,053, respectively, of whom 90 per cent. and 62 per cent., respectively, were ex-service men. On both occasions all suitable ex-service men, whose names were put forward by the Employment Exchange, were engaged. There were, of course, fewer ex-service men available last Christmas owing to the splendid contribution made to the fighting Forces by Northern Ireland.

    ALLIES' WAR AIMS.
    Mr. Woodburn askedthe Prime Minister whether the Government will now make categorical declarations that Britain has no ulterior and undeclared purpose in the present war; seeks no territorial or material gain and has no intention in any way to impose any dismemberment on Germany; and that the sole objective to be achieved is to secure by reasonable guarantees, of which the withdrawal of Germany from armed occupation of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, would be an earnest, that Germany had renounced all intentions of armed expansion and was prepared to take her place in the councils of the nations as a free partner ready to co-operate in the steps necessary to secure a peaceful solution of economic, territorial and racial problems making for enmity and war, and for the safeguarding of all peoples against aggression?
    The Prime Minister: I see no object in adding to the categorical declarations already made by members of the Government as to the purposes of this country in the war.
    Mr. Woodburn: While appreciating the difficulties of the Government in this respect, in order to counteract the propaganda of Dr. Goebbels and reassure people at home, will not the Prime Minister consider making some categorical
    1340
    declarations especially on the question of the dismemberment of Germany?
    The Prime Minister: I cannot add to what I have already said.
    Mr. Sorensen askedthe Prime Minister what reply he has returned to the resolution sent to him supporting the general principle of a peace settlement and international reconstruction as advocated by the Labour party?
    The Prime Minister: I regret that I am unable to identify from the description given the resolutions to which the hon. Member refers.
    Mr. Sorensen: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this principle is included in the peace terms of the Labour party; and will he not at least indicate wherein the Government diverge from this principle?
    The Prime Minister: No, Sir. I do not think that I am called upon to do that.
    Mr. Silverman: May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it is not a little dishonest to allow these details to be broadcast to the German people unless they are also the policy of His Majesty's Government?
    The Prime Minister: I do not know whom the hon. Member is accusing, but it is certainly not me.
    Sir Archibald Sinclair: Is it not clear that the British Broadcasting Corporation is not under the control of the Government and has a perfect right to broadcast what is said by His Majesty's Opposition?
    Lieut.-Colonel Acland-Troyte: Is not the suggestion of His Majesty's Opposition quite absurd?

    POST-WAR EXPORT TRADE.
    Sir Annesley Somervilleasked the Prime Minister whether his economic advisers are now preparing schemes for rehabilitating post-war export trades including crude barter, aski-sterling finance-plus-barter and general subsidy of export, so that employment may be ready for demobilised men without that delay which has been caused in the past by hurry and last-moment search for orthodox employment schemes?
    The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend may be assured that the Government is studying and will endeavour to apply such measures as are best calculated to develop at the end of the war the trades and employments of peace with the greatest rapidity. I do net think it is possible now to forecast what steps will best serve that end, but, as I indicated in a public speech on 31st January, I should hope that the general tendency will be towards establishing international trade on a freer and wider basis than that envisaged in my hon. Friend's Question.

    ENEMY AIR FORCE.
    Mr. Garro Jonesasked the Prime Minister whether he can assure the House that His Majesty's Government are now informed with reasonable accuracy of the bomber strength of the Luftwaffe, and are satisfied that the total existing strength of Admiralty and Royal Air Force front line fighter machines, as assisted by machine-gun and anti-aircraft defences, is sufficient to meet any early intensification of air attack?
    The Prime Minister: I am not prepared to state the extent of the information in the possession of His Majesty's Government as to the strength of enemy forces. In the event of any early intensification of air attack I am satisfied that the Royal Air Force as well as our ground defences will give a good account of themselves. The House is of course aware that our methods for meeting and countering air attack on whatever scale it may develop are continuously being strengthened and developed.
    Mr. Garro Jones: Is the Prime Minister aware that I did not ask him to state the extent of the information in the possession of the Government, but whether he is satisfied that the Government are sufficiently well informed as to the fighting strength of the German air force? May I further ask him whether it has been conveyed to him that well informed persons feel that the respite from criticism which the Production Department of the Air Ministry has enjoyed is rapidly drawing to a close? May I have an answer to these two Supplementary Questions?
    The Prime Minister: I have already given all the answer I can.

    BROADCAST SPEECHES (MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT).
    Sir H. Croftasked the Prime Minister whether he has consulted with the Leaders of the Opposition as to the advisability of all Ministers and Members of Parliament, when broadcasting during the war, refraining from raising political issues which are calculated to divide the nation or which are repellent to the inhabitants of the British Colonial Empire; and, if not, whether he will consider the possibility of arriving at an honourable understanding on this subject?
    The Prime Minister: Conversations have been held with Leaders of the Opposition parties regarding the arrangements for broadcasts by Ministers and Members of the Opposition, but the content of a broadcast is a matter for which each individual speaker must accept personal responsibility.
    Sir H. Croft: In view of the general unanimity of purpose among all parties in the House, is it not possible that something further might be done to prevent an apparent division on what may be minor issues, but what may be political issues to the country as a whole?
    The Prime Minister: That is not a matter for me.
    Sir A. Knox: Is my right hon. Friend aware that a statement was made about Amritsar which has been proved by British judges and jury to be libellous?
    Mr. Stephen: Is there any censorship of the speeches made by various Members of the Opposition?
    The Prime Minister: No, Sir. Not as far as I am aware.

    CENSORSHIP (NEWSPAPER ARTICLE).
    Commander Fletcherasked the Prime Minister why it was decided to censor an article written by the late Secretary of State for War upon the issue of giving help to Finland; and whether the decision to censor was taken upon matters of fact or expressions of opinion contained in the article?
    Mr. Manderasked the Prime Minister the reasons for the censoring by the Government of an article in a

    1343
    Sunday newspaper on the war by the right hon. Member for Devonport (Mr. Hore-Belisha); and whether he will arrange for the passages in question to be placed in the Library?
    The Prime Minister: Censorship of Press articles in this country is on a voluntary and not a compulsory basis. In the present instance certain passages in the article written by the late Secretary of State for War were considered unsuitable for publication over his name, not because they were themselves objectionable but because he was so recently a member of the War Cabinet that in dealing with this critical subject, his views might well be regarded abroad as having special authority. Accordingly my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary called the attention of my right hon. Friend to the passages in question and asked that they might be altered, at the same time offering an alternative draft. This draft however did not appear to my right hon. Friend to convey the views he had in mind and he preferred to omit altogether the passages to which the Foreign Secretary had taken exception. The answer to the last part of the Question by the hon. Member for East Wolverhampton (Mr. Mander) is in the negative.
    Commander Fletcher: Does it not appear from that answer that the writer of the article was asked to delete his own views, although they were unobjectionable, and to substitute for them the views of His Majesty's Government; and is it not a very strange form of censorship under which the Government say to a writer that they cannot allow his own views to appear but that they will be very glad to avail themselves of the prestige and authority attaching to his name in order to promulgate the views of the Government although these are opposed to his own?
    The Prime Minister: No, Sir. That is not the case. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary offered a draft but did not insist upon that draft being accepted. My right hon. Friend the Member for Devonport (Mr. Hore-Belisha) preferred not to have it.
    Mr. Mander: Is the Prime Minister aware that the article in question was passed on Friday night last by the French censorship for publication in full in all
    1344
    countries with the exception of France—the question of publication in France being withheld for further consideration—and in those circumstances, what possible objection can there be, on the French side, to the publication of the article in question in full?
    The Prime Minister: I cannot answer for the French side. They have their own views and they are entitled to exercise their authority as they please. All we were concerned with was publication in this country.
    Mr. Mander: Yes, but was not this action taken on pressure by the French Government? [HON. MEMBERS: ''Order!"] Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall call attention to this matter on the Motion for the Adjournment at the first opportunity.

  MINISTRY OF SUPPLY.

    BRAZILIAN TIMBER.
    Sir Reginald Blairasked the Minister of Supply whether, in order to remedy the timber shortage, experimental imports have been made of Brazilian Imbuia timber for the building industries and ship construction and for interior fittings and, in a minor degree, for certain types of pit-props; and, if, so, with what results?
    The Minister of Supply (Mr. Burgin): I understand that small supplies have been imported privately in recent years for experimental purposes. My hon. Friend will appreciate that during the war the timber problem is largely one of transport, and having regard to the length of the haul it has not been considered desirable to import this wood.

    PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACTS.
    Mr. Manderasked the Minister of Supply whether he will consider the advisability, in view of temptations created by war-time conditions in a new Ministry, of bringing to the attention of the employés in his Department the pro visions of the Prevention of Corruption Acts inflicting penalties for receipt of bribes and secret commissions?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir.
    Mr. Mander: Will my right hon. Friend at the same time make it clear that no

    1345
    reflection whatever is intended on the probity and devotion to duty of the great mass of the Civil Service?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir.

    HOUSEHOLD WASTE (SALVAGE).
    Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas Mooreasked the Minister of Supply whether he will state the policy of the Government in regard to the collection, classification and treatment of all household waste commodities; and what instructions have been issued to local authorities to ensure such policy being carried out?
    Mr. Burgin: The policy of the Government in regard to the salvage of household waste is to stimulate to the utmost degree possible the collection, classification, and treatment of household waste by the local authorities throughout the country. To assist the local authorities in rural areas and other places where economical collection may be difficult, the co-operation of various voluntary organisations has been enlisted, such as the Boy Scouts, the Women's Voluntary Service, the Women's Institutes, and the Red Cross. A comprehensive memorandum on the subject was issued to local authorities on 30th November and has been followed up by subsequent circulars, as well as by district conferences, and the appointment of 22 honorary district advisers, covering most of the country. Further steps are being taken or in consideration to enlist the fullest and earliest co-operation of local authorities and other appropriate bodies. I am sending to my hon. Friend copies of the circulars referred to.
    Sir T. Moore: While thanking my right hon. Friend for his reply, may I ask whether he is aware that very few citizens really know what is the policy or the system of the Government in regard to this matter and that they are only too willing to co-operate and help in every way; and will he consider issuing propaganda with a view to bringing home to private citizens what their duties are in regard to this most vital matter?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir, certainly. A vast amount of such propaganda and explanation is already being done. I would like the House to realise that the collection of waste on a country-wide scale is an enormous undertaking. I shall be giving
    1346
    figures in reply to later Questions showing the extent to which we are already succeeding but I shall want a great deal of collaboration and help and I feel that the facts must be made widely known to the country.
    Sir Percy Harris: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the vast majority of citizens are most anxious to discharge their duty in this respect and that the real difficulty is that hundreds of local authorities refuse to take any responsibility for accepting separate supplies of metal and paper and similar household waste apart from the ordinary refuse; and will he, if necessary, take compulsory powers to force local authorities to do their duty in this respect?
    Mr. Burgin: I understand that the facts are, very largely, as stated by the hon. Baronet. The public are aware that this is a matter of collection and segregation at the outset and then rapid disposal, and it is, as I have said, a very big problem. A great many more local authorities are now coming into the scheme. If local authorities will not do so, other powers must be sought, but that will be primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health.
    Mr. Thorne: Is the Minister aware that in order to carry out the intention which he has expressed, a separate dust-bin will be necessary for every householder which means considerable expense?
    Sir F. Sanderson: Is it not the case that this salvage work is being done in other parts of the country?
    Mr. A. C. Reedasked the Minister of Supply (1) whether he is aware that the waste paper collected from households must be classified as mixed waste paper, for which the maximum price obtainable is 1s. per hundredweight; is he further aware that this price does not cover the cost of collection, and therefore, this raw material is being entirely lost; and will he have a comprehensive inquiry into the whole question;
    (2) whether he is aware that, in response to wireless and other appeals, tens of thousands of householders saved their waste paper but have now been compelled to burn it as no one could be got to collect this waste; and will he say what action he proposes to take to get this valuable raw material collected?
    Mr. Burgin: As I stated in reply to my hon. Friend on the 15th February, papers which are sorted and graded ready for manufacture or are baled and sold in quantities of four tons or more can command a higher price than 1s. per cwt. Active steps are being taken to increase the collection of waste paper, and a further circular has recently been addressed to local authorities, who are now organising the collection of waste paper from householders in increasing numbers. The present rate of collection is about 1,000 tons per week. It is hoped that a much larger quantity will eventually be collected each week.
    Lieut.-Colonel Heneageasked the Minister of Supply what action is being taken by Chelsea Borough Council to collect waste products suitable for feeding-stuffs?
    Mr. Burgin: The Metropolitan Borough Council of Chelsea have themselves no facilities for the collection of kitchen waste for pig feeding, but in certain areas in the borough, contractors undertake the collection of kitchen waste from hotels and restaurants for sale to pig keepers. The borough council has informed me that it is deeply interested in the collection of waste and that the subject of direct collection is again being fully considered.
    Lieut.-Colonel Heneage: Cannot something be done to hurry it up in the blocks of flats where there appears to have been no action taken?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir, I will do what I can. I think Chelsea was the first borough in the country after the outbreak of war to put forward a general scheme of this kind.
    Lieut.-Commander Tufnell: Will the Minister consider the desirability, in the interests of fertilisers, of encouraging the collection of bones?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir.
    Mr. R. C. Morrison: Will the Minister confer with his colleague the Minister of Food to ensure that when this food is collected there is an adequate market for it?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir.
    Lieut.-Colonel Heneageasked the Minister of Supply what action is being
    1348
    taken in Lincolnshire to collect waste products suitable for feeding-stuffs from borough and urban districts; and which local authorities have schemes actually working?
    Mr. Burgin: The Salvage Department of the Ministry of Supply has called for monthly salvage returns from those local authorities whose districts have a population of 10,000 or over. There are 11 such boroughs and urban districts in the county of Lincolnshire. Of these local authorities, four have submitted returns showing that kitchen waste suitable for pig feeding is being salved. These four local authorities are the boroughs of Louth and Scunthorpe, where kitchen waste is being collected by the local pig keepers themselves; the borough of Cleethorpes, where 6 cwts. was salved in each of the months of November and December, 1939, and 12 cwts. in January, 1940; and the urban district of Gainsborough, which salved 68 lbs. in January, 1940. I am hoping that with increasing realisation of the importance of salvage there will be a great improvement in these figures.
    Lieut.-Colonel Heneage: In view of the loss of livestock in this county, will the Minister do all he can to get some of the bigger boroughs to do their share?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir.

    WAR MATERIAL (MANUFACTURE).
    Sir Joseph Leechasked the Minister of Supply to what extent the experience of this war is showing the justification for the pre-war refusal of His Majesty's Government to prohibit private manufacture of arms; and how far are the British armament firms rendering services indispensable to the national safety which could not now be as speedily performed in the Government yards, arsenals and factories at present working at highest pressure?
    Mr. Burgin: The effort required to produce munitions for the Fighting Forces is such that the full services of all manufacturing capacity suited to the production of war materials is and must remain indispensable to the national safety. I should hesitate to attempt to make any distinctions or comparisons, or to attempt to draw conclusions from the present situation, though it must be obvious that

    1349
    the wider the available field of armament supply in peace, the quicker is the wartime expansion.
    Mr. Garro Jones: May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he recognises the fact that both the Question and the answer are based on the fallacy that if the Government had taken over the manufacture of armaments that would have closed down all facilities for the private manufacture of armaments and that the course of events shows that the rate of production—
    Hon. Members: Speech!

    WOOL SUPPLY AND PRICES.
    Mr. Jacksonasked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware that grave dissatisfaction is felt by Welsh sheep farmers over the low price they are being offered for their wool; and whether he will explain why the prices offered for this wool are so much less than those from other districts?
    Mr. Burgin: The prices fixed varied, of course, not according to district but in accordance with the type of wool, and the same proportionate advance was given for all types upon the prices prevailing before the war, save in the case of one variety, largely required for export, for which it was considered that a higher price was justified.
    Sir A. Knoxasked the Minister of Supply whether he is aware that the output of knitted comforts for His Majesty's Forces would be doubled if more wool were made available for voluntary knitters; and if he will accordingly take steps in co-operation with the wool controller and spinners to increase the supply of knitting yarn?
    Mr. Burgin: As my hon. and gallant Friend is no doubt aware, special steps have been taken to make wool available to spinners for producing knitting yarns to be used in making comforts for the Forces, and it is estimated that two-thirds or more of the total output of hand knitting yarns is being used for this purpose. The wool available should be sufficient to make a complete outfit of, say, cap comforter, pullover, mittens and socks for about 300,000 men every week. I do not think, therefore, that there can be said to be any insufficiency of wool for this purpose.
    Sir A. Knox: Arising from that reply, will the Minister not allow that, on the one hand there is a demand by these organisations to get more wool, while on the other hand the Government are crying out all the time for more comforts for the troops? Is it not a fact that these comforts are very much appreciated by the men?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir. These comforts are very much appreciated and I have no doubt that many are wanting them. They are made of wool for which there is only a certain amount of spinning capacity. Every week 340 tons of raw wool are being used to spin into this knitting yarn, and as soon as it is made it is taken off the counters because the demand is so great. Bearing in mind the question of distribution, I am pointing out that 300,000 men per week are being given a complete outfit of woollen garments.

    GOVERNMENT FACTORY (FIRST-AID POSTS AND WORKING CONDITIONS).
    Mr. Gordon Macdonaldasked the Minister of Supply whether he will state the number of first-aid posts available at the factory in the North-West of England, the name of which has been communicated to him; and whether each post is adequately staffed and is supplied with a complete outfit?
    Mr. Burgin: I am satisfied that there are sufficient first-aid posts at this factory, but it would not be in the public interest to disclose the details. Each post is adequately staffed and supplied with a complete outfit. In addition there is a fully equipped surgery, staffed day and night.
    Mr. Macdonald: Is the Minister aware that the workers of this factory are under the suspicion that the provision made is inadequate to meet an emergency, and will he take steps to make known to the workers of the factory that the shelter provision is adequate to meet an emergency?
    Mr. Burgin: Yes, Sir. I am very sorry there is any such opinion. I will cause the facts in the answer to be known in the factory and do what I can to allay that unjustifiable thought.
    Mr. Macdonaldasked the Minister of Supply whether he will state the number of women employed on night work at a factory in the North-West of England, the name of which has been

    1351
    communicated to him; the nature of the work they are doing; the rate of wages they receive; and the number of hours they are employed each night?
    Mr. Burgin: It would not be in the public interest to publish the information asked for in the first two parts of the hon. Member's Question. As regards the third and fourth parts, the night shift is one of 10 hours and the earnings of the majority of the women concerned are at present 56s. a week.
    Mr. Macdonald: Can the Minister say why thousands of women are employed at this factory on a night shift in an area where there are thousands of unemployed and able-bodied men? Can it be that the question of wages is the reason for the women's employment?
    Mr. Burgin: No, Sir, the wages have been fixed in agreement with the trade unions and all the employment conditions in regard to this factory. This particular type of work is one for which women munition workers have before been prominently recruited. I think the hon. Member is in excess in mentioning the number employed, but I do not want to give any figure, of course, which will indicate the size of the factory.
    Viscountess Astor: Does not the Minister think that in the long run, if he has such long hours for women, and, indeed, even for men, that production will fall? Would it not be better to have an eight-hour production system?
    Mr. Burgin: I am always willing to consider what is the best shift for an appropriate production output. I have been advised that 10 hours is an agreed period, but I will make inquiries.

  FOOD SUPPLIES.

    RATIONING (RAILWAYMEN).
    Mr. Dobbieasked the Minister of Food whether, having regard to the proposal to extend food rationing, and the difficulties experienced by railwaymen who have to lodge away from home alternate days owing to being employed on double-home shifts of duty, he will make special provision to meet the circumstances?
    The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. W. S. Morrison): I do not
    1352
    consider that the circumstances referred to call for special provision under the present rationing scheme, but I will look further into the matter.

    SEASONAL RESORTS JMEAT SUPPLIES).
    Mr. R. Robinsonasked the Minister of Food what provision will be made for restaurants in seasonal resorts under the proposal that henceforward they are to be rationed to 60 per cent. of the quantity of meat which they have purchased on the average during the four weeks commencing 1st January, 1940; and whether he can give an assurance that adequate arrangements will be made for such restaurants?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: Under the arrangements for allocating supplies of meat for catering establishments provision will be made for meeting seasonal demands for meat by caterers, particularly in such towns where the seasonal demand is subject to marked fluctuations.
    Mr. T. Williams: When making arrangements for the seaside resorts will the Minister always bear in mind that there are millions of working-class families who will not be getting as much meat as they require?
    Mr. Morrison: My answer is general and refers to all catering establishments.
    Mr. Charles Williams: Will he bear in mind that there are millions of working-class families who go to seaside places for their holiday?

    ANIMAL FEEDING-STUFFS.
    Mr. De la Bèreasked the Minister of Food whether, in regard to wheat offals produced from the milling of flour from wheat at the port mills, he will confer with the chairman of the Animal Feeding-Stuffs Board for the purposes of ensuring that these straight-run feeding-stuffs thus produced shall not be allocated only to the large manufacturers, but shall be distributed to the corn merchants and dealers throughout all the provincial areas and counties in the country?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: The matter is at present under investigation.
    Mr. De la Bère: Does my right hon. Friend realise that this is a matter of the utmost importance? Does he further realise that one central and vital fact remains that equitable distribution is not

    1353
    taking place, and will he make inquiries as to what is taking place at the port mills as a result of processing wheat and why the wheat offals are not equitably distributed?
    Mr. Morrison: I do realise the importance of this matter and that is why it is under investigation.
    Mr. De la Bère: It can be done in 24 hours.
    Sir F. Sanderson: My hon. Friend who asked the Question is quite incorrect when he states that the offals are used—
    Mr. Speaker: We cannot debate the Question.
    Mr. Jacksonthe Minister of Food whether he is aware that corn merchants and farmers co-operative associations in Breconshire and Radnorshire are still unable to obtain any supplies of barley or maize whatsoever; and, in view of the fact that 66⅔ per cent. of these feeding-stuffs are now available for distribution, will he take steps to ensure immediate supplies to these counties?
    Lieut.-Colonel Acland-Troyteasked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that there is little, if any, improvement in the supply of animal feeding-stuffs in the County of Devon; what action he proposes to take with regard to this matter, and when it may be expected that the supply will reach two-thirds of the normal as promised by him?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: The improvement in the supply of feeding-stuffs in these areas has been retarded by shipping delays and internal transport difficulties due to the bad weather. Increased supplies have recently been made available and there will be a considerable improvement in the position as soon as the increased supplies reach the farmers through the usual channels of distribution. Though everything possible will be done to improve the position I am not able to add to my statement in the House on 25th January as to the percentage of normal supply which is likely to be available at ports in the immediate future and would add that the claims of dairy and beef cattle must continue to be preferred to those of pigs and poultry.
    Colonel Burton: Is it not possible for my right hon. Friend to take this matter
    1354
    up, as in Suffolk we are absolutely without food for our pigs and poultry, and we are having to slaughter them?
    Mr. Morrison: I am aware there have been difficulties in the distribution of feeding-stuffs recently. If my hon. and gallant Friend will communicate his special difficulty to me, I will do what I can to meet it.
    Viscountess Astor: Is not my right hon. Friend aware that it is a national scandal?
    Mr. Ridleyasked the Minister of Food whether he has considered the communications from Mr. F. Strawson, of Market Rasen, regarding the serious shortage of feeding-stuffs and the consequent death of a large number of his livestock; and whether he has any statement to make?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: Yes, Sir. The difficulties of the farmer in question seem to have been due in part to the fact that the number of his livestock has been considerably increased as compared with last year and that he was unable to use the normal supplies of feeding-stuffs on his farm owing to the heavy snowfall and the severe frosts. When my Department heard of this case, the farmer's suppliers were communicated with and a certain quantity of feeding-stuffs has been sent to him.
    Mr. Ridley: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Press publicity given to this case has caused deep anxiety over wide agricultural areas, and will he state what steps are being taken to give farmers more confidence in this matter?
    Mr. Morrison: I am not responsible for everything that appears in the newspapers, but as soon as this case came to our notice we did what we could to help this man.

    BREAD PRICES.
    Mr. De la Bèreasked the Minister of Food whether he will have an inquiry made to obtain some explanation as to the variation in charges made by bakers in the price of the 4-lb. loaf, since, as a result of the war, there is only one class of flour available and only one price for that flour delivered to all points in the United Kingdom?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: There have always been variations in the costs of production

    1355
    and distribution in the baking trade and these still remain although the price of flour is uniform. Attention is being given to this question as part of the investigation into bread prices now being conducted by my Department.
    Mr. De la Bère: Does my right hon. Friend realise that we shall never get this matter right until a public inquiry is held, and that it is in the public interest that the manoeuvres of the milling combine should cease?
    Sir Irving Albery: In view of the constant allegations which are made in the House against the milling combine, does not my right hon. Friend think it is due to the combine and to the public that such an inquiry should be made?
    Mr. Morrison: I am aware that my hon. Friend has from time to time mentioned the milling combine, but hitherto the allegations have been of a general character and I do not think such an investigation as is called for is necessary.
    Mr. De la Bère: Is it not vitally necessary this should be done?

    RATIONING (MERCANTILE MARINE).
    Vice-Admiral Taylorasked the Minister of Food whether the officers and men of the Mercantile Marine are allowed extra rations when on leave, in the same way as these extra rations are allowed to the officers and men of the Navy, Army and Air Force?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: Officers and men of the merchant navy are allowed the full rations prescribed under the Merchant Shipping Act when they are on service. As the rations supplied to adult civilians are adequate I do not think it is necessary to prescribe an additional ration for seamen when they are on leave in this country or between voyages.
    Vice-Admiral Taylor: Are not the officers and men of the other Services given extra rations while on leave?
    Mr. Morrison: Yes, that is so. It is a condition of service of a man in the fighting Services that he should be entitled to his scale of rations, no matter where he is stationed.
    Vice-Admiral Taylor: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the conditions of service of the men in the Mercantile Marine are just as arduous and strenuous as those in the fighting Services, and if the officers and men in the Navy, Army and Air Force are entitled to extra rations when on leave, are not men of the Mercantile Marine also entitled to them?
    Mr. Morrison: I am grateful for the service of the Mercantile Marine and when the men are on service they get a special scale which is in excess of the ordinary adult ration. The position hitherto adopted is that as they are not members of the fighting Services they do not get the same ration at home as they do on service. My mind, however, is not closed in the matter.
    Vice-Admiral Taylor: In view of the fact that the men in the Mercantile Marine are very much in the fighting Services in this war, will my right hon. Friend give this matter his sympathetic consideration?
    Mr. Morrison: There is no lack of sympathy and appreciation for this important service.
    Viscountess Astor: Ought not that to have been thought of before?

    ALLOTMENTS AND GARDENS (SURPLUS PRODUCE).
    Mr. Wilfrid Robertsasked the Minister of Food why local food committees are being instructed to refuse allotment-holders and garden-owners licences to sell retail surplus fruit and vegetables, seeing that such refusal is likely to prevent an increase in the production of fruit and vegetables in gardens and on allotments?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: Food Control Committees have not been instructed to refuse licences to the persons mentioned in the Question. On the contrary their attention has been particularly drawn to the Government's campaign for the increased production of fruit and vegetables and to the importance of avoiding action which would impede it.

    FLOUR.
    Mr. Whiteasked the Minister of Food why the appropriate credit charge in

    1357
    respect of flour sold to the Army by controlled millers is as high as 7½ per cent.?
    Mr. W. S. Morrison: The basic price of flour under the Flour (Prices) (No. 1) Order, 1939, assumes payment of the price not later than 28 days after delivery. The Flour (Prices) Order requires millers to allow the customary trade discount where payment is made before the expiration of 28 days and to add the customary amount to the price where payment is made by the buyer after 28 days. The charge of 7½ per cent. referred to in the Question represents the charge for six months' credit which is a very abnormal period. I am looking further into the matter.
    Mr. White: What insuperable difficulty is there against this matter being dealt with more promptly?
    Mr. Morrison: I am looking into it to see whether action can be expedited.
    Mr. De la Bère: Is not this another example of the milling combine.

    Division No. 24.]

    AYES.

    [4.5 p.m.

    Acland-Troyte, Lt.-Col. G. J.

    Croft, Brig.-Gen. Sir H. Page

    Harvey, T. E. (Eng. Univ's.)

    Albery, Sir Irving

    Crookshank, Capt. Rt. Hon. H. F. C.

    Haslam, H. C. (Horncastle)

    Alexander, Brig.-Gen. Sir W.

    Culverwell, C. T.

    Heilgers, Captain F. F. A.

    Allen, Lt.-Col. Sir W. J. (Armagh)

    Davidson, Viscountess

    Heneage, Lieut.-Colonel A. P.

    Apsley, Lord

    Davies, Major Sir G. F. (Yeovil)

    Hepburn, P. G. T. Buchan-

    Assheton, R.

    Davison, Sir W. H.

    Hepworth, J.

    Astor, Viscountess (Plymouth, Sutton)

    De Chair, S. S.

    Higgs, W. F.

    Balfour, Capt. H. H. (Isle of Thanet)

    De la Bere, R.

    Hoare, Rt. Hon. Sir S.

    Beamish, Rear-Admiral T. P. H.

    Denman, Hon. R. D.

    Hore-Belisha, Rt. Hon. L.

    Beauchamp, Sir B. C.

    Denville, Alfred

    Horsbrugh, Florence

    Bennett, Sir E. N.

    Doland, G. F.

    Howitt, Dr. A. B.

    Bird, Sir R. B.

    Duncan, Rt. Hon. Sir A. R.

    Hudson, Rt. Hon. R. S. (Southport)

    Blair, Sir R.

    Duncan, J. A. L. (Kensington, N.)

    Hume, Sir G. H.

    Boulton, W. W.

    Dunglass, Lord

    Hunter, T.

    Bower, Comdr. R. T.

    Eckersley, P. T.

    Hutchinson, G. C.

    Braithwaite, Major A. N. (Buckrose)

    Edmondson, Major Sir J.

    Jarvis, Sir J. J.

    Briscoe, Capt. R. G.

    Elliot, Rt. Hon. W. E.

    Jennings, R.

    Brooklebank, Sir Edmund

    Elliston, Capt. G. S.

    Joel, D. J. B.

    Brown. Brig.-Gen. H. C. (Newbury)

    Emery, J. F.

    Jones, L. (Swansea W.)

    Bull, B. B.

    Emrys-Evans, P. V.

    Keeling, E. H.

    Burgin, Rt. Hon. E. L.

    Entwistle, Sir C. F.

    Kerr, Sir John Graham (Sco'sh Univs.)

    Burton, Col. H. W.

    Erskine-Hill, A. G.

    Keyes, Admiral of the Fleet Sir R.

    Butcher, H. W.

    Everard, Sir William Lindsay

    Kimball, L.

    Butler, Rt. Hon. R. A.

    Fildes, Sir H.

    King-Hall, Commander W. S. R.

    Campbell, Sir E. T.

    Findlay, Sir E.

    Knox, Major-General Sir A. W. F.

    Carver, Major W. H.

    Fox, Sir G. W. G.

    Lamb, Sir J. Q.

    Cary, R. A.

    Fremantle, Sir F. E.

    Lambert, Rt. Hon. G.

    Cazalet, Thelma (Islington, E.)

    George, Major G. Lloyd (Pembroke)

    Lancaster, Lieut.-Colonel C. G.

    Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. N. (Edgb't'n)

    Gilmour, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir J.

    Latham, Sir P.

    Channon, H.

    Gledhill, G.

    Law, R. K. (Hull, S.W.)

    Chapman, Sir S. (Edinburgh, S.)

    Granville, E. L.

    Leech, Sir J. W.

    Christie, J. A.

    Greene, W. P. C. (Worcester)

    Leighton, Major B. E. P.

    Clarry, Sir Reginald

    Gridley, Sir A. B.

    Levy, T.

    Cobb, Captain E. C. (Preston)

    Grigg, Sir E. W. M.

    Liddall, W. S.

    Colfox, Major Sir W P.

    Gritten, W. G. Howard

    Lipson, D. L.

    Colville, Rt. Hon. John

    Gunston, Capt. Sir D. W.

    Little, Dr. J. (Down)

    Cook, Sir T. R. A. M. (Norfolk, N.)

    Hacking, Rt. Hon. Sir D. H.

    Lloyd, G. W.

    Cooke, J. D. (Hammersmith, S.)

    Hambro, A. V.

    Locker-Lampson, Comdr. O. S.

    Cooke, Rt. Hn. T. M. (E'nburgh, W.)

    Hannon, Sir P. J. H.

    Loftus, P. C.

    Courthope, Col. Rt. Hon. Sir G. L.

    Harbord, Sir A.

    Lucas, Major Sir J. M.

    Critchley, A.

    Harland, H. P.

    Lyons, A. M.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
Mr. Greenwood: Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury inform the House of the order of business to be taken to-morrow?
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Captain Margesson): As already announced, we propose to-morrow to take the Committee stage of outstanding Supplementary Estimates, beginning with India and Burma Services; Ministry of Labour and National Service; Dominions Office; Colonial and Middle Eastern Services; etc. We also desire to obtain the Report and Third Reading of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Bill and, if there is time, the Committee and remaining stages of the Rating and Valuation Bill.
Motion made, and Question put,
"That the Proceedings in Committee on Old Age and Widows' Pensions [Money] be exempted, at this day's Sitting, from the provisions of the Standing Order (Sittings of the House).—[The Prime Minister.]
The House divided: Ayes, 230; Noes, 116.

MacAndrew, Colonel Sir C. G.

Radford, E. A.

Stewart, William J. (Belfast, S.)

McCorquodale, M. S.

Raikes, H. V. A. M.

Storey, S.

McEwen, Capt. J. H. F.

Ramsbotham, Rt. Hon. H.

Strauss, H. G. (Norwich)

McKie, J. H.

Rathbone, Eleanor (English Univ's.)

Stuart, Rt. Hon. J. (Moray and Nairn)

Magnay, T.

Rathbone, J. R. (Bodmin)

Sueter, Rear-Admiral Sir M. F.

Maitland, Sir Adam

Rawson, Sir Cooper

Sutcliffe, H.

Makins, Brigadier-General Sir Ernest

Read, Sir H. S. (Aylesbury)

Taskar, Sir R. I.

Manningham-Buller, Sir M.

Reith, Rt. Hon. Sir J. C. W.

Tate, Mavis C.

Margesson, Capt. Rt. Hon. H. D. R.

Rickards, G. W. (Skipton)

Taylor, Vice-Adm. E. A. (Padd., S.)

Mayhew, Lt.-Col. J.

Robertson, D.

Titchfield, Marquess of

Medlicott, Captain F.

Robinson, J. R. (Blackpool)

Train, Sir J.

Meller, Sir R. J. (Mitcham)

Ross Taylor, W. (Woodbridge)

True, A. R. L. F.

Mellor, Sir J. S. P. (Tamworth)

Rowlands, G.

Tryon, Major Rt. Hon. G. C.

Mills, Sir F. (Leyton, E.)

Royds, Admiral Sir P. M. R.

Tufnell, Lieut.-Commander R. L.

Mills, Major J. D. (New Forest)

Ruggles-Brise, Colonel Sir E. A.

Wakefield, W. W.

Mitchell, Col. H. (Brentf'd & Chisw'k)

Russell, Sir Alexander

Wallace, Capt. Rt. Hon. Euan

Moore, Lieut.-Colonel Sir T. C. R.

Salmon, Sir I.

Ward, Lieut.-Col. Sir A. L. (Hull)

Moore-Brabazon, Lt.-Col. J. T. C.

Salt, E. W.

Ward, Irene M. B. (Wallsend)

Morgan, R. H. (Worcester, Stourbridge)

Salter, Sir J. Arthur (Oxford U.)

Wardlaw-Milne, Sir J. S.

Morris, J. P. (Salford, N.)

Samuel, M. R. A.

Warrender, Sir V.

Morris-Jones, Sir Henry

Sandeman, Sir N. S.

Waterhouse, Captain C.

Morrison, G. A. (Scottish Univ's.)

Sanderson, Sir F. B.

Watt, Lt.-Col. G. S. Harvie

Morrison, Rt. Hon W. S. (Cirencester)

Schuster, Sir G. E.

Wayland, Sir W. A.

Nall, Sir J.

Selley, H. R.

Webbe, Sir W. Harold

Neven-Spence, Major B. H. H.

Shakespeare, G. H.

Wells, Sir Sydney

Nicholson, G. (Farnham)

Shaw, Major P. S. (Wavertree)

White, Sir Dymoke (Fareham)

O'Connor, Sir Terence J.

Shaw, Captain W. T. (Forfar)

Wickham, Lt.-Col. E. T. R.

O'Neill, Rt. Hon. Sir Hugh

Shepperson, Sir E. W.

Williams, C. (Torquay)

Orr-Ewing, I. L.

Shute, Colonel Sir J. J.

Wilson, Sir Arnold (Hitchin)

Palmar, G. E. H.

Simon, Rt. Hon. Sir J. A.

Windsor-Clive, Lieut.-Colonel G.

Peake, O.

Smiles, Lieut.-Colonel Sir W. D.

Womersley, Sir W. J.

Peters, Dr. S. J.

Smith, Bracewell (Dulwich)

Wright, Wing Commander J. A. C.

Pickthorn, K. W. M.

Somervell, Rt. Hon. Sir Donald

Young, A. S. L. (Partick)

Plugge, Capt. L. F.

Somerville, Sir A. A. (Windsor)

Ponsonby, Col. C. E.

Spens, W. P.

TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—

Porritt, R. W.

Stanley, Rt. Hon. Oliver (W'm'l'd)

Lieut.-Colonel Kerr and Mr. Munro.

Pym, L. R.

Stewart, J. Henderson (Fife, E.)

MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS.
That they have passed a Bill, intituled, "An Act to provide for establishing a board to perform certain services for the benefit of the cotton industry and certain other functions, for the making of payments by cotton spinners to meet the expenses of the board and to provide their contribution to the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid."[Cotton Industry Bill [Lords.]
And also a Bill, intituled, "An Act to provide for extensions of time in relation to the discharge of duties imposed, or the exercise of powers conferred, by statutory provisions of a local or private nature, and in relation to the exercise of powers to purchase, or powers of re-entry exercisable in relation to, public utility undertakings."[Special Enactments (Extension of Time) Bill [Lords.]

COTTON INDUSTRY BILL [Lords].
Read the First time; to be read a Second time upon Monday next, and to be printed. [Bill 22.]
SPECIAL ENACTMENTS (EXTENSION OF TIME) BILL [Lords].
Read the First time; to be read a Second time upon Monday next, and to be printed. [Bill 23.]
ARMY (SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES, 1939).
Estimate presented of the further numbers required to be voted for the Army for the year ending 31st March, 1940 [by Command]; referred to the Committee of Supply, and to be printed. [No. 69.]
ORDERS OF THE DAY.

  OLD AGE AND WIDOWS' PENSIONS BILL.
  Order read for resuming Adjourned Debate on Amendment to Question [20th February], "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
  Which Amendment was, to leave out from the word "That," to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:
  "this House notes with approval that in response to public pressure His Majesty's Government have at last agreed to lower the pensionable age for a certain number of women, but regrets their refusal to recognise the urgent necessity for a flat increase to all old age pensioners who have retired from work, and strongly condemns the proposal for supplementary pensions based upon a household means test which is repugnant to the pensions system, odious in its administration, and will leave an unjustifiable burden upon selected households."—[Mr. George Hall.]
  Question again proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
  4.14 p.m.
  Mr. Lawson: In opening the Debate yesterday, the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health said that we all shared a certain exhilaration because this Legislature has not been wholly diverted from its old tasks of legislation even by the war. The Secretary of State for Scotland emphasised that point. That, of course, is a tribute not so much to the Government as to public opinion in this country and to the campaign which the Opposition have carried on with regard to this question of old age pensions. We of the Opposition in common with representatives of public opinion outside who have been enthusiastic in dealing with this question of old age pensions are conscious of the fact that we owe free public assembly in the country and in this House and the right of free speech to brave men who are patrolling the skies and the seas, and that our freedom to exercise our rights is well defended by them. While they defend this freedom we can assure those in the Forces and the public that we will exercise that freedom in order to defend the standards of the people's life. I say that because I thought that in one or two speeches from the Government benches last night there was a certain tenderness and fear that
  1394
  what we said in criticism in this House would be broadcast by an enemy nation. We of the Opposition and I think people generally in the country care not what they broadcast. We are indifferent to it. We shall exercise our rights with all the greater virility because of the knowledge that the enemy dare not allow such freedom to their own people, and it may be that broadcasting of criticism will do good to the German people.
  My hon. Friends on this side of the House have welcomed Part I of the Bill mainly because it decreases the age at which women may receive pensions from 65 to 60. That, of course, is an improvement long overdue. This question of age has created a good deal of bitterness. Sometimes a woman may be 66 or 67 years of age and her husband 63 or 64, and there would be no pension for either. Sometimes the husband may be 65 and the wife 63 or64. An old friend of mine came to see me on this matter about 12 months ago, and he was rather bitter but at the same time humorous and waggish about it He said that he had had to stop work. When Ministers are arguing on the question of men leaving work by compulsion if a really good pension is created, they might remember the fact that in the great bulk of the industries in past years men have had to stop work at 65 whether they liked it or not. This man was in this position. His wife was only 63, but he had a friend who was 63 and whose wife was 66. He asked me if I thought the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have any objection if they swopped wives. That was only a humorous way of putting what was a very great grievance on the part of these people. This is a very real improvement for which we of the Opposition as well as public opinion outside can claim a good deal of credit. While my hon. Friends have analysed the Bill and have made their criticisms, we accept Part I as a tribute to that long battle which has been waged in this House and in this country.
  I now wish to deal in the main with Part II. It is proposed that a means test shall now be applied to the old age pensioner. I do not know whether hon. Members opposite think that the speeches of Ministers yesterday represented the public's attitude to this question of the means test. This application of the means test cannot, be separated from the fact that

  1395
  the means test has already been applied to the unemployed. The intention now is to apply it to workmen's compensation. It is already being applied to soldiers' dependants, and it appears not merely that the Government have decided to deal with this matter because of the war situation, but that the Tories have definitely adoted the principle of the means test in its application to working-class life. First it was adopted with regard to the unemployed, and now it is to be applied to old age pensioners. Now there is the promise that the same principle is to be applied to the men broken in industry and their dependants as it has already been applied to the dependants of soldiers. Where humble people are concerned, according to the Government this means test is a good, just, and equitable principle. But the means test must stop. When railway shareholders are destitute, there is no means test. Incidentally, when I saw the benches opposite full last week when the railway agreement was being dealt with, I wished that some of these City and financial interests could be linked to the interests of the old people in this country. Of course, the means test must not be applied to railway shareholders, to farmers, shipowners, and armament kings. It is shocking to suggest that the means test should be applied to them.
  I have often been told—and we have heard very often in this House—that the writer of the well-known novel dealing with the two nations, the founder of what was in his time called the New Toryism, said that Toryism is different now from what it used to be. For that purpose, of course, I label the Chancellor as a Tory, but if there is one thing which is certain it is that when you are dealing with these matters there are two nations. There is one law for the wealthy, and there is another for the poor. In these last few weeks a calm announcement has been made concerning the application of this principle. In the light of the present circumstances I have been amazed, but step by step I have been forced to the conclusion that the saying of the old writer in Proverbs is as true to-day as it was in his day:
  "The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the destruction of the poor is their poverty."
  Here is an insurance scheme including the industrial workers of the nation. Every-
  1396
  body in certain conditions must be insured. I remember in 1925 when the Contributory Insurance Bill was introduced how thrift, self-sufficiency and independence of the British workman were eulogised, but now there is to be grafted on to this scheme a principle which has caused very real ill-feeling in reference to unemployment. Nobody should be under any illusion; do not let the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health or any officer be under any illusion. There is very strong and bitter feeling among the working classes with respect to the application of the means test in regard to unemployment and there are good grounds for that feeling. If there is any doubt about it, I have with me two letters out of a bundle of letters which I have received. Here is a letter from the secretary of one of the northern branches of the National Old Age Pensioners' Union:
  "The following resolution was passed unanimously by this branch: 'This meeting condemns the Government's proposals to pay supplementary pensions through the U.A.B. and demands that an all-round flat rate increase should be given to old age pensioners. We also strongly condemn the Government's policy in trying to introduce a means test for a benefit which we have already paid for by our contributions to the pensions fund during our working days and we call upon all Members of Parliament who have the interests of the workers at heart to oppose the Government's mean attempt to humiliate the aged worker.' "
  That is only a slight sample of the feeling that exists on this matter. It arises from the actual administration of the regulations, and from the investigation that takes place under the Unemployment Act.
  The right hon. Gentleman said that the administration of the Unemployment Assistance Board was generous. I challenge that. It is true that here and there a man gets special consideration, because of discretion; but for one who gets that special consideration—which is probably window-dressing more than anything else—there are scores who are refused anything at all, although their conditions are, to say the least, lamentable. I do not know how many Members have read a very fine book which was published quite recently, written, I understand, by a young Welshman. The book is called, "How Green was my Valley. "If I may say so, as a layman, it is written in perhaps the best English that has been written in this country for a long time;

  1397
  but its charm consists in the description it gives of a mining family. Those who have read it will probably have been amazed at the warm bond of fellowship there is in that family. Now, one finds conditions not quite so good as those described in the book, but it is well known that in the great industrial areas, which have been hit by this means test, there are families whose members are bound together by this fine bond. But there was no means test in the time about which the author writes.
  If hon. Members could see this means test, working like an acid, dissolving families, breaking them up, they would never suggest that that principle should be applied to old age pensions. I have described before how you may get a man of middle age, in the prime of his skill and strength, whose family have grown up around him, and whose boys almost adore him because of his strength and skill at his craft. The father and sons, perhaps, work together in the workshop. Then the father gets his notice. Everyone knows that that is quite a common thing now; apart from the circumstances created by the war, we have no use for the middle-aged man. This man is unemployed. He feels that, whereas before his sons admired him and he had their affection, now he is nobody. The boys try to put it right, but they cannot. The man wants to stand on his own legs, as he has always done. There is a spirit, in spite of all their efforts, which permeates their home, and breaks up the home. The father wants to stand on his own legs and to feel that he is keeping himself. Unless the sons leave home, he can get nothing; so they leave home. When a boy goes away in such circumstances, the Unemployment Assistance Board call it collusion; we call it tragedy. Even when the boys do go away, there is often nothing for the father, because of the conditions that prevail. On the other hand, consider the case of a young fellow who is unemployed, and who leaves home. How is the Unemployment Assistance Board's representative going to deal with a situation like this? A young fellow came to see me the other day, and said, "I have been unemployed. I am registered for the Army. I cannot let my father keep me, so I have left home." There was nothing else for him to do. The employers say, "There
  1398
  is no work for you; we do not want anybody who is registered for the Army."
  This means test has caused great bitterness among the mass of the people. Now it is to be applied to old age pensions. There is no doubt that the principle breaks up homes. When, at the age of nearly 20, I used to speak from orange-boxes in various parts of the country, it was a recognised Conservative claim that our Socialism was going to break up the home. It is strange that a Tory Government should be responsible for a system which breaks up the home, as this does. If anyone doubts that it does have that effect, let him get the last report of the Unemployment Assistance Board. They state the fact, and they give the numbers; but, of course, they say, "It is collusion." But it does not happen because the people want it to happen; it is the result of the spirit created by this vicious principle.
  It is a fact that thrift is penalised by the Bill. The hon. Member for East Birkenhead (Mr. White) drew attention yesterday to the fact that among those who would be punished were those who had had regard to superannuation. Many of us know the work of clubs for this purpose. I have in mind an outstanding instance of social thrift. I do not think anyone who knows about it would, for a moment, wish to penalise such a movement. I refer to the aged miners' homes movement of my own county. So striking have been its results that Royal visitors and Ministers have gone to see it. Indeed, there is now a Bill on the Statute Book which is based on the achievements of that organisation. Beautiful homes are built, not out of charity, but out of the workers' pennies, by regular contributions. They live rent free; they get their coal; sometimes the workmen give them a few shillings a week. Mark you, this is not charity; the people who live in the homes have paid their contributions, and they are there by right. They are surrounded by all the love of the village. Indeed, if the freedom of a city, or the freedom of a village, ever meant anything at all, it is a very real thing to those old people. What is to happen to those people? When the investigating officer goes, he finds that they have no rent to pay, that their coal is free, that they have a little garden, and that they get a small contribution from the miners. The investigator will zealously put all those facts

  1399
  down. Will old people of that kind get pensions? They are the type to whom you are to apply the means test.
  I believe I have seen in my time a continual increase in kindliness in the hearts of the people of this country, irrespective of sections or classes. But it is not what we feel that matters, so much as what actually happens, so that we look after those who are in need. When you submit people who are thrifty, who have patiently saved and done their best to provide some little shelter for themselves, to these investigations, you punish the most virile elements of this nation. I am old-fashioned enough to believe that the very backbone of a nation are the people who have striven with great courage to provide for themselves in their old age. I remember a very humorous interview I had once with a gentleman when I was in the Army. He became a very good friend to me. He asked me what "lot" I belonged to. I asked him, Did he mean what my family were? I told him that my father had worked in the mine for nearer 60 years than 50, and that if any woman could make a penny go further than my mother, I should like to see her. I would like to see the man who could do a better day's work than my father, and, after 60 years, all that they had been able to do, by being temperate, patient, self-denying, was to scrape together just enough to keep them going. It is people of that kind that the Government are going to punish. There is no exception to an instance of that kind. I am glad to say that it is the common lot of the average British man and woman to have parents of that kind, and yet that vital element in our life is to be discouraged by the knowledge that some person may come along and ask the most insolent questions about their private affairs.
  The right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health said yesterday that we need not fear that kind of thing, because they were going to apply the best possible conditions that prevail in the country and express them in regulations. It is recognised that there are people in different parts of the country who have had to apply for public assistance, and that the public assistance committees have been very generous. But even taking this fact into consideration, how will it work out in the future? I am assured by the authorities in Dur-
  1400
  ham—and I have the information here, if necessary—that they can now make up the amount to the old people to 35s. a week for the two of them, but under the regulations of the Unemployment Assistance Board they cannot get more than 30s. If you gave these people the preference of being subjected to the Unemployment Assistance Board or the public assistance committee, I imagine that they would choose the public assistance committee rather than the Unemployment Assistance Board. Give the local authorities the choice of agreeing to an all-round increase of pensions, or of leaving them with some financial responsibility, and they will choose the giving of an increase of pension. The Secretary of State for Scotland said yesterday that there was to be a reduction of rates, and that the local authorities were to be relieved of a great weight. He even mentioned a certain number of towns where the rates would be reduced. Who told him that?
  The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Colville): I ought to have made it plain that we have in Scotland reached a provisional agreement upon this question, and that the figures I gave were the result of that agreement. I do not think that in England and Wales negotiations have advanced quire as far.
  Mr. McLean Watson: What does the right hon. Gentleman mean by a provisional agreement? We had a meeting with the representatives of local authorities of Scotland this morning, and we asked specifically whether any agreement had been reached, and we were, assured that nothing but preliminary discussions had taken place between the local authorities of Scotland and the Secretary of State.
  Mr. Colville: The agreement which we have reached in Scotland, we understand, will be the basis to be followed in these adjustments.
  Mr. Sloan: Will the right hon. Gentleman say with whom the agreement has been made?
  Mr. Colville: With the representatives of the local authorities.
  Mr. Lawson: I think that the point I have made has been emphasised by the interruptions. Everybody knows that the block grant is a kind of game of financial chess and that very few people can play it. I would remind the right hon. Gentle-

  1401
  man that only one can win. When the various factors are weighed in the balance, the local authority as a rule is not quite sure whether it has lost or gained. In the light of experience, estimates of a reduction of so much in rates as the result of a block grant have no value at all. I think that the figures of the Secretary of State were for Press consumption.
  Mr. Colville: No.
  Mr. Lawson: It struck me that the right hon. Gentleman was rather keen to get them out, and I would be very much interested to know how much the local authorities will be improved as the result of what is called the benefits they are to gain from this proposal. There is one thing that is quite certain, and it emerges quite plainly. Those who are afflicted and need consideration will, instead of receiving consideration from the elected representatives, who are their neighbours, now, more and more, become subject to the consideration of the representatives of the Unemployment Assistance Board. The machine is taking the place of men. It is the introduction of a kind of national Poor Law board, which will take away the personal touch of the elected authority. Whitehall is undermining local authorities. It is substituting regulations for the personal care of elected representatives, who are the neighbours of these old people. If this sort of thing is to continue, we shall be well on the way to becoming a regimented nation instead of a neighbourly nation. Will the hon. Lady who is to reply tell us what kind of regulations are to be imposed? The Minister yesterday made a general statement that we are to have regulations to give the best conditions possible, as applied by the best authorities in the country. That statement was rather vague. Is he going to bring the Glamorgan, the Durham and the London conditions together and make conditions general throughout the country? Are we to have a kind of regional regulations?
  I want to put another question to the hon. Lady. I understand that it is to be the household means test, and that relatives will be excluded. Take the case of a soldier whose mother is receiving an old age pension of 10s. I know of a case of this kind. She receives from her son, who has a stripe, 10s. 6d. He is serving at the front. That mother
  1402
  receives altogether 20s. 6d. Is that soldier to be regarded as a relative or as a member of the household? That is very important, because it will affect a great number of people in one way or another. I believe that for Unemployment Assistance Board purposes such a soldier would be excluded, and if, in this connection, he is excluded, it will mean that many soldiers will be excluded. I hope that that is so, but I should like an answer to the question.
  I want to conclude on this note. The Government can take it that we shall fight this Bill every inch of the way. We shall use all the resources at our disposal to fight the attempt to graft the means test on to the Old Age Pensions Act. We shall use all our power, in this House and out of it, to prevent this attempt to substitute charity for right. Over 2,000 men and boys are killed in industry every year, and hundreds of thousands are injured. Those who are fortunate to avoid death or injury go patiently backwards and forwards from their homes to their work day after day, earning their living, and serving the State. They and their wives are serving this nation just as really as men who are in the Defence Forces, for without them there would be no Defence Forces. We who come from such homes will not silently stand by while their pension, which ought to be sufficient to keep them in their old age, is subjected to this sort of thing which has caused so much evil already in the homes of the great mass of the people. We will, as I have said, fight this Bill every inch of the way, because we claim that the veterans of industry ought as a right to receive a pension that will keep them in decency and in comfort when their day's work is done. Members of this House can take it that the fight began yesterday, and that there is to be no black-out here to-night as far as Members are concerned. There is certainly going to be no black-out of the old people's cause, for, in so far as we can, by word of mouth and by argument, we shall express the loathing of the great mass of the people at the application of this principle to them.
  4.50 p.m.
  The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Miss Horsbrugh): As I listened to the hon. Gentleman the Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Lawson), I was glad that he had started

  1403
  on the same note upon which my right hon. Friend started his speech yesterday, by reminding us that, even in this time of war, when there is much expenditure, not only of money and of lives, but of initiative and energy, and when all that the people of this country can give is being given to the war effort, we are able in the House to consider one of our greatest social services, our service for the old people. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman went further. He reminded us, both at the beginning of his speech and at the end, of the work that is being done for the defence of the country by the airmen, the soldiers, the men who sail the sea, and, he also pointed out, by those who are working to provide the means of defence. I think it is well that we should bear those facts in mind, because over and over again in the Debate one is almost led to forget in what circumstances we have brought forward this Bill. We are almost led to leave out of our calculations how much each one of us honestly thinks can be done at this time. Hon. Members have congratulated us on this side that we have at any rate been able to take a step forward.
  We have produced a Bill some parts of which at any rate are approved by everyone in the House. As I stand here to take part in a Debate at this Box for the first time, I am supported—[An Hon. Member: "Not much support."] The support is very great for me. [Interruption.] I am not talking about the benches. I will tell hon. Members where the support is. I know there is support for this Measure in the country, and particularly among the women in the constituency which my hon. Friend and I represent, and it is, I think, fortunate for me that I am speaking on a Bill concerning particularly women's interests. In Dundee there is a larger proportion of women workers than anywhere else, with one exception. I find in the 1931 Census that 55 per cent. of the women in Dundee are what is called gainfully occupied. I believe the figure for Blackburn is 60 per cent. That is above the 32 per cent. for the country as a whole. In Dundee the figure of women compared with men is 75 per cent., and we are beaten only by Blackburn with 80 per cent. The support that I feel for the Bill is in the fact that I realise that women in industry are going to be better off in many ways by its passing and that
  1404
  it is going to lift from the minds of many the great, ever-present anxiety that they feel. I know among those whom I may call my personal friends the anxiety of those years before they reach the pension. That anxiety is to a great extent being allayed.
  The hon. Gentleman who spoke last talked at times, it seemed to me, as if he was almost leading people to believe that the present 10s. pension was in some way to be connected with the means test. I know he did not mean to put that idea forward. We all in this House know the scheme, but I think anyone reading what he has said would be led to believe that any old person receiving the 10s. in future would be undergoing a means test. We know that that is not the case but, if someone who is out of industry with no wages and no personal resources applies for more than the pension he has under the contributory scheme, a test of need is taken. The hon. Gentleman gave us a very vivid description of a home that he knew which, with the help of the aged people's own contributions and that of other people has been built and equipped, and the old people are living there and the rent is paid. He said that by this scheme we were definitely making the case of those people worse and were punishing them. I cannot see that, because I agree so much more with the proposition that he put in the earlier part of his speech, when he told us that the actual feeling of the people of the country is to stand on their own feet if possible. If there is a case of another couple living in a house for which they are paying rent, for which they have no help whatever, is it right to say that they are not to get more than the people in the home that the hon. Gentleman spoke of? That couple may have extra need. They may be more infirm and may have various expenses. Surely it would not be right to say that, because the other person has a certain definite sum, we cannot give this one any more. The hon. Gentleman asked me a definite question about the regulations. The Secretary of State for Scotland pointed out that, if it were found that under the present regulations it was not possible to do what we have set out to do, to bring these people up to the standard of good authorities, if there is not sufficient discretion, further regulations will be laid before the House. The hon. Gentleman asked me if my right

  1405
  hon. Friend included London among the good authorities. My answer to him is in the affirmative.
  We were told by hon. Members opposite that what they objected to in the Bill is that there is to be supplementation and not a flat rate. I want to take this up and see where exactly we part company with them. We were told yesterday that, if the Government had introduced a Bill under which higher contributions would be paid and a flat-rate pension of 15s. given, the party opposite would have supported it. But during the Debate there came out quite clearly the point that we are not going, surely, to say that no poor person having reached the age of 65 can have more than 15s. if he has no resources of his own. We come straight away, surely, to the idea that there must be supplementation of some sort in those cases. I do not for a minute wish to misrepresent hon. Members. I know they do not mean the people of this country to think that they are clapping down a maximum of 15s. as the amount that any old person should receive. It seems to me that, if that is put forward as what would have been acceptable, the next point to decide between us is this. There must be supplementation in some cases. How should we arrange which cases? That seems the argument to which we have to address ourselves.
  If it were possible to give a flat-rate pension of 15s., how are we to give supplementation to people with particular difficulties? There must be difficulties, especially in old age, and some will want more help than others. Some cases need supplementation and there must certainly be some inquiry to find out which cases. Then we come to the question, What authority shall review the supplementation? In practically every Debate on old age pensions which has taken place since I have been in the House in the last eight years hon. Members on all sides have put it forward that the old people do not wish to go to the public assistance committee. We have also been told over and over again that the local authorities want this burden taken away from them. Members in every part of the House have said that there should be a centrally organised fund and it should not be left to the local authority. The local authorities have appealed for it to be taken from them. I could not help thinking that yesterday's Debate was different
  1406
  from all the others that we have had, because some public assistance authorities came in for more credit than they have ever had before. There is a proverb that every dog has his day, and yesterday was the day of the public assistance authority.
  Mr. Messer: Was it not because of the comparison between the public assistance committee and the Unemployment Assistance Board? Had it not been for the transfer to the Unemployment Assistance Board there would have been no question about it.
  Miss Horsbrugh: We have always been told that the old people did not want to go to public assistance. We are all agreed that there must be supplementation. If it is not to be the public assistance committee and not the Unemployment Assistance Board, what other board would be set up to do it?
  Mr. Sloan: It was never suggested that the 15s. flat-rate pension would be satisfactory.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I would like to say to the hon. Gentleman how many of our needs can be satisfied, unfortunately, in war-time? There are a lot of things that have to be done in war-time that do not satisfy us. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton) in his speech last night made it clear that because of war-time and of conditions of which the hon. Gentleman the Member for Chester-le-Street has just reminded us, the 15s, plan would have been acceptable.
  Mr. Arthur Greenwood: I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady but that is not the statement my hon. Friend made. It was a statement to the effect that the Trades Union Congress, over which we have no authority, said they would themselves be prepared to recommend to their constituent bodies the scheme based upon that rate. There was no decision by this party and no intention of committing the trade union movement to the acceptance of scales which might have been recommended by themselves.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I understand the point which the right hon. Gentleman has put forward—that the Trades Union Congress was going to make a recommendation and that his party would not accept. I am willing to take that.
  Mr. Lawson: If the hon. Lady gets yesterday's Official Report she will see, in column 1297, that the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland said:
  "The representatives of the General Council put up suggestions for a flat rate increase and for the conditional retirement from work to accompany that increase; and that they indicated that, if the flat rate increase was reasonably generous—if for example it were to amount to 5s. per week they would be prepared to recommend to the general body of their members that they should pay increased contributions towards the cost, on condition, of course, that the employers should do the like, and that the Government should themselves make a contribution."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; col. 1297, Vol. 357.]
  Miss Horsbrugh: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman did not read quite far enough. Farther down the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland said:
  "They would be prepared on these conditions to bear their share and play their part in financing the flat rate increase provided it were reasonably generous, say, of the magnitude of 5s. a week. The workers, in other words, were willing, but neither of the other two parties were willing."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; col. 1298, Vol. 357.]
  I do not think that the workers would be willing to pay an extra contribution unless they were going to have an extra pension—[Interruption]—but if hon. Members feel that that is not the case perhaps a further explanation will be made from the other side. But I took it from the statement of the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland, and I think I took it fairly. If there is to be supplementation I think the majority of the House will agree that old people should not have to go to the public assistance authority to get that supplementation. The case was well put by the hon. Member for East Fife (Mr. Henderson Stewart),who explained the situation. He said that old people did not want to go on telling their neighbours all the details of their financial situation and, I would add, there has also been the feeling that these people have felt that their need would have to be met out of the pockets of their neighbours, through the rates. We have put the thing on a wider basis, and the burden will be on the country as a whole. I know my hon. Friend who shares with me the representation of Dundee interrupted the hon. Gentleman the Member for East Fife and said he was not correct because there would be neighbours on the Unemployment Assistance
  1408
  Board's advisory committee. I know the hon. Gentleman is generally correct, but in this case he was incorrect, because the function of the advisory committee is to advise on general questions in the area, such as the average rent, etc., and not to deal with inquiry or assessment of individual cases. The advisory committee does, at times, make a special inquiry about a special point, such as opportunities for training, but it does not take on the function of the public assistance committee. There is, however, an extra function which we hope some members of the advisory committee may undertake—helping in welfare work in various parts of the country.
  Mr. S. O. Davies: Is not the local appeal tribunal to function, and apart from the chairman is it not generally made up of people living in the locality?
  Miss Horsbrugh: I quite agree that there will be that appeal, but at the same time I think if we each consider the cases of which we know, we must say that an applicant for supplementation will feel there is more privacy. Not so much will be known by his or her neighbours and the person will not be getting supplementation out of the pockets of neighbours. The payment of supplementary pensions through the Post Office will make them feel that it is not merely assistance they are asking for but a supplementary pension.
  Yesterday it was suggested that there was a regulation which made it necessary for inquiries to be made every month in order to re-assess the applicant. I am told that there is no regulation to this effect. I have made special inquiries. There is no regulation which says that they must re-inquire and re-assess every month. It is now an administrative prac-tice—the applicants are unemployed persons whose circumstances are liable to rapid change—but no regulation would have to be changed to allow a supplementary pension to be given through the Post Office over an extended period. I am sure hon. Members will be relieved that there will not be this monthly re-inquiry and re-assessment for old age pensioners.
  Mr. Ellis Smith: How long will be the extended period?
  Miss Horsbrugh: I think that must depend on circumstances. We want a

  1409
  considerable period but we cannot lay down an actual period because there might be substantial changes that have to be taken into account.
  I have kept the House rather long, but there are two other points on supplementation with which I would like to deal. One was from the hon. Member for Gateshead (Mr. Magnay), who asked "If a woman who is going to get a pension between 60 and 65 is sick, will she be able to get supplementation during the time of sickness or will she have to go on public assistance?" He also said that local authorities were working out schemes of what it would cost if they had to pay for sickness. They need not worry to work out such schemes. Once a woman has got her pension at 60 she can, if in need, get supplementation in time of sickness as well as in health. Perhaps there is somebody in employment who is drawing a pension and becomes sick, thus losing her wages. She is, therefore, quite probably in need and such a case would be met by supplementation.
  Mr. Ness Edwards: Do I take it that the sickness rules under unemployment assistance will be put on one side?
  Miss Horsbrugh: It is not a case of unemployment assistance, or health insurance. Applicants for supplementation cannot be classed as under unemployment assistance, because they are outside it, and they are not in health insurance any longer. I think the hon. Member will find I am right. The other point I wish to refer to was raised by the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Mr. Pearson), and was whether a woman pensioner could apply for supplementation on account of a dependent husband. I would say that in Dundee I know of cases where the wives are not dependent on their husbands. A good many husbands are dependent on their wives—
  Mr. Gallacher: Yet they vote Tory.
  Miss Horsbrugh: In this case the husband would be treated as a dependant and the wife's pension could be supplemented by that amount. I think that answers most of the questions and I will now come to Part I of the Bill.
  Mr. Tomlinson: There is a case about which I am much concerned. What happens to the widow who is now re-
  1410
  ceiving a pension at 60 and is also in receipt of a disablement payment of 6s. a week from National Health Insurance? Will she lose the five years' benefit of 6s. per week?
  Miss Horsbrugh: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will wait for an answer until I come to this point. I am now going to deal with Part I of the Bill. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Clackmannan and Eastern (Mr. Woodburn) last night informed the House that most of the benefits of the Bill existed only in the imagination. I wonder whether, if he came to my constituency, or went to others where women workers are suffering real hardship and anxiety, he would tell them that? I think most of the hon. Members who have spoken have, at any rate, recognised that Part I of this Bill is a very great step forward in our insurance system. So much has it been approved that hon. Gentlemen opposite yesterday seemed to think that it was their scheme and that we had adopted it. The latest scheme—I am going to be very careful and not talk about trade unions—we have in print is Labour's pension plan. In that plan it definitely states that the pensionable age for men and women is to be 65, except when continuous unemployment is proved. I am glad that hon. Members opposite are supporting this part of the Bill, but I must point out that not only do they not lower the age for men and women in their plan, but that when they come to consider spinsters' pensions they say that these women are not to have pensions at 55 because the cost would be prohibitive. At any rate, in this Bill we have gone half-way towards the age of 55, because we are reducing the age to 60. Next July, without having paid one single penny more in contributions, 310,000 women will be receiving a pension which they are not receiving to-day.
  It has always been agreed that if a man at 65 gets a pension and his wife has not reached that age great hardship sometimes occurs. Over and over again this point has been stressed by hon. Members on all sides of the House, but successive Governments of different political views have not made any change. It has been left to this Government to make a change; and in a time of war. A little time ago hon. Members opposite were telling us that what they wanted was for people to

  1411
  pay an extra contribution and get extra benefits. In Part II of the Bill we are not allowing them to pay an extra contribution and hon. Members are opposing us; but in Part I we are allowing an extra contribution and giving extra benefits.
  Mr. A. Jenkins: Will the hon. Lady tell us what contribution the Government will make towards pensions when the age is reduced to 60?
  Miss Horsbrugh: The capitalised cost is £260,000,000, that is £100,000,000 from contributions and £160,000,000 from the State. The actual facts were given in a reply by the Secretary of State for Scotland; and it will be found that in successive years the cost goes up and more will have to be paid.
  Mr. Jenkins: I am asking, and I hope I shall receive a reply, what contribution year by year the Government will make in order to make pensions possible at 60 instead of 65?
  Miss Horsbrugh: I do not think the hon. Member realises the method in which the Exchequer grant is paid under the pensions scheme. It is not calculated each year. The calculation is made for a 10-year period, and in 1946 Parliament will have to decide how much the State should pay into the scheme.
  Mr. Jenkins: But nothing until then?
  Miss Horsbrugh: The hon. Member must not say that. The Exchequer contribution has to be reviewed in 1946, and it is clear that more will have to be paid. If the question is whether it is costing the Government any more, the answer is yes, after the first two years. After the next two years the amount required each year goes up because of the changes which have been made in the pension scheme. The amount is larger each year. If the hon. Member does not believe it I think he will find I am right if he gets the figures and sets to work with paper and pencil.
  I do not think that any speech delivered in the Debate has shown that an hon. Member is not in favour of this change. I know that some people will be disappointed that the age has not been reduced to 55 in the case of spinsters' pensions. I want to say absolutely straightforwardly that we have not in this
  1412
  Bill granted all that spinsters ask. That is quite clear, but we have granted a great deal more than the party opposite were proposing to grant.
  Why was support given to this scheme? I think it was because of the anxiety which many women feel as they are getting on in life that they will not be able to remain in insurance until the pensionable age. I should put that in the forefront.
  Mr. Tomlinson: But this Government put a good many of them out of insurance.
  Viscountess Astor: Not as many as Miss Margaret Bondfield.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I know many cases where that anxiety has been very present. I wonder whether all women in insurance realise the rights and chances they have under the extended free period. I have found cases in which they have not realised that if they had remained in insurance for two or three more weeks they would have kept in benefit, and I think that had they known this they would probably have paid the contribution voluntarily and thus kept in insurance.
  Mr. Tomlinson: They are not allowed to pay their contributions voluntarily. A married woman is not allowed to pay a voluntary contribution.
  Miss Horsbrugh: Married women can pay voluntarily for pensions but not for health.
  Mr. Tomlinson: Only since the new scheme relating to pensions came in. The period for which I am speaking is when married women were not allowed to pay voluntary contributions and therefore went out of insurance.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I agree with the hon. Member, but we have met that matter already.
  Mr. Tomlinson: The people who would have benefited most have gone out of insurance.
  Miss Horsbrugh: On that argument you might just as well do nothing to improve anything in the future because the people who lived in the last century will not get any benefit.
  Mr. Silverman: The hon. Lady is rather provocative. Does she not realise that

  1413
  the people for whom my hon. Friend is speaking are not dead, but are still alive, and that they will watch these new benefits going to other people while they themselves are prevented from obtaining them.
  Miss Horsbrugh: The hon. Member will agree that it is because there have been cases of hardship that these improvements are now being made. We know that women are in and out of insurance. We know of cases of women, single women, in domestic service who have gone back to help in their homes and look after relations. The term "maiden aunt" is, as we know, the foundation for some humour and some wit, but I can assure hon. Members that maiden aunts are among the most useful members of the community. I speak with some feeling, being a maiden aunt myself. Very often single women go out of insurance because they have to look after their elderly parents. They do it as a matter of duty, and I believe that the majority of them would not give up this responsibility to anyone else. They want to do it. It is hard that in their case they should have less security for the future. By the passing of this Bill many hundreds of women will be able to reach the pensionable age at 60 and the anxiety which has existed will disappear in many cases. Hon. Members will agree with me when I describe many women between the ages of 60 and 65 as "tired women."
  Dr. Edith Summerskill: What about men?
  Miss Horsbrugh: The hon. Member with her special knowledge may tell me that I am wrong, but I believe that there are more tired women hanging on to industry between the ages of 60 and 65 than there are men.
  Mr. MacLaren: Men are tired all their lives.
  Miss Horsbrugh: Then they must be very tired indeed when they reach the age of 60. But let me give one reason why I speak particularly of tired women. When a man gets home from his work in the evening, tired, he finds his food is cooked and the cleaning of the house is done. If a woman goes home she has to do her own cooking and her own cleaning. By the Bill people who are pensionable at 60 will not feel that driving consideration to stay in industry until 65.
  1414
  They will know that their pension is safe at the age of 60 and that if necessary it will be supplemented up to their full needs.
  Viscountess Astor: Will the hon. Lady deal with the case of women in employment?
  Miss Horsbrugh: I have dealt with the case of women who go out of insurance before the age of 65, and with the case of those I have called "tired women"; there is the case of the woman who is in work.
  Viscountess Astor: And who does not want to retire.
  Miss Horsbrugh: The Noble Lady says that they do not want to retire. I will deal with the case of women who are in employment and not willing to retire, and who are now to have a pension at the age of 60. The question has been asked whether such a woman is getting a better bargain than she would do if she had no pension until reaching the age of 65 and kept her insurance rights in respect of unemployment and sickness. In the one case she will cease to pay a contribution of 1s. 2d. a week, and she will receive 10s. a week; she will receive this every week from the time she reaches the age of 60. In the other case, she would pay her contribution every week, and on becoming unemployed receive 15s. a week for a restricted number of weeks, or, if she become sick, a sickness payment of 12s. a week, which might go down to a disablement payment of 6s. a week, for a restricted time. There is no doubt in my mind that if one asked any woman which of these two alternatives she would choose, she would choose 10s. a week all the year round rather than nothing as long as she was in employment and not sick. Once she has the pension, if she becomes sick an application can be made and her needs will be met under the provisions of Part II of the Bill.
  It is then asked whether there is any chance that a woman will be dismissed from her work because she is 60 years old, or that her wages will be reduced. Both of those points were put to the committee which dealt with the subject of giving pensions at the age of 55. I say immediately that I think it is inevitable—and, indeed, this is why the pension is being given—that unless a person has par-

  1415
  ticular skill and usefulness in a certain craft, there is a natural tendency for that person in old age to go out of industry.
  Mr. E. Smith: So that our scheme is right?
  Miss Horsbrugh: There is a difference between saying to a person, "If you go out of industry you will get £1 a week," and saying, "If you stay in industry you will not even get 10s." [Interruption.] I think the hon. Member will agree with me that there is a danger, and that it ought to be faced.
  Mr. J. J. Davidson: I was not referring to the hon. Lady, but to the silly remark of the Noble Lady the Member for the Sutton Division of Plymouth (Viscountess Astor).
  Miss Horsbrugh: This subject was gone into by the Committee, and the Committee, although they realised that there was that fear, came to the conclusion that it ought not to be regarded as an obstacle to giving pensions. I would remind hon. Members that the petition signed by a million unmarried women in July, 1937, asked for a reduction of the age at which old age pensions were given. They did not say, "Give us pensions at 55 and give us, in addition, the other benefits." They asked that the age at which pensions were given to women should be reduced. That is being done.
  Viscountess Astor Viscountess Astor rose—
  Miss Horsbrugh: If my Noble Friend will wait a moment, I think she will find that I shall answer the point she wishes to raise. Perhaps I may say to her that I think those women who ask both for a pension at 55 and the other benefits are definitely asking for too much.
  Mr. A. Bevan: I apologise for interrupting the hon. Lady, but hon. Members in this part of the House are missing a great deal of what she says because she turns her back on us.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I apologise to the hon. Member, but I was turning round in order to be courteous to the Noble Lady. From now on, I shall have the greatest pleasure in looking at the hon. Member all the time. I should like to make a final point about the demand that women should have both benefits. Does any hon.
  1416
  Member think that if the age had been reduced for all pensioners to 60, there could have been any idea of their taking the pensions for which they had contributed up to then and also having a further five years in which to pay for the pensions and for sickness benefit? I think that would hardly be fair. After all, the contributions are compulsory. If the contributions are raised by 3d. in the case of women because of the earlier age at which the pensions are to be paid, and if when they reached the age of 60they were still compelled to pay the extra 3d. a week, it would be a question of their paying for the very pensions which they were then receiving. Either it must be compulsory or it must not be. I believe that the majority of women will realise that they are getting a very great benefit. I do not think that logically they can say, "If there are pensions, then let us have them together with all the other benefits. Their condition is being improved enormously. Yesterday, in talking to the well-known organiser of that great movement for spinsters' pensions, I said to her that I felt she could congratulate herself on the fact that, after all her work, she had gained 90 per cent, of all that for which she had been asking. I think that if every hon. Member could feel that he had gained 90 per cent, of all that he had been striving for, he would consider it a pretty good result to be going on with.
  Mr. Radford: Will the hon. Lady explain how the 90 per cent, is arrived at?
  Miss Horsbrugh: I do not think I can go over all these matters again—
  Viscountess Astor: Will my hon. Friend explain to the House—
  Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Colonel Clifton Brown): The hon. Lady has replied to the question put to her.
  Viscountess Astor: May I point out to the hon. Lady that the real trouble is that the spinsters now say that they wanted spinsters' pensions which, like the widows' pensions, would be entirely separate from the old age pensions? I agree with a great deal of what the hon. Lady has said, but that is one of their grievances now, and—
  Mr. Deputy-Speaker: The Noble Lady is now making a speech.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I quite realise that there was a demand from the spinsters for pensions at 55, by which they would have their old age pension, plus the unemployment insurance and health insurance. We have not done that, and I have tried to explain the reasons I think it is impossible. I know that some people will not be satisfied, but I think that the majority will realise that go per cent. of their demand has been met.
  I come now to the case of the widows, and how they will be treated under this scheme. I think most people who have studied insurance matters will agree that the widow has been well treated throughout her insurance life. It has always been clear to her that she received her 10s. pension because of the death of her husband, and that if she went into industry, still keeping the pension, and paid her contributions, she would receive for those contributions exactly the same benefits as other persons in industry, and would receive those benefits as long as, and no longer than, other women in industry received them. The age at which all insured women received old age pensions and ceased to receive benefits under those schemes was 65. The age now is to be 60.Surely, nothing would be fairer than that a widow who enters industry, and has 10s. a week pension as a widow, should come under the same scheme of insurance as the other women, spinsters or married women, as the case may be. A special class cannot be made for widows. Therefore, the age at which they cease to draw the benefits is 60. I do not think it would be right to say that the widows should continue to draw the benefits longer than other insured women.
  I think I have dealt with most of the points that have been raised. Whatever may be the feelings of hon. Members about Part II of the Bill, I think that the majority of them must in their heart of hearts—although they have not stated it very clearly—congratulate the Government upon having brought forward Part I of the Bill. I should like to put two questions to hon. Members opposite. I rather hesitate in putting those questions for fear that I may be included among those who were classed as inquisitors by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland(Mr. Dalton), and, in less elegant language, as Nosey Parkers by the hon. Member for Clackmannan and Eastern. Nevertheless, I will put the questions,
  1418
  and I hope that I shall receive answers to them, perhaps from the hon. Member for Dundee (Mr. Foot),who is to speak from the Liberal benches. I am sure that if I ask him for an answer, he will not fail me; for he is my colleague, and has never let me down. The first question is: Is there anything good in the Bill, or would hon. Members opposite rather see it scrapped? I have listened to speech after speech from the benches opposite, and have not heard a single word in favour of the Bill. Therefore, I hope hon. Members opposite will answer that question. Secondly, if hon. Members opposite say that they are in favour of Part I of the Bill, would they prefer to have Part II scrapped? [An Hon. Member: "Yes."] One hon. Member says "Yes." I think it will be interesting for the people of the country to know that, during war-time, when, as I believe the majority of people agree, a flat-rate increase could not be given, an hon. Member would not give a supplementation to those who are in need because he could not give it to all the others as well.
  Mr. Collindridge: The hon. Lady has failed absolutely.
  Miss Horsbrugh: The hon. Member says I have failed absolutely. I can only say to him that I do not feel very much downhearted by his criticism. The Government have not failed to help these people, they have not failed to help the women, they have not failed to help the old age pensioners who are in special need. The country as a whole will acknowledge that the fact that the Government are able to bring forward this Bill at this time is a notable achievement—in the early months of a war which demands financial expenditure greater than ever before; a war in which the financial stability of this country must remain unshaken if the war is to be terminated in the way in which every hon. Member is confident it must be terminated, if we are to have lasting peace—by victory.
  6.0 p.m.
  Mr. Dingle Foot: It is, I think, singularly appropriate that it should fall to me of all Members of the House to congratulate the hon. Lady on what, I think, is her first major oration from that Box. At Question Time to-day the noble Lady the Member for the Sutton Division of

  1419
  Plymouth (Viscountess Astor) showed some concern about the Prime Minister having to intervene in other Departments. I am sure she will agree, after the speech we have just heard, that it will not be necessary at any time for the Prime Minister to intervene in the Ministry of Health. At the end of her speech the hon. Lady put two specific questions to me. I propose to answer the first at once, and I think my answer to the second may appear from what I have to say. As to the first question, "Is there anything good in the Bill?" that, I take it, was particularly with reference to Part I of the Bill and as to that, I have no hesitation in answering with an unqualified affirmative. I think hon. Members in all parts of the House have welcomed Part I of the Bill, and it is only fair to admit that the Government are entitled to take credit for the provisions of Part I because, wherever the original impetus may have come from for bringing in this legislation, we are all aware of this anomaly which has been a matter of great complaint ever since contributory pensions were first introduced in 1925.
  There are two comments which I would make in passing on the speech we have just heard. The hon. Lady referred to a passage which I had yesterday with the hon. Member for East Fife (Mr. Henderson Stewart) and suggested that the information which I had given was inaccurate. I have looked up the passage and what I said seems to be strictly in accordance with the facts. The hon. Member for East Fife said:
  "At present we all know of cases of soldiers' wives who are seeking additional allowances. They make their appeals to the unemployment assistance officer. Those officers are not local councillors; they have nothing to do with local elections or local affairs. They are appointed from Edinburgh or Glasgow or some outside place and they know nothing about the affairs of the persons concerned in Cupar or St. Andrews, and that seems to me to make all the difference."
  I then intervened and said:
  "Surely the position is that under the Schedule, the local officer of the Assistance Board will continue to be advised by the local advisory committee. That is specifically provided in the Schedule."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; col. 1267, Vol. 357.]
  That is what I said, and that is perfectly accurate and any hon. Member who examines the Schedule will see that
  1420
  it is so. In dealing with Part II of the Bill, the hon. Lady referred to differing needs and in that connection mentioned cases of sickness. I have no doubt she was merely giving it as an example but I do not think—and this is the only criticism I have to make of her remarks—that she made entirely clear the position in reference to Section 38 (4) of the 1934 Act. It provides that the expression "needs" does not include medical needs.
  Miss Horsbrugh: Officially the words "medical benefit" mean doctors' attendance and medicines. That is not sickness benefit.
  Mr. Foot: I understand what was in the mind of the hon. Lady, but I think that limitation ought to be made clear that the distinction which was made in the Act of 1934 is to be continued in this Bill. A great deal has been said about the application of the means test and it is scarcely necessary to add anything to what has been so powerfully said by the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Lawson), who speaks on these matters with great authority. I wish to refer, however, to a remark made last night by the Secretary of State for Scotland. He denied the assertion that we were here introducing a means test into a contributory system. I should have thought that it was obvious that that is exactly what we are doing. Ministers have spoken of giving supplementary pensions in cases of need, but supplementary pensions are not to be given to every person over 65 who is in need. They are to be given only to those who have qualified by making contributions throughout their working lives. Unless a person is eligible for the 10s. pension, that person is not eligible for the supplementary pension. Let us see what happens. As the result of paying contributions throughout one's working life, one is entitled, in the first place, to the 10s. pension and in a case in which the need for it is established, to some form of supplementary pension as well. Let us suppose the case of three pensioners who have been working all their lives, side by side, in the same mill, paying the same contributions to the health insurance fund. At the end of their time one will get 10s. because he is deemed to have a certain degree of need; another 12s. 6d. and a third perhaps 15s.—all in respect of precisely similar contributions.
  Mr. Colville: The hon. Member will recollect that the 10s. payment is related to the contribution. My statement was that the means test was not related to that part of the pension, namely, the 10s. to which the contributions apply.
  Mr. Foot: The supplementary pension is an additional right which is being given in return for contributions.
  Mr. Colville: Not necessarily for contributions. It applies also to the non-contributory pensions of people over 70.
  Mr. Foot: I am referring now to pensions at 65 and I say that entitlement to the one pension or the other, to the original or the supplementary pension, arises only when the man or woman is insured on reaching the pensionable age, and that people who have paid precisely the same contributions in precisely the same way, will find all sorts of distinctions made between the sums which they are to get. If that is not a means test then it seems to me that those words have no meaning at all. We all appreciate the fact that in a time of war we have to put up with a great many expedients which we would not care for at any other time and if the Government were to say that they could not afford to do more than this Bill proposes, that this was a temporary stop-gap Measure while they tried to work out something better, for the years after the war, then, personally, I should find it more difficult to oppose the means test provision. But these proposals have not been advocated on that basis. This means test has been defended as if it were a permanent principle. Personally, I have never said that it was wrong in theory to inquire into need where somebody was receiving public funds, but it seems to me a rather unfortunate new departure to bring in a means test where benefits depend upon contributions and where you are dealing with a form of contractual payment as is the case here.
  Mr. Colville: The hon. Member would not object to it in the case of the pensioner over 70?
  Mr. Foot: That is the distinction which I have just made. I am drawing a distinction between a case in which a man receives money from public funds without having made any contributions, and another case in which there is a contractual benefit, where the money is paid to him as the result of a contract into which
  1422
  the State forces him to enter. I think that is a perfectly clear distinction and it is a distinction which has obtained ever since 1931 in dealing with the unemployed. We had a means test, rightly or wrongly, when a man had not sufficient stamps to qualify for contractual benefit or when he had exhausted his benefit rights at the end of six months. But it has never been suggested—in fact the Government have indignantly repudiated any such intention—that a means test should be introduced for contractual standard benefit. I have heard the hon. Member for Gorbals (Mr. Buchanan) accuse the Government of contemplating something of the kind, and I have heard Ministers indignantly deny it. It is a distinction which has been drawn again and again and it is a distinction which, it seems to us, should be maintained.
  Now I come to what I regard as the more important features of the Bill. First, may I put one point which has not I think yet been raised in this Debate? A general impression has been given that at any rate in the great majority of areas where public assistance committees now pay some form of supplementation, nobody will be worse off as a result of this Bill. The Minister of Health yesterday made reference, in particular, to Clause 12. It contemplates, apparently, what we called in 1935 a "standstill arrangement" and it reads in this way:
  "Where a supplementary pension is granted to an applicant in whose case an order for outdoor relief was in force at any time during the month of May, nineteen hundred and forty, the rate of the outdoor relief payable under the order may be taken into consideration and the amount of the supplementary pension may be increased accordingly notwithstanding anything in the regulations in force relating to the determination of the needs of the applicant."
  So that the basic month is May, 1940. When there is a question of some difference, of the new scale being lower than the old, officers of the board are enjoined to look at what was paid in May, 1940. Perhaps I may put to the Parliamentary Secretary a point which arises out of the conditions in the constituency which she and I, jointly and severally, represent. I give it as an example because I think the same conditions obtain in a large number of boroughs. There you have a system by which the local authority pays a sum in supplementation of old age pensions where there is need. But they

  1423
  do not pay the same scale all the year round. In Dundee, the payment to a single person is 6s. 6d. and a householder receives an extra 2s. 6d. from November to March. A married couple is allowed 8s. all the year round by the local authority, again with an extra 2s. 6d. for the winter months. We have not been told anything about the intention of the board with regard to winter relief. There is nothing in the Clause which safeguards that position. The only indication given in the Bill is that the month of May is to be the datum line. What assurance have we that in cities like Dundee the pensioners will not lose their winter relief under the new arrangement?
  Miss Horsbrugh: The Bill does not say that the board has no discretion. The board is left with discretion. I do not think it has ever been said that it could not go above these scales, such as the Dundee scale.
  Mr. Foot: All I say is that it is impossible to tell from the Bill whether the right to winter relief will be safeguarded. It will not rest, at any rate in the first place, with the hon. Lady or with any Minister to decide what those scales are to be, and no hon. Member can look at the Bill and say whether his constituents will be better off or worse off as a result of it. We have had a number of assurances in dealing with this Bill. The hon. Member for East Fife relied, not on what was in the terms of the Bill, but on what was said by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But the decision as to these rates is not going to rest with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is something over which he, by the terms of the 1934 Act, will have no control whatsoever. In the first place, at any rate, no Minister will decide either the amount to be paid or the conditions under which it is to be paid. We were told yesterday about regulations coming before this House, but under the terms of this Bill it is not necessary that any regulations should come before the House at all. The Schedule takes a certain amount of working out, and, incidentally, while on this point, I should like to enter a protest on the drafting of the Bill. This Bill is one of the worst examples of legislation by reference. One would have thought it would be desirable that the old age pensioners should have been able to read a
  1424
  Bill of this kind and understand what it means, but that will be impossible without knowledge of the cither Statutes. If hon. Members will look at page 21 of the Schedule they will see it stated:
  "The regulations which were at the date of the passing of the Old Age and Widows' Pensions Act, 1940, in force for the purposes of Sub-section (3) of Section thirty-eight of the Unemployment Act, 1934, shall have effect for the purposes of that Section as it applies with respect to the functions of the Board under Part II of the said Act of 1940, subject to such adaptations as may be prescribed by rules made by the board, and the board shall"; and as if for the words ' this Act' where those words occur for the second time there were substituted the words 'the Unemployment Act, 1934, as that Section applies with respect to the functions of the Board under Part II of the said Act of 1940.' "
  The words I wish to emphasise are ''subject to such adaptations as may be prescribed by rules made by the board." Hon. Members may recall that in the 1934 Act there were two proceedings open to the board. The board could make regulations and rules. If it proceeded by way of regulations they would have to be laid on the Table of the two Houses and approved by both Houses. Even so, it is a considerable limitation of the right of Parliament, because we are unable to amend them in any way. In the case of rules they have to be approved by the appropriate Minister, but it is not essential that they shall come before Parliament at all. They have to lie upon the Table. I would not say that in all cases this is an entirely useless procedure. Every hon. Member knows the difference between the cases in which the Government have to get consent of Parliament and the case where rules merely lie upon the Table. Here it is provided that the regulations which now apply to the unemployed shall in future apply to the old age pensioners, with such adaptations as may be made by rules. So, it is not necessary that Parliamentary assent shall ever be obtained to the regulations aplying to the old age pensioners.
  I raise this because I was rather surprised at the remarks made by the Minister of Health in his speech in which he said:
  "Yes, if it is necessary to fulfil the object which I and, indeed, the whole House have in view. The regulations in connection with this matter will be made by the Secretary of State for Scotland and myself, and we shall have to secure the approval of both Houses of Parliament to them."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; cols. 1213–14. Vol. 357.]

  1425
  That statement, I think, hon. Members will find is entirely incorrect. The regulations are not made by the Minister or the Secretary of State for Scotland, but by the board, and under the terms of the 1934 Act, although the Minister may put in Amendments to the regulations after they have been made and before he presents them to this House, the Minister has no right of initiative whatsoever. It rests with the board to decide, and the board alone, whether they will make regulations or not. If the Bill is passed in this form, and the board say that they are not going to make any regulations, and that they are simply going to make necessary adaptations by rules, nothing that the Minister of Health or the Secretary of State for Scotland can do will make any difference. I have said that the Minister can make amendments at a later stage, but he has no right of initiative. We are dealing here with a body of which we have had a good deal of experience. The board does not operate only through the medium of regulations and rules, but is given a wide measure of discretion under the regulations for its officers. It does not leave them to exercise discretion without guidance from headquarters, and the board constantly gives direction to its officers as to the way in which they are to exercise their discretion under the regulations. These directions very often are of great importance, and affect intimately the lives of many hundreds of thousands of families in the country. There is no approval needed by this House, or any approval or assent, from any Minister of the Crown.
  So much for the regulations and rules and the directions of the board. We, in this House have no check whatever of the day-to-day administration of the board, and I was rather surprised again to hear the speech last night by the Secretary of State for Scotland. He said that as a check both the Minister of Health and himself will answer in and be answerable to this House. What does tine Secretary of State for Scotland think he is going to be answerable for, and for whom can he answer under this Bill? In the 1934 Act, as he well knows, the decision was deliberately taken in spite of fierce opposition from this side of the House that the board should not be responsible to any Minister and that it should not have any Minister to speak for it from the Front Bench and should
  1426
  in that way be relieved from day-to-day Parliamentary supervision. It is perfectly true that the Secretary of State for Scotland may do as the Minister of Labour does now, and answer questions about what the board does. The difference is, however, that he cannot take any responsibility and can speak only the words put into his mouth by the board. If some legitimate grievance is raised, the right hon. Gentleman cannot say that he will deal with it and put it right, but can only say that he will pass these representations on to the board, over which he will have no direct control whatsoever. The relations between the board and the right hon. Gentleman will be precisely the same as the relations which obtain between a ventriloquist and his dummy.
  As far as my hon. Friends and I are concerned, we made it perfectly clear in 1934, and have done it on many occasions since, that we always disliked the constitution of this board. I have never said anything against the personnel of the board, or against its officers, but we are not satisfied with its constitution. We believe, and I think hon. Members in all parts of the House would agree, that the principal function of this House is to raise grievances and demand redress. If any person in authority misuses that authority, then the victim has the tremendous safeguard that the matter can be raised in this House. But, it can be raised in this House only because the person in authority is responsible to a Minister, and the Minister in his turn is responsible to one or other of the Houses of Parliament. Once that link is destroyed our whole system of parliamentary and democratic control breaks down.
  Here we have a board, which some years ago was deliberately placed beyond the reach of Parliamentary supervision, and all it does is to produce a report once a year, often so late in the Session that it is quite impossible for Members to discuss it. The board, an anomaly in our Constitution, was set up in the first place to deal with the unemployed who had exhausted their contractual rights of benefit, but now its operations are being steadily extended, and already it is being used by the Minister of Pensions to administer the Civil Injuries Scheme. Now it ceases to be the Unemployment Assistance Board entirely, and the charge of this great body of old age pensioners is to be handed over to it. We have often

  1427
  raised the complaint that the citizen is being delivered over to the Department. That is bad enough when the Department is in Whitehall, but it is much worse when that Department has no Minister responsible for it in this House.
  We used to be told in the past that regulations and rules, to which Ministers have referred in this Bill, and other Bills, were designed to fill up gaps, but the procedure by regulation has in recent years become something very much more than that. What in fact is happening is that regulations have become a substitute for legislation. We have Bill after Bill, and we had one dealing with the unemployed last year, produced by the Government, where it is impossible to adduce what is going to happen to the people affected, because all the Bill says is that somebody outside shall be entitled to make orders, regulations or rules.
  I do not suggest there is any distinction between one party and another in this House in regard to sympathy with the old age pensioners. I frankly admit that there are Members in all parts of the House who have done their best to urge some alleviation in the lot of the old age pensioner, and we all want to do what we can to help. But if hon. Members vote for this Bill, including Part II, they will not be, as far as they can tell, assisting old age pensioners now in receipt of supplementation, because neither they or any Minister can possibly tell what is to happen under this Bill. If they pass it they are not necessarily passing a beneficial Measure, but are abdicating their legislative functions and the exercise of power will pass, not to Whitehall, but to Thames House.
  6.30 p.m.
  Viscountess Davidson:Hon. Members on all sides of the House have for some time been anxious about the position of old age pensioners. The whole conception of the old age pension has changed a great deal. There is no doubt that originally it was looked on as a supplement to earnings, as an addition to savings, or more often as a welcome addition to the family budget when the old people lived with their sons or daughters. Now, however, the position has changed, and there is no doubt that up and down the country a large number of old age pensioners have been trying to exist on their
  1428
  10s. a week. Many of us have been urging for some time that the whole position should be reviewed by the Government and something done. We therefore welcome the fact that the Government have been able to bring in this Bill. I am aware that hon. Members opposite are criticising the method that has been adopted and would rather see a flat rate increase. A flat rate means a great additional expense, and we are in the middle of a stupendous war with vast growing expenditure which rises daily, and the question is often in our minds, how we are to pay and where is the money to come from. At a time like this, if increased grants of money are to be spent on the social services that are to be continued after the war—and we all want to see an improvement in many directions in the social services—that money must be properly spent, the right people must benefit, and we must see that we do not place an unbearable burden on the shoulders of the community and insured people as a whole.
  It says a great deal for the financial standing and the financial credit of the country at the present time, and, if I may say so, the financial system of this country, that the Government are able now to introduce this Bill. One thing which I welcome more than anything else is the fact that even at such a time we are thinking about our old people. We do not find this happening in one or two great countries in Europe, where because old people are of no further use to the State, it matters not to the State what happens to them. In this country we are anxious that something shall be done, even at this difficult moment, to help them. It is essential that this scheme should be properly understood. It is a scheme which can easily be misrepresented and misunderstood, and I would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to arrange, if possible, that simple instructions are issued from the Post Office to old age pensioners telling them 10 whom they should apply, how they can apply, and the proper procedure they should follow. This should be done, not in official language but in very simple language. There are many old age pensioners, the cases we hear least about, who have never obtained help from public assistance. They have great pride and dignity and have all their lives been independent. These are the people we

  1429
  want to see helped by this Bill. They should be informed exactly what this Bill means, so that there can be no doubt in their minds that they have the right to put their case in certain quarters, that that case will be sympathetically listened to, and that they will get help if they are in need. I hope that the Chancellor will use every means to make the provisions of the Bill sufficiently clear to these people.
  We appreciate, and I think women appreciate very much, what is being done for them under this Bill. There is no doubt that there have been very hard cases of the wives and husbands, in which the husband at the age of 65 suddenly finds he has a reduced income and a wife has no right to a pension. I am glad that it will be possible under this Bill for women at the age of 60 also to be able to draw her old age pension. It will lift a great load from the shoulders of many people who have been suffering acutely. It has been strongly urged in some quarters that spinsters' pensions should be granted at 55. I am not sure that this would be a wise step, not only from the financial, but from the psychological point of view. It is true that there is great unemployment among women and great suffering, much of which we hear nothing about. They are often women who have never been unemployed before, who are struggling to make ends meet and are not having an easy time. The pension at 60 will be welcomed by them, but we do not want to create the impression that a woman at 55 can no longer do work and good work. That is one of the reasons why I feel it is wise that at the moment the age of 60 and not 55 has been fixed. Only to-day I was told that a big firm employing women is just starting a pensions scheme for its employés, and the pension is being started at the age of 60 with the full concurrence and approval of the employés.
  I believe I am voicing the opinion of the majority of people in the country when I say how welcome this Bill will be. I know that there is only one thing in the minds of hon. Members opposite, as indeed in our minds. They want to see the lot of the older people made less hard. That is what we want, too. Therefore, although they may disagree with the method adopted and with some things that are in the Bill, I am sure that in their heart
  1430
  of hearts they know that the lives of many will be made easier when the Bill has become law and that, at any rate, some of the anxieties of older people as to their future will be lifted from their shoulders.
  6.37 p.m.
  Mr. Mort: I do not know into what category my contribution should be put. I am not exactly making a maiden speech, although it is 10 years since I had the privilege of addressing this House, and I can assure hon. Members that my 10 years' absence has in no way strengthened my nerves. I am, however, much encouraged by the treatment that I received on the previous occasion—very tolerant and forbearing—and I have no reason to doubt, judging from the expressions on the faces of hon. Members, that it will be extended to me again this evening. Most hon. Members know that speaking in this House is an acquired habit. If you are to acquire a habit and a taste, you must first begin by taking very small quantities, and I hope to begin in that way to-night. I have observed that the older Members have ferocious appetities now. I have not missed the important points that have been made in this Debate, for I have sat right through it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I want, however, to make a small contribution by looking at the broad human aspects of this question. I have just returned from the economic front. I have been there nine years, not of course because I wanted to be, and I endeavoured strongly to get away from it. I would not suggest to hon. Members that they are not cognisant of the great human appeal in these things that we are discussing, but I do suggest respectfully that unless they are there mixing with the people and being one of them, they cannot fully understand the conditions in which they live. It makes a difference if you have "M.P. "after your name. I am not suggesting that hon. Members are not sympathetic, but I declare that, having had the experience for years of living with the people, mingling with them, and seeing the effects of the means test, Ministers on the Front Bench ought to go and live the life of the pensioner for a few weeks as a refresher course.
  Mr. Kirk wood: They would commit suicide first.
  Mr. Mort: There is an agitation in professional circles that medical men—I do not know about legal men—should occasionally go back to get a refresher course.
  Mr. E. Smith: Especially the legal men.
  Mr. Mort: They go back far enough sometimes. I am beginning to think that it would be a good thing if hon. Members opposite, who have not had the experience of living the life of the workers, went to live with them for a time. I hope hon. Members do not think that what I am saying is elementary; it is very fundamental. I have always believed and declared and subscribed to the idea that high principles are indivisible, and my training has been that we should not compartmentalise people, place them in categories, and then devise different treatments for them. When I see a concourse of men or women, the only test that I apply to them is whether they have rendered, according to their ability, the best service that they can. When we come to discuss the question of the reward for that service, I still look upon these people as renderers of service. We have been told in many eloquent speeches from the other side that we are discussing in this Bill the reward for services rendered. When I sit back and listen to that, I see a vast concourse of people who have one thing in common—they are old. I see the aged miner, the steel smelter, the coal-trimmer, the engineer, the ex-Prime Minister, the ex-civil servant, the ex-police official, and to me they are all people who have rendered service and been compensated.
  My great complaint against this Bill is that the Government have found it necessary to include in it that evil thing, the household means test. Many instances of its effect have been given in the Debate, and I do not want to weary the House by a reiteration of cases, but I have seen homes broken up and fathers leaving home because of this evil thing. I well remember the case of a man who had spent most of his life at sea. He came back into industry but lost his job and he had to go on the means test. Although he was too old and had never expected to take up his former job again, he went back to his seafaring life against the advice of his friends. His wife came to see me about it and she said that he would
  1432
  not be kept by his children. He went back to sea and lost his life. Such a case can be multiplied a thousand fold. I very much regret that the Bill has been introduced not as a result of the overflowing of the human kindness of hon. Members opposite, but because of the pressure brought to bear in an electoral sense upon this legislative Assembly. The old people have learned to speak the language to which Governments listen. There is no doubt about that. Although I am very proud that we can get down to this kind of question even in the midst of war, I am prouder of the fact that the Government have been forced by that agency of democracy, the people's will and how it can be expressed, into this course of action.
  I will say one thing to the Government: this is a very clever Bill. I would say to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has just left his place, that it is a very clever arrangement. The Bill is stated to confer wonderful blessings on the people, but you are going to make a profit out of it. It reminds me of the story of a rabid teetotaller, who got a job with a demolition firm. His first bit of work was to pull down a public-house in an adjoining town, so he wrote home to his wife and said, "I am doing the work of God; what's better, I am getting paid for it. "We have been hearing the claims made by the Government for the Bill; I give the Government again the admission that they have arranged a very clever Bill, against the great opposition of some of the councils. It is a Bill which will divide the contributors and which will take from people contributions for which they have paid under National Health Insurance—at least, they will not get the benefit.
  We have been chided by the hon. Lady who spoke on behalf of the Government—she had more support than I have, if only because she was able to lean on that Box—about whether we were supporting Part I or Part II of the Bill. All I will say is that if the Government have seen anything good in our proposal, we have no quarrel with them. Our main quarrel with them is that they have seen fit to extend a step further this vicious principle of the means test, and I say to them that by that extension they are destroying the democratic rule of this country and, as was pointed out

  1433
  by the hon. Member who spoke just now, are weakening the powers of this House. I am glad to have had this opportunity of speaking. I feel a lot better. I am much obliged to the House for listening so attentively to this, my first effort, made in connection with this Old Age Pensions Bill.
  6.50 p.m.
  Mr. Salt: From what was said by the hon. Member who has just spoken I am not sure whether it is or is not my duty to compliment him on his maiden speech. He certainly did not appear to have that nervousness he mentioned, and no one was holding him up. I am sure that there is no hon. Member here to-day but has given earnest attention, at some time or other, to the needs of the aged poor. Indeed, as a man grows older, he has reason to know how serious this question is. He sees men and women who have given good service to the country and to their employers gradually losing their capacity and, with the best will in the world, it has been impossible to give them more than a small pittance to meet their needs. It has been pitiful to think that men and women whom one had respected and who had lived in a comfortable and reasonable way should have had such great difficulties afterwards. That position hardly needs stressing because I believe that almost every man and woman in this country are familiar with it and have it in their hearts.
  The Debate to-day has ranged round the very simple decision whether the flat rate should be given or whether the Government's scheme is the better of the two. While those alternatives have been discussed by many speakers, there are still other matters that are worth considering. The suggestion of a flat rate is very simple, and its simplicity is one of its virtues. It is also very popular because it is easily understood. Consequently, it carries the support of the great mass of the people. Nevertheless, in several very important respects, the Government's alternative is far more suitable to the times in which we live. It is more flexible. Supplementary allowances can rise almost automatically with the higher cost of living which most of us expect will be realised, whatever may be done by the Government, the trade unions and all those who are striving to keep the level of the cost of living as it
  1434
  is to-day. To that extent, the Government's scheme seems more satisfactory.
  The really vital matter is that at this time when we are spending at least £6,000,000 to £7,000,000 a day or £2,500,000,000 a year, we may not be able to afford a permanent extension of our social services. I do not wish to introduce party points into my speech, but we cannot forget that, in 1931, when the cost of unemployment insurance, owing to the amount that was borrowed to meet it, mounted from month to month, did much harm to our credit. Rightly of wrongly, foreign States believed that our credit was suffering; consequently, gold was taken out of the country. We know what followed this event. To-day, foreign States realise that we are fighting for our lives and that we have to find every penny necessary to win the war. As long as we use the money for that purpose, we are not likely to lose credit, but if we are prepared to find £38,000,000, no doubt for a very right and good purpose but for one that is not an absolute necessity and which they may have felt it impossible for them to do themselves, they may wonder whether this country is going to continue to be financially sound or whether it is likely to go down. They may think that at the end of this war we shall not be too particular how we square accounts with them. I may, therefore, well ask the Opposition to do their best to assist the Government to sustain the morale of the people.
  The hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton), who wound up for the Opposition last night, stated that the results of the Bill would be very depressing to the morale of the people. If that were so, although I cannot believe that it will be, particularly when the regulations come into force and the benefits of the Bill are being enjoyed, it is the duty of the Opposition to do their best to put the case realistically to the public and to give the reasons why it is necessary to refuse to add £38,000,000 to our expenditure. The money will not be raised by taxation, because that would be impossible. Already we have to borrow nearly half the amount that we need. Consequently, this expenditure will be another addition to our borrowing. I must emphasise that it is no use thinking we can get the additional money simply by what is called soaking the rich.

  1435
  When the emergency Budget was introduced last autumn, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated in very round figures—as he said they also happened to be accurate—that some 10,000 people in this country received £10,000 each or over in income and that amounted to a total income of £180,000,000. Out of that amount, the Income Tax and Surtax amounted to some £120,000,000 and when Estate Duty was taken away, the amount left was £20,000,000. So, even after having soaked the rich, you allowed them to go under for the third time, the money you would get, leaving them nothing, would pay for only two or three days' war. It is obvious that added taxation will not meet the additional burden.
  Before I sit down, I would add my tribute, not only to the Bill as a whole, but specially to Part I. We are all in agreement about it. I agree with the hon. Lady the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Viscountess Davidson) who said that 60 years of age was at the present time the wisest age at which to give this additional benefit; and before we consider any further lowering of that age we should remember the women who have left employment to look after their aged parents and in so doing have lost their insurance and pension rights. I believe that there are many women of that type to-day who deserve pensions even more than those who are to receive them, and I hope that we shall be able to do something for those women before very long.
  Reference has been made to the value of the block grant. It was stated that there were serious doubts of the value of the Bill to local authorities. We are told in the Preamble that they will be assisted to the amount of some £4,000,000. There was criticism involving the question how the Minister could realise what would be the reduction in the rate. I think that any hon. Member must know approximately the rate of the value of the £ in his own town or city, and he can easily assess an approximate saving to the rates. I think I am correct in saying that in Birmingham, in which city I represent one of the divisions, they have already taken that into account, at any rate sufficiently nearly in order to be able to settle their next half year's rates. There is no ques-
  1436
  tion but that at a time of increased cost of local government resulting from A.R.P. provisions, it will be of considerable value, and this should not be ignored when we are considering this Bill.
  A further tribute to it is that those towns which are suffering most and have the greatest need will receive the greatest benefit. I believe the Socialists have always said that they are desirous of helping those most in need. "To each according to his need." If that is so, then the one great attack on this Bill, the needs test, falls to the ground. How can we possibly assist those in greatest need without making some examination of those needs? Although much that is perfectly true has been said with regard to many people disliking an examination, I believe that there is great pleasure both for the child and the parent's in helping each other. I believe that the day a child comes home with his first week's wages the thought that he can do something towards assisting his father and mother is one of the greatest pleasures in his life. If some of the children after they have grown up can help their parents the parents are proud that their children are able to come to their assistance. I do not think that much of the criticism is as fair as it should be. Once this Bill is an Act and its benefits are being experienced, we shall find that the criticism which has been made against it will fall to the ground.
  7.4 p.m
  Mr. Tinker: Last night, while listening to many speakers, I gathered from those on the Conservative Benches that the people in their constituencies were in favour of the present Bill. The hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Wakefield) said something to that effect, and the hon. Member for Windsor (Sir A. Somerville) said the same thing. I gather from the speeches which have been made to-night that there are other hon. Members whose constituencies also favour the Bill. We on this side of the House seem to be living in a different world. The people in my constituency are dead against the Bill, and the old people have had a meeting specially on this matter and have carried a resolution against it. Another resolution has been sent tome from Bolton, which is represented by two Conservative Members, where they had a petition signed by 47,000 people protesting vigorously against the Bill. I want

  1437
  to know whether the Conservative Members will be candid enough to tell us where the constituencies are in which resolutions have been passed against the Bill. [An Hon. Member: "For the Bill?"] No, against the Bill. Will they come forward and tell us that, and not leave it to the others who have had one or two letters supporting the Bill? That is where I think the House does not thoroughly understand the feeling in the constituencies. If they did, I think we should be able to have a poll against the present Bill. If it is believed that this Bill is wanted in the constituencies, let us make: a test by means of several elections. Are they prepared to test it in the country without having a general election? I am ready to fight my constituency on this Bill, and I know that there are other hon. Members who are also willing.
  Something has been said about the cost. One wonders what is meant by that. Before the war we were told that nothing could be done bcause of the cost. Now the Government are hiding behind the excuse that there is a war. There is no question but that there would be little trouble in finding the money. Hon. Members on opposite benches are trying to get away with it because of the present position, and they say that we should not embarrass the country by challenging the Bill. Another thing which has emerged from the Bill is the subtle way in which the Chancellor has managed to get things changed. When he made a statement in which he said that he had been in consultation with the Minister of Health and another official—I believe the Parliamentary Secretary—I wondered how he approached those two people. I should imagine that the Minister of Health would say to him, "We have to give something to these people, because it is evident that they are out for an increase; how can we get away from it? "And the Chancellor would say, "Here is a way out of it. First of all, the Labour Members have been asking for pensions for wives between 60 and 65. We will grant it. We have never attempted to do it before." Then the Minister would say, "That will not be enough. We must do something for the spinsters. If we can give something to the spinsters, we might carry the Bill." So they reduced the pensionable age of the spinsters to 60.
  1438
  What is the next point which emerges? It is the method of paying a supplementary pension. The Chancellor probably said, "If we get it paid at the post office, that should be another thing to get rid of the agitation." Therefore, he removes much of the opposition from the other side and argues that the Government have done something for us, and he asks why we cannot accept the position. We have argued for those points; we have also argued for a flat-rate increase, and that is the point for which we have fought all along. I have asked for the 5s. increase, believing that that would have been accepted at this time, and my case is even stronger now than ever it was before. The cost of living has gone up, and if we were entitled to a flat-rate increase before, most certainly we are entitled to it now. The Government are trying to get people to have their means examined before they are entitled to any additions. That means degradation and loss of dignity. The hon. Lady the Parliamentary Secretary has made a speech to-night, and if I may I would like to compliment her upon it, because I think she has done very well indeed. I know how she must feel making her first speech, as it were, from that Box. I saw a report of the speech that she made on Saturday. I saw it in "Reynolds's" newspaper, and the hon. Lady said that if people would reduce their meals by an ounce of bread, what a saving there would be to the country.
  Miss Horsbrugh: I was talking about waste. I was pointing out the effect of wasting or destroying half an ounce of bread; I was not asking people to go without it.
  Mr. Tinker: The hon. Lady does not understand the psychology of the working-class household. I do not think the working classes deliberately waste bread. By this Bill she will get what she wants, a reduction of the amount of bread in the household, by a more substantial amount than half an ounce. Those people who have 15s. a week, or even less in many cases, coming into their homes, will have difficulty in getting any supplementary allowance; and necessity will drive them to reduce their consumption of bread.
  The Labour Amendment makes it quite clear where we stand on this matter. We agree with the first Part of the Bill; with

  1439
  the second Part we do not agree. We are fighting on a fundamental point there. It is said that in this House we ought to form ourselves more into a Council of State. I remember an hon. Member opposite criticising us for our attitude about the railways, and saying that we ought not to have adopted that attitude at a time like this. I reply that the Labour party ought to be consulted on matters of this kind. If we had been asked to join a Council of State on this matter, and an increase of 5s. a week had been offered, unanimity could have been obtained in the House. What I should have done would have been to make a flat-rate increase, and then, where extra need was shown, to have given a supplementary allowance, the cost of which would be borne by the State. I think that would have been fair.
  It may be argued that I am agreeing to the principle of supplementary pensions. That is so, provided that the State cannot afford to pay enough without them. If the State cannot at this moment pay pensioners £1 a week, let it pay them 15s. a week; but I do not want it to stop at that. There are families, who have no other means, who will require more money than that; and they should get it. If it had not been war-time, I should not have agreed to a pension of 15s.; but, in the circumstances, I should be prepared to agree to an increase of 5s. a week, and supplementary pensions, for the time being. The Chancellor spoke of 375,000 pensioners being in work, and said that, because of that, there was a danger of extra pensions being given to people who did not need them. I admit that; and if I could have got the extra pension for the other 2,600,000, I should have accepted that. It is very unfair for the Government to say that, because 375,000 pensioners are in work, they would have got this extra 5s. if it had been granted. We should have been prepared to meet them on that point.
  I belong to the Miners' Federation. At 65 years of age, most of our members are stopped. We have a pensions fund, and, for 26 weeks after they are stopped, these men draw 7s. 6d. a week from that fund. That 7s. 6d. a week will be taken into account by the Government in connection with old age pensions. Is that the way to deal with working men and working women? They put aside a little each
  1440
  week, during their working lives, so that they may get this 7s. 6d. a week; and now it is to be taken into account by the Government. Hon. Members opposite talk about thrift, but they are killing it by that sort of thing. One of the great Scottish poets remarked that, "Man was made to mourn." That is what the Tory Government are ensuring by this Measure. Why not give us a Measure now, in view of the fact that it is certain to be a long time before anything else is done for these people, that will satisfy the great mass of the people of this country?
  At the other end of the scale, there are many men in this country who are comfortably situated and are drawing large pensions. Only last week, we heard that certain people had been given Government jobs. One of my hon. Friends asked whether they were being paid for it. He was told, no. He said, "Then what are they living on?" I ask the same question. It must be that they have huge pensions. We know that great numbers of people are enjoying large pensions, without any question of means. The Government will be well advised, for the time being, to withdraw this Measure entirely, and to come back, as quickly as they can, with a new Bill, which will incorporate the principle of a flat-rate increase. They will have to do that if they are to carry the country with them. It would have a great psychological effect on the working men and women if they could only realise that we know what they are suffering and that we are trying to help them out of their difficulty. That is why I make the plea to the Government, hoping that, even at this late hour, they will do something like that for our aged people.
  7.21 p.m.
  Mr. Lewis Jones: I was very interested in listening to the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker), who introduced a. sympathetic touch, as he does in all his speeches on social matters, which are listened to with a considerable amount of approval from hon. Members who sit on the opposite side of the House from himself. There are certain points in his speech to which I will call attention a little later. I join with hon. Members in the speeches which have been delivered earlier in the day expressing pleasure and satisfaction that, even in these very difficult days, it has been found possible to

  1441
  spare two days of our shortened week in the House of Commons to devote attention to this important matter of old age pensions. Probably I disagree with the hon. Member for Leigh in that I rather look upon this Bill as an emergency Measure. I, personally, would not feel very satisfied if our social services were continually to be dealt with under this patchwork system, and I am still hoping that the day is not far distant when the Government of the day, whichever party may be in office, will appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into the whole of the social services, with a view to presenting to Parliament and to the country some uniform and unified system, which will deal with unemployment, health insurance, and pensions.
  Frankly, I welcome the Bill, not because it goes as far as I would like it to go, but because I am confident that in the country there will be considerable satisfaction. There are 160,000 women between the ages of 60 and 65, the wives of contributory pensioners, who will now become entitled to pension if their husbands have already reached their own pensionable age. I welcome the Bill because 150,000 spinsters will now become entitled to the pension at 60 instead of 65. I am also delighted in spite of what has been said about the means test, that probably between 300,000 and 500,000 old age pensioners will not find it necessary in future to go to the public assistance committees for their supplemental allowances.
  Mr. Buchanan: They will not be allowed to go.
  Mr. Jones: I said that I was very delighted that the Bill makes it unnecessary for them to go to the public assistance committees, as they will now receive their supplementary pension through the Post Office, just as they receive their 10s.
  Mr. Buchanan: What guarantee has the hon. Gentleman that they will receive the same amounts?
  Mr. Jones: I would ask the hon. Gentleman presently to put that question to the representative of the Government.
  Mr. Silverman: Does not the hon. Member for West Swansea (Mr. Lewis Jones) want that guarantee?
  Mr. Jones: The hon. Gentleman opposite seems to spend the best part of his time in this House interrupting other people.
  Mr. Silverman: No, I do not.
  Mr. Jones: I was rather surprised that the hon. Gentleman the Member for Aberdare (Mr. George Hall) should refer to some of these proposals in such terms as "shameful" and "trifling," and yet most of the speeches delivered from the opposite side of the House to-day have expressed a certain amount of satisfaction, as far as Part I of the Bill is concerned. I cannot help feeling that they themselves would have been delighted to have been responsible for Part I of the Bill. I cannot help feeling that what Mark Twain said about Tom Sawyer is equally true of them—"With reluctance on their faces, but alacrity in their hearts. "There seems to be a considerable amount of unreality in the criticism of the Opposition in respect of this Bill, but in spite of that, I, personally, would have liked, if possible, to have given a flat-rate increase to the old age pensioners. I confess to that straight away. My father, who was a contributory pensioner, was very proud of the fact that he had paid for his pension, and he received it until he passed away. I have a tremendous sympathy for the old age pensioner, and I wish it had been possible to have given a flat-rate increase on this occasion. I am sorry that it is admitted by the Government that the financial stringency of the moment makes it impossible to carry such a proposal into effect. I think that the Opposition, the Labour party in particular, know what circumstances of that kind really mean. They will remember that when they were in office from 1929 to 1931 they were anxious to bring about certain amendments in the Unemployment Insurance Act, which they placed upon the Statute Book in 1929. Even from their own benches suggestions were made that they ought to increase the allowances in respect of benefit to children. I think that on that occasion the hon. Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Bevan) was left outside "on his own, "but the bulk of the Labour Members were impressed by the argument of Miss Margaret Bondfield as to the financial stringency in 1929, and they rejected an Amendment which was submitted to increase the allowances by

  1443
  is. a week. I suggest respectfully to Members of the Opposition that they are the people who ought to appreciate what financial stringency really means.
  I very much regret that there is nothing in the Bill—and probably it would be outside the scope of this Bill—which makes it possible to increase the allowances to blind pensioners. It is not suggested, even by the Opposition, that additions should be made to the pensions of widows and orphans. The same reasons and causes which justify an increase of old age pensions also justify an increase in the pensions of blind people and widows and orphans.
  A great deal has been said about the means test, and I hope to say a little more about that later. I wish it had been possible, since a means test is considered necessary, for it to have been placed upon the personal income basis and not on the household test. Even on the question of the means test, I feel sincerely that the Opposition have entered into a great deal of sham fighting to-day. I confess to a certain amount of selfish delight at the fact that the Government which I have supported for many years, which reduced the qualifying age of blind pensioners from 50 to 40, and provided an insurance and pensions scheme for black-coated workers, covering over 2,000,000, have again made it possible to go one step forward with their policy of social reform by presenting this particular Bill to the House of Commons. Judging from their speeches and from the campaign in the country, I believe that the Opposition are disappointed that it did not fall to their lot to confer these benefits. They have talked so much about social programmes for years, but they accomplished so little in the two periods they have been in office. I cannot help feeling that they are naturally a little annoyed that a Government other than their own has presented this Bill.
  The hon. Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Lawson) put the threat forward that it is all intended to be more headlines in political propaganda. All this kind of propaganda will cut very little ice in the country. There are hundreds of thousands of people who will receive substantial benefits under the Bill and who will bless the Government that placed it on the Statute Book. What a delight-
  1444
  ful time we could have in showing what this Government have done in the direction of social reform, comparing it with the offers and the promises of the Opposition. I well remember that in 1929 they went to the country with a magnificent old age programme. It was so well staged that they won the election on it, but as soon as their Government was formed it started shuffling, and their own Members got very uncomfortable about it. They had not long been in office when a party conference met, and they admitted that investigation was then being made into their proposals. They came back to the House of Commons, and even their back benches got nervous and concerned about the action of the Front Bench. Questions were put, really to explain the policy on which they had won the election. I have looked up the answers. One Minister said that the subject was being considered by a Cabinet committee which was engaged in a general survey of schemes of national insurance and pensions. A few days later the suggestion was made from the Labour side that the Government should agree to give the old age pensioner the same weekly contribution as was given to the unemployed. The reply of the Minister was that such a scheme was impracticable. Later an answer was given by the then Minister of Health that various proposals had been considered by the Government but that no practical scheme had been devised.
  In spite of this, the Labour party kept dangling before the people their promises as to old age pensions at an earlier age. They had a Trades Union Congress Conference in 1930 which demanded old age pensions of £1 at 60, and at another conference a few months later a similar resolution was again adopted. We know how the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wakefield (Mr. Greenwood) blushed when an appeal was made to his generous heart to support this scheme. He was then holding the responsible office of Minister of Health. [Interruption.] Majority does not count. The hon. Member knows that they had the full support of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carnarvon Boroughs (Mr. Lloyd George) and the Liberal party at that time, and that the answer given by the Labour leaders was not that they had not the money, but, having won an election

  1445
  by offering a scheme to the country, they admitted on the Floor of the House that they had not a practical scheme. It was not a question of support in the House of Commons. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wakefield realised that it was a very easy matter to make promises on the platform, or to fight an election, but, when in an office of responsibility, he realised that matters were not quite so easy. What was his plaintive reply? He said, "He was glad to hear that he had a generous heart, but generous hearts did not foot bills; in a matter of that kind they must have regard to a lot of other forms of social expenditure pressed just as zealously as that particular one. "Mr. Ernest Bevin was there. He said, "He was a little tired of going round at elections promising things and not being able to get them performed. A lot of resolutions have been carried at these conferences when they were a long way from responsibility. They were there then, and they would have to answer for their sins or otherwise at the next General Election."
  The party opposite won the 1929 election on their pensions policy. They had two years in office, and never a single attempt was made to amend or vary the Old Age Pension Acts. The generous heart of the Minister of Health had failed. He went out of office, and not a year off the age and not a shilling on the pension. The amazing thing is this: Just as promises are being made now of £1 a week at 65, so they continued to make them after they went out of office. Experience had taught the Labour party nothing at all. In February, 1934, they submitted a resolution demanding pensions of £1 at 60. I do not know why. Probably they thought an election was due. It was the same promise as had been dangled before the eyes of the old age pensioners for eight or nine years. But at last they were realists in the Labour party, and they remembered the warning of Mr. Ernest Bevin. They reconsidered the situation, and a retreat had to be sounded. Their consciences were troubling them, and the National Council of Labour abandoned the whole scheme. Their report pointed out that pensions of £1 a week at 60 were impossibly high. They would cost £270,000,000, and in 1956 the cost to the country would be £300,000,000. They then told the country that it would have very little effect
  1446
  in placing people back in employment because the adoption of the scheme would cost £450 for every person put back into employment.
  Having scuttled that scheme, they came forward with a new one which was submitted to the Trades Union Congress at Bournemouth. The man with the generous heart, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wakefield, had to retrace his steps. He told them that it would be a profound mistake to make promises to the people of the country which they could not fulfil. There was one other retreat last night. The hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton) let the cat out of the bag. He said that the Trades Union Congress had never suggested a flat-rate increase of 5s. The Labour party policy on this question has been very uncertain for many years, and that is why I think the fight they are putting up now, and threaten to put up, is a continuation of their sham fight for many years. The hon. Member for Leigh referred to the means test and made the most amazing suggestion that this Bill should be withdrawn, 5s. added to the 10s., and an inquiry, over and above the 5s., be made in respect of any supplemental allowance. Surely this is a recognition of the principle of the means test.
  I have to pay £12 per annum, with great reluctance, to the pensions fund for Members of Parliament. I am forced by Labour votes to do so, and they have insisted that I shall be subject to a means test. When the Labour party talks about this means test, is it really sincere in its objections? In the Labour party pensions pamphlet it says:
  "that for people over 70 it would be impossible to abolish the income test entirely without completely revising the 1908 and 1924 Acts, for it is the first function of this income test to define the class of persons who so receive old age pensions by excluding from the provisions of the Act all those whose private means are sufficient for a reasonable standard of comfort in their old age."
  I accept that; I think it is a very sensible principle. But that is a means test. [HON. MEMBERS: "No."] I would like to see a personal test rather than a household means test. But hon. Members cannot have it both ways. They suggest the continuation of a personal means test for all non-contributory pensioners over 70 and, if it is right as a matter of principle

  1447
  to retain it there, what is wrong with it anywhere else?
  It has been suggested on the Second Reading of this Bill that a non-contributory pensioner would become entitled to a supplemental pension. Under the present law a non-contributory pensioner of 70 with a private income of £2 10s. a week is entitled to 10s. for his wife and 10s. for himself, making a total income of £3 10s. per week. Surely it is not suggested by the Opposition that, where a supplemental pension of 5s. or more each should be given to a pensioner in receipt of £3 10s. per week, there should not be some investigation of means. I think it is most unreasonable. The hon. Member for Dundee (Mr. Foot) called attention, in a remarkably able speech which the House enjoyed, to the means test as applied to contributory pensions and said that was a new principle. But I would suggest that the hon. Member might look at it in this way. If under this scheme every pensioner had become entitled to a supplemental pension, then this scheme could never have been put forward. The contribution is small because there is a limited application of the supplemental pension. From that standpoint he will realise that while it appears to be anew principle there is nothing very wrong in it because of the smallness of the contribution which is paid. I know of men earning £6, £7, £8, £9, and £10 per week who are drawing pensions, and rightly. They have paid for them and are entitled to them.
  Mr. Tomlinson: Will the hon. Member point out how an individual drawing a pension can be paying a contribution at the same time?
  Mr. Jones: I beg the hon. Member's pardon. You are quite right. I will leave that point there—
  Mr. Davidson: If you would only let us in oftener, we could put you right.
  Mr. Jones: I look upon this Bill as an emergency. It does not satisfy all my desires, and I would very much like to see it made possible to double the pension. I hope that the Government will, during the next few weeks, when the Bill is considered in Committee, see whether it is possible to vary or make more generous the regulations which apply to the test. I would like to see the house-
  1448
  hold test give way to the personal test. May I finish by saying again that I hope that the time is not far distant when the Government of the day will think it wise to refer these social services—health, unemployment, insurance, and old age pensions—to a Royal Commission in the hope that some unified scheme of social services will be brought forward?
  7.48 p.m.
  Mr. A. Jenkins: The hon. Member who has just sat down has spent roughly half an hour in talking half truths about the records of the Labour Government and, in the course of that speech, he mentioned one or two matters that are brought near to the Bill under consideration. He said that he would prefer a flat-rate increase, told us he would prefer a personal rather than a household means test, and that £1 was the pension which ought to be paid to these old people. Yet despite all this, he then went on to offer some kind of support of the Bill. In a respectful reference he said that his father who had worked in industry thought he ought to be entitled to £1 a week when he retired—
  Mr. L. Jones: I did not say that. I said my father was a contributory pensioner. I did not say I regretted that he did not get £1 a week.
  Mr. Jenkins: I do not want to be unfair to the hon. Member and certainly not on that point, but I understood that he desired £1 not only for his own father but for every pensioner in the land. What is true for the whole is true for the individual. Then we had a remarkable demonstration of half truths from the hon. Member as to what happened in 1929–31. The hon. Member was not then a Member of this House, but he was a member of the party which exerted pressure on the Labour Government for the appointment of what was known as the May Committee, and the sole purpose of that committee was to curtail the expenditure of the Labour Government. An enormous amount of pressure was brought to bear on the Government by the Conservative party and by the party to which the hon. Member belongs. He talked about the unreality of the opposition to this Bill. If ever there could be a greater demonstration of unreality than the speech to which we have just listened, I have yet to hear it. It was an extraordinary demonstration. He accepted three or four

  1449
  principles which ought to be embodied in any sound pension scheme, and yet the hon. Member at the same time said that he was in favour of this Bill which imposes a household means test. One is inclined to say some very harsh things about it. The hon. Member comes from Wales. I shall be interested to hear what the old age pensioners in his division will say. There is an Old Age Pensioners Association in Wales, and they have in a most demonstrative manner shown their opposition to this Bill. The hon. Member's speech did not smack of reality from beginning to end, and it is perfectly obvious that the hon. Member himself did not believe the statements he made.
  Mr. L. Jones: I definitely do.
  Mr. Jenkins: I want to refer briefly to the steps that have been taken by the Government to impose a household means test on large numbers of people since the war commenced. Under the 1934 Act the whole of the people who had lost their right to insurance benefit were brought in; there were approximately 400,000 claimants who came in that category. What has happened since? The first thing was to bring in the private soldier, he has a means test applied to him. Roughly there are about 1,000,000 men in the Army who will have a means test applied whenever they get any income from the State. That number increases when their families are also considered. Officers in the Army, strangely enough, are excluded from this means test; it does not apply to them, it applies only to the soldier. Then the Government went further and talked about applying it to workmen's compensation. There are about 600,000 claims for workmen's compensation every year in this country, so you get another 600,000, without their dependants, who are likely to be brought under a household means test. Then they go a step further and talk about old age pensioners, the poorest and most needy people in the land. There are 3,000,000 of them who will now be brought under this household means test.
  The Minister of Health (Mr. Elliot):The hon. Member is under some misapprehension. In no case are they being brought under a household means test. Many people are being taken out of it.
  Mr. Jenkins: I know that people who have been living under the Poor Law
  1450
  system have been subjected to some form of inquiry. I am saying that we are now bringing these people under a household means test when they get support from national funds. That is the departure which has taken place, and it is true that since the commencement of the war the number of people who have been brought into such a position number not less than 5,000,000, not to speak of their dependants. The attitude of the Government is one which is extremely favourable to the operation of a household means test. Last night a matter was raised, on the Motion for the Adjournment, of people who are getting substantial pensions but to whom nobody attempted to apply a household means test. These people escape it. Throughout the whole gamut you will find that this test applies only to the poorest of the people. I object to that. We are in a difficult position as a nation. I have heard appeals: "Let us sacrifice together, let us make a joint effort." Is it a joint effort to apply this means test to a mere section of the people? And when you apply it, see what different standards you set. In the case of a man who pays income tax he gets the first £120 of his income allowed free and £50 for his wife and £50 for each child. What is the allowance in unemployment? It is 2s. a week for a child and 9s. for the wife—the standards differ very greatly. If you are to apply a means test, for heaven's sake make the standard equal for everybody and not have all these different standards. The lowest standards always apply to the poorest people.
  We have seen a good deal of the operation of a household means test. We are told that it is unlikely the means test officer will appear. That is not true. He will arrive at the home, if circumstances alter, even if the man gets only 1s., to alter the basis of the calculation. There is a legal obligation on the man to report any change in his circumstances. If he gets only is., along will come the means test officer, he will take particulars, and it will be reported. It is sheer nonsense to say that you will avoid publicity. Let me say that I am glad that these old people are being taken out of public assistance, but I had hoped that it would be under a better scheme than this. I looked up the terms of reference to the Royal Commission that sat to consider whether or

  1451
  not people who are too old to work should be taken out of public assistance. Those were the Commission's terms of reference. The old age pensioners have never been paid sufficient to keep them away from the public assistance committees. That is something which characterises the whole of our social services. They are simply half measures; they give the people concerned half enough to live on. That is what the Government propose to do again with the old age pensioners.
  Some of my hon. Friends have appealed for a flat-rate increase. One hon. Member said that if a flat-rate increase of 5s. were given and the present system by which the public assistance committees grant relief were continued, that would be preferable to the Government's scheme. The hon. Member did not ask for that as a permanent scheme, but as a temporary scheme. We have to-day heard curious arguments from hon. Members opposite. They have asked us to accept this scheme, they have asked us to remember that the country is at war, and that it is difficult to get the finance necessary to meet our obligations. I do not propose to enter into details about the financial difficulties, but I would point out that time and again, owing to the persistence of my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker), this matter has been raised in the House. From 1929 to the present time, the matter has been raised, I should think, a hundred times in the House, but on every occasion there has been opposition from hon. Members opposite, and often it has been said that the country could not finance any scheme for an increase in pensions. Those arguments were advanced in peace time. During the last few years our indebtedness has been increased by approximately £1,000,000,000. I would remind hon. Members that the Liberal party was mainly responsible for destroying a Labour government which borrowed £100,000,000 for the relief of the unemployed. That has been the attitude of hon. Members opposite all the time. I object to such an attitude in a Debate on a human question such as the one we are now discussing.
  If the means test operates in these homes, what will happen? Many of these old people live with their sons and daughters, who work and have an in-
  1452
  consideration and a standard of about 14s. or 15s. per person in the household is fixed, the old people will become a burden on their children. The young people will have less than they would have if the old people were not living with them. The strain upon a poor family will be far too great, and they will not be able to bear it. The affection in such families is as strong as it is in the families in any other class of the community, but when they are asked to bear such a burden, when they have not a shilling to spare, and when a household means test is applied to them, it will become unbearable for the old people, and they will have to seek shelter elsewhere. They may indeed go into a workhouse, they may find a little home of their own, but generally, the effect will be to upset many of the family conditions in which they are now living.
  Mr. Elliot: The hon. Member is arguing as though we were attempting under this Bill to apply a means test to people to whom it is not being applied at present. That is not so.
  Mr. Jenkins: There are many pensioners who are living in those circumstances at the present time, and when a household means test is applied under this scheme, the effect will be precisely as I say. There are many local authorities which have not been considerate enough towards the old age pensioners, and there are some advanced local authorities. For instance, the hon. Lady was good enough to say that the London County Council is considered a good authority. I do not know what allowances the London County Council make, but I understand that the Durham County Council pays up to 35s. a week to old people, and in Monmouth the old people are paid up to about 30s. a week. As far as I can see, there is in this Bill no guarantee that the old people will be paid any such amount. Are they to be paid a rate which will be in excess of the unemployment rates? If not, then some of the old age pensioners now getting relief from the best local authorities will be placed in a worse position than that in which they are at the present time. That will be the effect in certain districts. With regard to the finances of the scheme, as I understand it the local authorities have, in supplementing old age pensions, been making an expenditure of

  1453
  approximately £4,500,000 a year. That expenditure has been made by the local authorities of England and Wales, excluding Scotland. Under the Bill, the proposal is that from now on the local authorities will be called upon to make a contribution. There is a sum of £1,000,000—
  Mr. Elliot: The local authorities are not called upon to make a contribution of any kind. The £1,000,000 previously given by this House towards that expenditure will now be given by the House for that expenditure directly. Therefore, it will not be paid by the local authorities, and not one penny of contribution is being asked from them.
  Mr. Jenkins: The Minister knows that under the Local Government Act, 1929, the: Government make grants of approximately 22½ per cent. towards the expenditure. What the Government have done, in this calculation, is to say that 22½ per cent. of £4,500,000 is approximately £900,000, and in the negotiations with the local authorities, the Government, not content with £900,000, have asked the local authorities to make it: £1,000,000, and the local authorities have agreed. It comes to this, that the local authorities, for the remainder of the present fixed-grant period, will contribute £1,000,000, or at any rate lose grants to that amount, and the effect upon the local authorities of the country will be the same as if they contributed £1,000,000.
  Mr. Elliot: The local authorities are giving up expenditure of £5,250,000, and they are gaining accordingly, and a proportionate amount of the money previously paid by the House towards that expenditure will not be paid in future. Do not let it be said that the local authorities are making a contribution.
  Mr. Jenkins: The right hon. Gentleman conveys the impression that the local authorities will benefit to the extent of £4,500,000, which was the amount of their expenditure on supplementing pensions. That is not the fact. I will quote a statement of the finance officers of the local authorities:
  "As far as finances are concerned, we have accepted, as you know, the round sum of £1,000,000 as the total annual contribution to be made by the local authorities for the remainder of the present fixed-grant period. "
  What I say is true. The Government are
  1454
  calling upon the local authorities to forgo grants amounting to £1,000,000 for the remainder of the fixed-grant period in order to help the Government to meet this expenditure. If we take the product of a 1d. rate over the whole country as being £1,200,000, I suppose it may be said that the liability will average out over the country at about a 3½d. or 4d. rate; but it is spread very unevenly from one authority to another. What I should like to know is what method is to be adopted for the purpose of distributing the benefits that will be derived by the local authorities from the Government's taking over a certain amount of expenditure. As I understand it, the Minister has not yet determined that. The Bill is before us, without the Minister being able to tell us what method has been adopted for that purpose. It seems to be a little premature to have a Bill on a major issue such as this under consideration by the House while the Minister is not yet in a position to tell us precisely what will be the financial effect on the various local authorities. I understand that the matter is to be considered later and perhaps during the Committee stage we may get some explanation. It is true that certain benefits will be derived by certain local authorities, but what those benefits will amount to, one cannot say. That is why I intervened last night when the Secretary of State for Scotland was indicating the rate of benefit which would be derived by certain local authorities. I understand now that some kind of agreement has been reached in Scotland, but we are not yet as far ahead as that.
  Mr. Kirkwood: No agreement has been reached in Scotland.
  Mr. Jenkins:I do not propose to enter into a discussion on whether or not there has been agreement in Scotland. We have enough quarrels of our own to fight. But I leave the financial side of the Bill because I know the Minister will not be able to make any definite statement on it to-night, and I pass to a point which the hon. Lady mentioned, namely, what is to be done for the welfare of these old people. In the Bill there is no provision as far as I can ascertain. I do not know what kind of authority is to be appointed. There are many of these old people who are aged and weak and not always quite capable of looking after themselves. I

  1455
  can find no provision for them here. Some of the good local authorities have been making provision for them. Whether the new authority which is to be created will continue that work or not, I cannot say, but I think some provision ought to be made and if such provision is to be made, I would like to know who is to finance it?
  There is one further point with which I conclude. A large number of officers are employed now by local authorities in distributing these supplementations to the old age pensioners. I think some reasonable agreement ought to be made between the Government and the local authorities about the security of the positions of those officers. Many of them, who are well above middle-age, would find matters very difficult if they were thrown out and I hope that if the Bill goes through consideration will be given to them. While I recognise that there are certain benefits in Part I of the Bill, I consider that they are not by any means ample benefits. This Bill will not provide what I regard as an adequate pension. Despite the slight benefits which will accrue to the 150,000 spinsters and some other women-folk, I intend, because of the application of the means test in this Bill, to vote against it, and I hope that every hon. Member on this side as well as a substantial number of hon. Members opposite will do likewise.
  8.15 p.m.
  Captain Elliston: Whatever its opponents may say about this Bill, I think it affords a very effective reply to the suggestion which was frequently put forward that the Government had no intention of dealing with this problem of pensions. It was only on 27th July last, that the Prime Minister gave an assurance that the matter would be investigated. The investigation was held up by the outbreak of the war, and we had a renewed promise from the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 1st November. To-day, 21st February, we are debating the Second Reading of the Bill. I think that is pretty good going at a time when the country is faced with a tremendous crisis in its history.
  I propose to take this opportunity to reply to a question which was addressed to hon. Members on this side by the hon.
  1456
  Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker). We always listen to the hon. Member with great respect, because he speaks with such splendid conviction on any matter in which the welfare of the people is concerned and when he thinks this House is failing to do justice to the people's needs. To-night he asked us on this side to state frankly how our constituents regarded the proposals in the Bill. I tell him at once that I have found a large body of opinion which has nothing good to say about the Bill at all. For months past there has been a very active campaign encouraging people to base all their hopes on a flat-rate pension of 20s. a week. Unfortunately many people who entertained that hope have been bitterly disappointed to find that, after a careful investigation by the Government, a scheme on that scale has been found to be out of the question. The organisation concerned has since sent a resolution to most Members of this House which states that this Bill is a mean and contemptible response to a nation-wide demand.
  Many of us here took part in the previous Debates in July and November, and from both sides of the House there came an urgent demand that the Government should give early consideration to the condition of dire poverty in which many old age pensioners were then existing. There is no doubt that the arguments then advanced greatly impressed the conscience of the country and induced Members of all parties to support the organisation which eventually pinned its faith to a 20s. flat rate.
  Now, I should like to hear from the hon. Member for Leigh and others who are in close contact with working-class opinion whether they are convinced that those people are really in favour of a flat rate involving a heavy extra contribution. I have nothing to learn from any hon. Member opposite regarding the privations endured by the old age pensioners. I know them from my own observation, but I am not convinced that the working-class people in my constituency are completely in favour of a contributory flat-rate scheme which would mean a great strain on their weekly income. They see around them in the country as a whole 375,000 pensioners who are still in employment. They see an even larger number of old age pensioners who are also deriving benefit from

  1457
  the superannuation schemes of former employers. Is it certain that an extra contribution of at least 10d. a week for a basic pension of even 15s. would appeal to every working man? Only last week I was told by a typical representative of the working class in my constituency that, given anything like regular employment and a decent wage and his present insurances, he would prefer to do his own little bit of extra saving to facing that increased contribution. We have had a very good demonstration of such saving these past 12 weeks when the working men of this country have been investing £1,000,000 a day through patriotic motives and as a provident provision for future contingencies. When we have a high degree of employment in this country the working classes have never failed to display those thrifty qualities represented by the colossal funds accumulated by savings banks, building societies, and such organisations.
  We have heard so much of the defects of the Bill that I feel entitled to summarise some of its provisions. First of all, with the wives of pensioners coming into benefit at 60, that must mean a big increase of comfort in over 160,000 homes. Then there are pensions at 60 for all women in insurable employment, married and single. That will alter the whole outlook in life of over 150,000 women, including that most deserving class, the spinsters, who in many cases have sacrificed their own prospects for service in the home. They surely deserve the great relief brought to them by the present Bill. Then there is power for the Assistance Board to grant supplementary pensions to the old pensioners through the Post Office. In this connection, let me say that there is, in my part of the country, rightly or wrongly, a very great objection to anything connected with public assistance, because it is still associated with what is called the "taint" of the old Poor Law. Important also is the relief of local authorities to the extent of some £4,000,000. This represents a valuable concession to areas like my own, where there has been a long period of unemployment and distress, and where the people can least afford to pay high rates.
  The Bill has so many good features that it may be hoped a number of modest concessions and extensions will be granted
  1458
  during the course of the Committee stage to make it even better. For instance, I find in my constituency, where many women are employed in industry, that there is a measure of disappointment because they will be expected to make an increased contribution of 3d. as compared with 2d. in the case of men. Perhaps it may be possible to consider that point. It was stated by the Government actuary during the recent inquiry that the cost of pensions at 60 for these women would amount to £2,000,000. There is a feeling that the larger sum now required is accounted for by the pensions for the married women, and the spinsters feel that the extra penny should be paid by the husband who shares the advantage of the pension. Above all, the unmarried women feel very keenly the provision that they must go out of National Health and unemployment insurance when they reach pensionable age. They resent it because they believe that it will automatically reveal their age to all concerned. They believe, rightly or wrongly, that when it is known they have reached the age of 60 an employer may be inclined to replace them by younger women workers or that he may possibly ask them to work for a lower wage. Whether or not their fears in this respect are well founded, I think the matter deserves very careful consideration on the Committee stage. Throughout the ages it has been the privilege of women to conceal or modify their age, perhaps because they feel it is their own, and nobody else's, business. I have been assured that this matter is of acute interest to women who are otherwise profoundly grateful to the Government for the benefit they will received under this Bill. I hope, therefore, that the matter may be examined and that the Government in their chivalry may be able to respect the feelings of the women in this matter.
  There are other classes of people whose claims should receive consideration. I should like to hear whether the Government can do anything for the women who are older than their husband and who have reached the age of 60, and whether it is possible to extend benefit to women of the "black-coated" classes such as wives or daughters of the clergy, small tradesmen, struggling professional men, and so on, whose struggle with genteel poverty becomes very pitiable with the approach of old age. But even as it

  1459
  stands, there are many points in this Bill which will prove a great blessing to many hundreds of thousands of people in this country, and I cannot believe that the Opposition seriously intend to delay its passage. It is an honourable attempt to alleviate hardships which hitherto many of our pensioners have had to endure. If the Bill gives less than some of us hoped, it certainly prepares the way to further advantage when our national finances permit. I appeal to opponents of the Bill in that spirit expressed by the hon. Member for Leigh to remember the gravity of the times in which we live and to give the Government their assistance in passing a Measure which is a definite step forward and which will make it possible for us to advance again when we return to the path of peace and prosperity.
  8.30 p.m.
  Mr. Kirkwood: I listened with great interest to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, and I now see why the Prime Minister selected her for that job. I do not think I ever heard a better example of "her master's voice. "I would say this to her credit, because she knows I consider she is very capable, that although she did her job very well she did not deceive me. The whole object underlying her speech and Part I of the Bill is artfully designed to divide the working class. This Bill is one of the meanest, basest and most callous tricks that have ever been played on this House, particularly at this juncture when the Parliamentary Labour Party have almost given up criticism of the Government in order to win the war. The Government have deliberately set out, in my mind, to put the women against the men. It is true that we have been clamouring for pensions for women at 60, but we never dreamed that there would be this result when we waited on the Prime Minister and went as a deputation to different Ministers on this matter, and pleaded for the most helpless section of the community, the old folk, the veterans of industry, the men who have made it possible forus to withstand the mightiest military force the sun ever shone on.
  In my election address in 1918 I said that I stood for £1 for a man and 30s. for a man and wife without any means test. I have never deviated from that. I have always fought against a means test, what-
  1460
  ever Government was in power. I do not want the Minister of Health to tell us that the Tories did not introduce the May Committee, because I know they did not, but those with whom I was lined up at that time fought against the idea of the May Committee, just as we are fighting now against the means test. I readily agree that we might have to deal with the old people parsimoniously if we were a poor nation, if we were poverty-stricken and in bad luck, but here we are in this House representing the richest Empire in the world, proudly boasting of what we are spending on the war in order to defend our shores. Who are defending our shores? The sons of the old people whom we are pleading for. When my good, true and loyal colleague the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker) was driven in his generosity, just as my class always are, to make a suggestion in his anxiety to get something, the other side took advantage of it and now say that we are in favour of this Bill. I want to tell the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, three members from Scotland, that I am fresh from the Clyde and there is a struggle brewing for them. You are forcing me to say these things and I am not going to continue to withhold them when my class and the old people to whom I have pledged my word are being treated in this manner. Not for all the winning of the war am I going to stand aside when they are concerned.
  What is the use of being part and parcel of this mighty Empire when we have to go cap in hand for help to these old people? When the Minister of Health says there is no means test he is not telling the truth. Nor is it true that the Government have come to an agreement with the local authorities. They were before us this morning at 10.30 telling us it was not true. The Government have never come to any agreement officially with the local authorities.
  Mr. Colville: I said yesterday that we had come to a provisional agreement, which is perfectly true. The local authorities, represented by the official representatives of the three associations, had discussions in Edinburgh, and we came to a provisional agreement. If that is not ratified it will have to be changed, but one is entitled to say that we have come to such a provisional understanding.
  Mr. Kirkwood: But there has been no agreement, and that is a different thing. We have done everything we can to keep things going, but discontent is abroad in the land. Do you think the young fellows are going to fight for you when these old warriors and veterans of industry are being treated in this way? They have produced all that we have to-day. Nobody but the workers produced it. You can say what you like about your brains and your professions, but only the workers have produced what we have to-day. We have seen the managerial staffs and the collar and tie brigade walking into the works when the ordinary workmen went on strike. There was no work done then, because when the colliery stops no coal comes up. The managers and the brilliant intelligentsia are at the command of the colliery workers. Not an ounce of coal comes up the pit. It is all produced, remember, by labour. We have appealed for this scheme to operate for those of 60 years of age. If workers are 60 years of age they have, in many instances, given 50 years' service. That is no exaggeration.
  Yesterday I was at the funeral of the greatest man I ever knew, Robert Smillie. With me was a retired schoolmaster, and he started to talk about this old age pension business which is now before the House. What did he tell the hon. Member for Bridgeton (Mr. Maxton) and me? He said he had more for his old age pension than he had as salary in his prime. I am not objecting to schoolmasters or members of any other profession getting pensions, but I do object to those who are comfortably circumstanced not seeing to it that the people who contribute towards making it possible for the rest of the community to get pensions shall themselves have decent pensions. There is no denying the fact that the poor of our country are treated in a disgraceful fashion. Not all the statesmanship, all the plausible statements, or all the analyses of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health can get away from that fact, and it is a standing disgrace, for which the Government of the day ought to think black, burning shame of themselves. We have been asked to say nothing, to keep quiet, lest Lord Haw-Haw says something; but, unless we get a better concession than we now have, Lord Haw-Haw will have something to tell
  1462
  about the rotten manner and the disgraceful, callous, brutal fashion in which the ruling class of this country are treating the aged poor.
  Look at this means test as I see it, and as I have seen it enacted before me in my own constituency. In John Brown's yard we have always been fortunate enough to be employed, but all round us and outside my constituency people have, for years, been unemployed. Many of the men concerned educated their boys and girls to professions. When the building of the "Queen Mary" was stopped—when it was the "534"—many of those men were turned out on the streets. After they had been unemployed for six months their unemployment pay ceased, and they had to go through the means test. Because they had done what we Scotsmen have always claimed with pride was characteristic of our race, been frugal and saving, they were penalised and received nothing. The investigators even went to the co-operative societies to find out how much money the men had there. That is how the means test operates. This is now to be done to the old age pensioners. It is the fathers and the grandfathers who are to be treated in this fashion now.
  When the "Queen Elizabeth" was launched from Brown's yard, a card was sent in for me, and I went out. I found an old workmate of mine there. He had worked beside me 35 years ago, as a fitter. He had emigrated to New Zealand and he was home visiting Scotland again because he wanted to see the launch of the "Queen Elizabeth." I saw that he did. The interesting thing that he told me was that he had never made a great deal of money. He said: "We have always been very comfortable. You know we have a grown-up family, all married; nobody but me and the old wife left. We built a house for ourselves and paid for it, and we saved a certain amount for our old age. The Government, in their wisdom, have decided that we are to receive £3 a week"—for the man and the wife. As soon as that happened they took counsel with one another and decided that it was no use keeping their money lying there and doing nothing and that they could afford to come across the seas for 12,000 miles in order to visit Scotland again.

  1463
  I say to the Government: Even from your own point of view in running the capitalist system of society it would be in your interests, and apart from the sentiment of the matter and the right or the wrong of it, to give those people a decent pension. The money would be spent at once on the things that they desperately need but now have to go without. I say this to the Secretary of State for Scotland, because he does not know what it is to go without anything and he does not realise how humbling it is for a man to have to go to another worker and ask him for a "bob. "What a glorious position for these old veterans of my class to be in, after they have worked for this country all their days. The only thing they have is their labour power which is incorporated in their bodies, and in order that they may live they have to sell it. Many a time they do not have the chance to sell it, after a life of slavery. After they have reared families, those who have been most frugal are penalised.
  I should not be doing my duty by sitting here passively and seeing any Government treating the working class of Britain in this fashion, be it an English, Scotch, Irish or any other Government. Those people have built the finest ships that sailed the Seven Seas, they have built the roads and the railways, they have dug all our coal and now they are fighting for us against Hitlerism, tyranny and oppression. What are we doing at home? Are we treating our own folk decently? Everyone knows that we are not. As for talking about 10s. a week, we ought to feel ashamed of ourselves. It would not last hon. Members opposite a night. I myself could go through 10s. quite as easily. One of the reasons why I am not in favour of collaborating even in winning another war, is because of this unfair treatment. Can the Secretary of State for Scotland show me that we are treating our weak old men and women with anything like decency? As I have said time and again, I do not care whether it is a Tory, Liberal or any other Government as long as they deliver the goods.
  If there is ever serious trouble because of the treatment that is being meted out to the fathers and grandfathers of the working class in this country I will side with them against the Government. I
  1464
  can never rid myself of my class consciousness; neither can they. They are class conscious. Dothey give 10s. a week to their fathers or mothers? No, Their fathers and mothers would have a revolution next week, war or no war. They would look after themselves, and I would not blame them. It is only the people of my class who are really patriotic and who really have a love for their native land. The vast majority of them know no other land. They have never travelled; they have never enjoyed those luxuries. There has been nothing for them but grinding toil right from 10 years of age up to 65.
  The Government should be proud of themselves! It is because of their policy that certain individuals possess their tens of thousands, not gained by their individual efforts or ingenuity or because they are super-men. I have met the best of them, not the bygone generation, but those of to-day. There are no super-men; it is a delusion. They have deceived my class that they are something superior, but it is absolutely false. Not one of them has any right to have any better time or any more comforts in life than the men and women for whom I am speaking. Think how they have lived. They are up at four o'clock in the morning—did hon. Members opposite ever do that?—and are never home until half-past seven at night. The working class have had to rise and go to work irrespective of the weather, be it rain, snow or hail, whether they were well or not. When they went out in the morning they did not know whether their wives would be alive or dead when they came back again. They did not know whether their boys or lassies, whom they had left behind in the morning, would be alive or dead when they returned at night. They have struggled through all that, surmounting all their difficulties. I would ask those who have gone through it, as I have, not to forget their obligations and their pledges to the working class of this country.
  Because of all those things, I would ask the Secretary of State, in all sincerity, to make a glorious gesture. The working class in this country would respond in no uncertain fashion if the Government were wise enough to yield to the appeal of the Members on this side, and announce that they were going to abolish

  1465
  the means test, root and branch, in connection with everything. Nothing stinks more in the nostrils of the very best section of the working class than this idea of the means test. We can tell you this, because we live and have our being amongst the men and women of the working class. Hon. Members opposite do not; they live in a world apart. We are being good to hon. Members opposite; we are being generous to them. We are not doing this for their sakes, but because we love our native land; because we fear repercussions as a result of the Government's action; for men are not going to be continually giving of their best, and seeing at the end of the journey nothing but poverty and bad luck, and never having a shilling that they can call their own. I do not take drink—I do not make any boast of it—but I know my class, and how glad they are to be able to say, "Come along, and I will stand you a glass of beer," or "Come along and I will stand you a glass of whisky."
  I hope that my appeals for these people, after they have served their day and generation and made this great Empire possible, will not fall upon deaf ears, and that something will be done; because I am prepared to go as far in this war as I did in the last war. They can kill me this time; but I am going to stand by the workers, irrespective of my party or anything else. The time has come for us on this side to challenge the Government, and to let them know that we are going to fight them, not only on the Floor of the House of Commons, in a Parliamentary fashion, but in the country. We have to rouse the country against them, and to put in a Government that will meet our demands. We ought not to be posing as statesmen, but to be standing up for the rights of the workers, who have made it possible for us to be here. Not a man would be here on these benches but for the propaganda the Socialists have carried out in this country demanding that which I am demanding now. Think of Robert Smillie giving his life to make it possible for the Parliamentary Labour party to be the official Opposition; and remember that we are getting nothing. In fact, the other night we were taunted by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He made no bones about the Government's position, and the grip that they had. He cannot have it two ways. The Deputy-Leader of
  1466
  our party once stood at that Box, and said that the Government of to-day would not be in that position a week without us. I believe that to be perfectly true. If we go out into the country, and let the workers know how we are treated, the working class will rally to us. The working class never let us down. I have implicit faith in the working class. When we go to the workers, and tell them the truth, facing up to the situation, the workers will stand by us. Unless this Government give us some concession, the workers certainly will turn the Government down.
  9.8 p.m.
  Dr. Little: I intervene for a few moments because this Bill will form the basis for the Bill that will afterwards be presented in the Parliament of Northern Ireland. I admire very much the earnestness of the hon. Member for Dumbarton Burghs (Mr. Kirkwood), but I would say to him, regarding this great crusade upon which he is to enter, apparently as leader, "bide a wee "until we have effectively dealt with Hitler. Do not enter upon this crusade until we have completed the crusade that we are engaged upon at the present time, for the freedom of Britain and the freedom of the world. I admire the earnestness of the hon. Member for Dumbarton Burghs, but I cannot follow him, because when I think of the condition of the working class and the poor in my boyhood, and of their condition and their position to-day, I feel that that is the best answer I can give to the oratory of the hon. Member. And better days are in front for the working class and the poor, for "our God goes marching on."
  I wondered at the hon. Member referring to the hon. Lady the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, as speaking with her master's voice. The hon. Lady does not need to speak with any voice but her own. Being no longer the baby of the House—I have been here now for some time—I am free to say that I have never heard a better statement in this House than that which the hon. Lady made to-day. It was well reasoned, closely knit, and fearlessly expressed. She dealt with the technicalities of the position most admirably, and I had hoped that the House would have accepted the Bill at the close of that message. I was reminded of an old gentleman in my native

  1467
  province. His brother was a minister, and he was accustomed to say that his brother was a most unfair preacher. A gentleman one day asked him why he always referred to his brother as a most unfair preacher: "Because," said he, ''When my brother sits down at the close of his sermon there is nothing more to be said." I felt that when the hon. Lady sat down she had said all that need be said.
  Mr. Silverman: Why are you speaking then?
  Dr. Little: I am speaking because hon. Members have carried on the oratory and I might just as well have an innings as hon. Members on the opposite side. I am here openly, avowedly and unashamedly to support the Bill, and I have been as long in touch with the poor as any Member on the opposite side of the House. I was caring for the poor when the hon. Member for Dumbarton Burghs was a baby in arms. My best friends have been among the poor and I will continue to care for them to the end of my days. This Bill has not been presented as a perfect Bill, but as far as it goes it is a good Bill, because it brings help to those who most need it. That is why I support the Bill. Do you think that a poor old soul living and paying rent on 10s. a week, or a man and his wife on £1 a week as their total income should not receive something more weekly than old people living in a home where there is something like £4 or £5 coming in every week? I support the Bill just because those absolutely dependent on the pension will receive more. It goes down to the lowest and it tries to lift them up and to help them and make them more happy.
  In principle the Bill is sound and is calculated to do an infinite amount of good. I have no doubt that under normal conditions the Government would have presented quite a different Bill, but we must recognise that we are engaged in a terrible conflict to-day and if anything went amiss in that conflict and Hitler got his heel onEngland—thank God he never will—the working class and the poor would be the first people who would suffer. That is the reason why we should put our whole strength into the war and end it as speedily as possible. I am proud of my country and proud of the Government, because in no other country in the world would such a Bill as this be
  1468
  introduced in face of the huge war expenditure. It is a great event of faith and it is to the overwhelming credit of Britain that this Bill has been introduced at this moment.
  It is difficult to satisfy everybody. Some people get into that grumbling and fault-finding way of saying, Because somebody else wants to do a thing, it is altogether wrong. If we on this side of the House want to do a thing the Opposition will always say that it is wrong, which reminds me of the story of a man who was fault-finding. He never was satisfied, but I think he was a good man, and he passed away. A neighbour had a dream one night that he had passed over and had gone to glory, and among the very first he met there was this man. The neighbour said to him, "Why, you will be happy now. Surely you are satisfied." He took off his crown and held it up, and he said, "Do you call that a fit? "It is very difficult to satisfy some people, but I believe that all over the country the effort of the Government will meet with general approval. Far too much has been said about the means test. I am not an old Member but I have a vivid recollection that the means test in regard to a certain Pensions Bill was regarded as a heaven-sent test. I supported that Bill, and while I shall never derive a halfpenny of benefit from it, I shall pay as long as I am a Member of tills House very gladly the amount assessed. But I do not see why any party should be a pigeon to-day and a raven to-morrow. I want consistency and I have always striven for that, and I want consistency from hon. Members opposite.
  Mr. Silverman: As so much has been made about the Members' Pensions Fund and the means test in regard to it, does not the hon. Member realise that the fund is a limited sum raised in a particular way? It is limited by Statute to that amount. It is sufficient to pay only a very small number of pensions and the House was driven to say that those pensions must be chosen in some way and that they had better be chosen by that test than by any other method. Is there any comparison whatever between that private club subscription administered by ourselves to the limited extent that it is subscribed, and the State taking upon itself the obligation that rests there, because nobody else can fulfil it, of maintaining in their old age every old person

  1469
  who has throughout his lifetime contributed to the wealth of the State? What comparison is there?
  Dr. Little: It may not appear so to the hon. Member but to me—I may be obtuse—the same principle underlies both. You cannot call the one the crow and the other the pigeon. I want the attention of this House specially focused not on the means test or anything like that, but upon the old, the poor and the needy, because they sorely need the additional assistance that they will get under this Bill. I have heard about objections to this Bill, but I have not received from County Down or from Ulster a single objection. In fact everything I have received has been a word of encouragement. I received this week a letter from a gentleman who occupies a prominent position in County Down. He is of a different faith and a different political creed from me, but he wrote to me to say how successful the coal fund in which he was interested and which was established largely by my honoured predecessor, Sir David Reid, had been in kindling fires in those dreary homes that were suffering from the closing of mills in a certain part of my constituency. He went on to say:
  "Congratulations on the prospect of an increase in the old age pensions because I believe that it will go a great way to meet the sore need these persons are in."
  Mr. Hubert Beaumont: The hon. Gentleman has said that he has not received any complaint from Northern Ireland with regard to this Bill. Is he aware that this Bill does not apply to Northern Ireland?
  Dr. Little: I am well aware of that fact. I stated that at the beginning, but there will be a Northern Ireland Bill based on this Bill. I have received several approvals. The day before I left to come to London I visited an old lady of between 70 and 80 years of age who had brought up a respectable family. She said to me as I was passing out, "God Bless you, Sir, for trying to get the old age pensions increased." I left with a warm heart and said to myself, "If the Government could bring a ray of sunshine into that home and make brighter that old lady's closing days of hard work and industry I would thank God." There has been a great deal of talk about the hardness of the heart of the people on this side. I
  1470
  had a letter from an old gentleman, I am sure a good man, in one of the valleys in South Wales. He wrote:
  "I hope you will also ask that God may move the heart of the Prime Minister to think more kindly of the old people."
  I do not need to do that at all, for the Prime Minister has as kind a heart for the old people as any man in this House. But you are sowing dragons' teeth on the other side and you will reap the harvest by and by. I am very gratified to have the opportunity of saying that I approve of the Bill and I know it will bring blessing and joy to many a home, and it will come across to us in Ulster also. I would make a final appeal. It would be far better, on a great social question like this, if we buried politics and faced up to the issue as Christian men and women. We want this great social question dealt with, not in the spirit of "I am on this side and you are on that, "but in the spirit of Jesus Christ, who loved the poor and went about doing good. I appeal to the Opposition not to force this question to a Division but to accept the Bill and try to amend it in Committee to the best of their ability. There is one thing that I should like to see embodied in the Bill, that a woman, now a widow who was a contributor to an approved society before marriage, and whose membership lapsed as her husband was not a contributor, should receive her pension at 60. I am thankful for this opportunity of saying a word for the Bill and I pray God that, in spite of all, it will bring blessing and help to countless homes.
  Mr. H. Beaumont: The hon. Member suggests that it is desirable that we should bury politics. Will he take that action with regard to Southern Ireland?
  Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Sir Dennis Herbert): That question is irrelevant and therefore I can relieve the hon. Member from replying to it.
  9.24 p.m.
  Mr. W. Joseph Stewart: I have sat in the House since Question Time and have listened to every speech that has been delivered, and I have come to the conclusion that in the minds of certain hon. Members there is a distinct difference in human values. By question and by speech and by the presentation of petitions attention has been drawn in this House to the plight of our old age pen-

  1471
  sioners. We have asked, ever since I came to the House four years ago, that something might be done with a view to making them independent of Poor Law assistance. I think there is good reason to be interested in aged people. It has been mentioned that many of them have given of their best in industry and in other walks of life. In my own county there are many veterans of industry who have worked for over 50 years, and their toil has helped to an appreciable extent to build the country up to the position that it occupies to-day.
  We have been concerned in Durham for many years in regard to the conditions surrounding the lives of many old people. In 1939 the county council, owing to the conditions in which they lived, found it necessary to spend no less than £123,000 to augment old age pensions. The number of our people drawing pensions who were subject to Poor Law relief was no less than 12,032. We had to spend this money to make it possible for our aged people to enjoy a decent standard of life, and we are quite willing to spend that amount in their interest. There is another side to what is being done in Durham, and that is in regard to our aged mine workers' movement. The Durham miner is always willing to help the veterans of industry as far as possible. We have 2,100 miners' homes occupied by 4,000 aged persons living rent free and with free coal. There are also nine hostels tenanted by 77 aged single men and widowers. The Aged Miners Association from 1929 to 1938 has spent £85,900 in building homes for the aged people. The present nominal value of properties belonging to the association is £389,553. This great work has been made possible by the help given by coal-owners and others interested, but mostly by the pence which have been contributed by miners themselves. I might say that no matter how low wages might have been in the mining world of Durham, the miner has always been willing to meet an extra levy to help to maintain the homes occupied by our aged people in Durham.
  By the introduction of this Bill one is rather fearful lest the means test will perhaps, while helping some, have an adverse effect upon many of our aged people now in receipt of Poor Law relief, and others living in our aged miners' homes. Many,
  1472
  alas, have bitter experience of the means test—we know what is happening in thousands of homes—and now to have to ask that our aged people, before they can get an augmented pension, should be subject to a means test in principle, is wrong. We are now going to pry into the private affairs of our old people before we are prepared to give them an extra shilling or two. I would like to ask what it is that these old people have done that you should subject them to a means test? If you apply it to them before they receive extra shillings, why not apply it to others who are drawing large pensions without having recourse to a means test?
  Let me come back to the question of human values. Suppose we were to set in any part of this House a veteran of industry, with his scars of toil and battle with mother earth, and put alongside him an ex-Judge of Appeal, an ex-Judge of the Chancery Division, or an ex-Judge of the county court, and say to the veteran of industry, "You have done your work well for over 50 years, you show the marks of your toil, and we assess your value at £26 a year, plus a certain amount which we will determine to be sufficient to keep body and soul together, "and say to the Judge with £3,500 per annum, "You have done your work well. We will assess your value at £3,500 per annum. "Dare any hon. Member of this House say that there is such a difference in human values between a battle-scarred veteran of industry and a Judge who has had an easy time throughout life? Some of us have had experience of industry. I know what hard work is. I was over 40 years in the mine, giving of my best in the interests of the country, and I suggest that the miners of this country as well as those who are engaged in other industries are just as valuable an asset of the country as the man who has a right by Statute to draw a pension of £3,500 a year.
  I was going through some figures today, and I found that from 1932 to 1938, tramp shipping, wheat growers, sugar-beet growers, the growers of oats and barley, people in the cattle industry and others, have drawn in those six years £64,000,000 from the State without a means test. If the Government can give £64,000,000 to certain classes of people without a means test, why should it be impossible to give a flat rate to our old age pensioners without applying a means

  1473
  test to them before they can get a few shillings?
  In conclusion, let me say that there may be certain parts of the Bill which are good, but it would help the prestige of the Government if they had been kind enough at this juncture to help our aged people in their time of need. Last year we spent in Durham £312,000 to give to the old people what we thought was sufficient to give them a decent standard of living. We give these houses to our aged miners with free coals and rent. What are the Government going to do in those cases? If you apply a means test to the sums which we have been giving out of rates, are you going to give our old people less than they are getting to-day? As far as our aged miners in our homes are concerned, will you apply a means test to them and nullify the work that has been done by the Durham miners, who have willingly given of their best to see that a certain number of our old people shall live in comfort and, for the rest of their days, have a shelter over their heads?
  9.40 p.m.
  Sir Richard Meller: The hon. Member for Houghton-le-Spring (Mr. W. Joseph Stewart) said that the Bill is good in parts. In recent times it has been very seldom that, in considering a Measure of this sort, there has been disclosed such general agreement, not only on parts, but on exactly one half of the Bill. This Bill is so good that I do not think we can accept it without giving some expression of appreciation of what it does. It confers upon the women of this country a very great benefit. It confers upon the women between 60 and 65 years of age a benefit for which they have been yearning for a good many years. I speak as one who, in days gone by, had a great deal to do with health insurance in its initial stages. I know that a very difficult stage in the sickness experience of a society is always that attached to the women between 60 and 65, particularly those engaged in part-time occupations. Many women have been dragging on, when they ought not to have continued working, simply because they had no alternative, and they would gladly have seized an opportunity—and I venture to say that probably it would have prolonged their life if they had had an opportunity—of retiring from
  1474
  work and taking a pension at 60 years of age.
  That is not all. Let us not forget that, under the Bill, those persons between the ages of 60 and 65 at the present time, and the early recipients of the benefits given under Part I, will receive those benefits without having made any extra contributions. The cost of the benefits will be carried by those who have to pay up to the age of 60 in the case of women and 65 in the case of men, and, therefore, I say that if there were that Part only of the Bill, the Government might well be proud of their achievement. Part II of the Bill has been called for by the. demands, not only of the Opposition, but of hon. Members who support the Government. I should like to point out that when the Labour party put forward their pensions plan in October, 1937, and adumbrated a scheme which would provide a pension of £1 a week, they said, in very careful terms, when considering the way in which it was to be provided and the way in which the money was to be found:
  "It is impossible to fix the respective contributions of the State, the employers and the employés towards the cost of the proposed scheme, for it is impossible to forecast what will be the economic conditions prevailing at the time of the introduction of the scheme."
  That is precisely the position to-day. Who would have thought, in 1937, that such enormous burdens as the Government and the country have to carry now would have been imposed upon them? Who, of the Socialist party would have dared to put forward Labour's pension plan with the outlook that we have before us at this time? I venture to say that it is a bold and generous action on the part of the Government to bring forward Part II of the Bill. I have as much sympathy as anybody has with those who reach old age and find themselves without the wherewithal to carry on, it may be in a reduced state, the conditions of life which they have ordinarily lived, namely, without an institution. If it were possible, I should be glad to support any Measure that would remove the one objection to this Bill, namely, the means test. Let us consider the proposals that have been put forward. When the matter was raised quite recently, what was the suggestion that was made? The appeal was, Cannot you do something for these poor old persons? Cannot you assist them even

  1475
  at this moment, when there is the possibility of the cost of living rising; even an increase of 2s. 6d. or 5s. would be a blessing to them. I submit that what is being done by this Bill is better than a flat rate increase of 2s. 6d. or 5s. If the Government had agreed to an increased pension allowance of 5s., bringing the pension up to 15s. a week, would that have met all the difficult cases? Would it have obviated the possibility of some people having to go through the means test?
  The Government have realised the difficulties of the means test and the objection which is raised against applying to the public assistance committee. They have said, "We will not have the public assistance committee for this purpose, but we will set up another board." I heard an hon. Member ask, "Why not have a pensions board instead of an Assistance Board? "It is a matter of name only. Remember that the persons who go forward to have their cases considered will be going before an Assistance Board which deals only with the question of supplementing a pension already earned, and when the payment is made, it will not be a case of the public assistance officer going round week by week, or of applying to the public assistance office to get the money; it will be a case of payment through the Post Office. Is it not then a trivial objection which is being made to this proposal and an objection made for purely party purposes?
  I heard one speaker say that he had had a bagful of letters on the question of the means test, and the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Lawson) referred to letters which he had received. I represent no small constituency. I represent a division on the borders of London with over 100,000 constituents, and I have not had one letter from any of them. I have been in that constituency now for 17 years; I have fought five elections there, and the people are not afraid to send their complaints to me. The only letter I have received is from the South Wales Old Age Pensioners Association, and there is not a word in that letter about the means test. [Hon. Members: "Why?"] I do not know why, but apparently this question is not agitating their minds as some hon. Members have suggested that their constituents are being
  1476
  agitated by it. Under the Bill certain women will get something at 60 instead of 65; they will be able to go to a special Assistance Board, and is it suggested that the people concerned oppose a scheme which will benefit them on the ground that it brings in a means test? I do not believe it. I believe that the country as a whole is prepared to accept the Bill, and I am sure the masses of the people from 60 to 65 who will benefit are praising the Government to-day for it. I believe that there is not a man—except those who are urged on by people who think there is an advantage in doing so as propaganda for party purposes—who will object to going to the Assistance Board. I think the Government are to be congratulated, and I believe that those who will benefit under the Bill and the country in general will say, "Thank God, there is a Conservative Government in power."
  9.49 p.m.
  Mr. Greenwood: I do not intend to follow the narrow party political line of the speaker who has preceded me, though I am glad of his admission as to the character of the Government which now sits on the opposite side of the House, and of which he seems to think he is entitled to be inordinately proud. My purpose is to deal with some of the criticisms which have been offered against us, with some of the charges which have been made and with some of the questions which have been put to us. The Minister of Health and the Parliamentary Secretary both stoked up a great deal of zeal for social reform in general and in the abstract, but on analysis of the Bill one finds that much of that zeal seems to have evaporated. The Minister introduced his speech with great enthusiasm and he concluded with a remarkable peroration to which I wish to draw the attention of the House. He said:
  "We say to our friends in France 'We are not neglecting out war effort to turn aside into paths of social reform. On the contrary, we are travelling towards an ideal which you, wiser than we, never really abandoned; the ideal of the property-owning democracy—the ideal of the State which shall marry industrial production with personal liberty, where every citizen has or shall have a real stake in his country.' "—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; col. 1219, Vol. 357.]
  Let me say that from my point of view that does not represent what we are fighting for in this particular war. The ideal

  1477
  of a property-owning democracy is a curious phrase in connection with this Bill, and, as a matter of fact, in relation to it, it is completely meaningless. It has, however, a certain significance, as I will try to show. This Debate has brought out quite clearly that, whilst there is overwhelming agreement in this House on the determination to overthrow Hitlerism, the old deep divisions which separate us still remain as clear as ever they were. The supporters of the Government hold by their property rights, so-called, just as tenaciously as ever they did before the Great War. They still mean to preserve class distinctions and they still regard the masses as inferior to the classes. There is on that side of the House a very deep sense of class consciousness, and that spirit of class consciousness has been breathed by speaker after speaker, both yesterday and to-day, on those benches. Whilst in Debates in this House there have been very many occasions when the Government have no supporters whatever, even on their own side, except a miserable array of figures on the Treasury Bench, on this occasion the Government have found more friends. I regard it as significant and as an expression again of what is the fundamental difference between that side of the House and this. Our outlook on the problem is human equality and human rights coupled with human respect.
  To us the Debate to-day is not intended for any narrow political ends. If there was a political speech made in this House in this Debate—I grieve to say it in her absence—it was in the closing sentences of the speech of the Parliamentary Secretary. I do not propose, however, to follow that course. The Parliamentary Secretary in her speech to-day, which must have been something of an ordeal for her, asked two specific questions very emphatically. I take it that it is our business to ask questions and it is for the Government to answer them. I am not sure that we are called upon to answer questions, but I am prepared to do my best to answer the two she put. The first was, did we think there was any good in Part I of the Bill, or would we scrap it? Well, I am old enough as a politician not to be trapped by a question like that. If you hold out a crust to a hungry woman of 60 and say, "Will you have this or nothing?" she would
  1478
  say, "I will take the crust," and, in so far as there are people who will receive pensions at the old scale who otherwise would not have received them, we are glad to know that they are going to benefit to some extent. There are 300,000 of them. The hon. Lady asked me whether Part II of the Bill should be entirely scrapped. My answer is emphatically in one word, Yes. I am saying that of a part of the Bill which potentially affects not 300,000, but 3,000,000 old age pensioners.
  Therefore, I would invert the saying about doing a great right by doing a little wrong, and say that in this Bill the Government are doing a little right by perpetrating an enormous wrong. We do not believe that on the whole the aged people of this country will be better off because of Part II of the Bill. It has been stated on these benches, and I take the same view myself, that considerable numbers of them may be really worse off, and substantially worse off. What we object to in this Bill is the nationalisation of pauperisation. That is at the root of the objections that have been taken to it on this side of the House. The Parliamentary Secretary tried to put us in a dilemma by saying that the public assistance committee had come in for more praise to-day than ever before. That is true, and the reason is simple. We dislike the Poor Law system, but experience has shown that it is more resilient, more humane and more understanding than the abstraction called the Unemployment Assistance Board, with its elaborate classification of groups of people, with its inevitable standardisation, with its officialism and with its remoteness from the individual with whom it has to deal.
  The choice is not our choice. We would rather have a humanely administered Poor Law system than an inhuman national monster. If the Unemployment Assistance Board be harsh to the able-bodied unemployed, can we expect it, even if one ewe lamb is added to its personnel—who happens to be a personal friend of mine—to be more humane to the aged people, who are less familiar with the elaborate social organisation of the day, unaccustomed to deal with forms and probably frail in health? Can they be expected to take kindly to this new glorified body called the Assistance

  1479
  Board? If it comes to a choice as between the two, I say, as one who dislikes the Poor Law system, that I would prefer that to this new method in Part II of the Bill. We would rather have retained the present machinery for the determination of old age pensions claims.
  Having tried to answer—I am not certain to her satisfaction—the two questions which the Parliamentary Secretary put to me, I think I may claim to put one or two simple questions to the Government. The first is this: Is 10s. pension enough? What proportion of the aged pensioners, of these 3,000,000 people, have enough, with the 10s., to live in decency? On the answer to that turns the case the Government are trying to make. If the proportion of people who can live on the 10s., with what they have, is small, it means that a large proportion of these people are unable to exist on the10s. The case for an all-round increase then stands. That is the question to which we require an answer. Then, put in a somewhat different form, is a point which I have already put: Do the Government think that a remote bureaucracy, dwelling in London and dealing with case papers and not with human beings, and administered by individuals with very wide powers, is a suitable machinery for dealing with aged people—often ailing people—who, in the evening of their days, require more care and sympathy than they did during their years of vigorous life, when they might have been victims of the Unemployment Assistance Board? The questions which I am putting to the Government are fundamental, and I hope I have made clear the attitude which we take up on these problems.
  Naturally, the discussion has centred very largely on the means test, and a good old chestnut was thrown on the Floor of the House again last night, probably in order to mislead hon. Members who have not been in the House since it was previously used. This is a question to which I must refer:
  "The means test was initiated by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Wake-field (Mr. Greenwood) when he was Minister of Health. [HON. MEMBERS: "No!"] Yes. It is all very well for hon. Members to say "No!" but I could show them the circular in which the right hon. Gentleman laid down the principle."
  1480
  And, a little later, after my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition had intervened, the hon. Member in question said:
  "The circular lays down the means test most unmistakably for the guidance of local authorities."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th February, 1940; col. 1275, Vol. 357.]
  That statement is a shameless untruth. I have said in this House before that the means test was established in this country by the 43rd of Elizabeth, passed in the year 1601, and I take my share of responsibility for that. I inherited a Poor Law, and, if I had been able and had had the time to try to overhaul and overturn it Members on that side of the House would have been bitter in their opposition. What could I do, in a minority as we then were?
  I did the next best thing. The circular which I sent to the boards of guardians I stand by to-day. In effect it was this: "We all know," said I, in addressing the boards of guardians, "that, under the law, all means have to be taken into account; but," I said, "boards of guardians have the right to exercise a certain measure of discretion. "I suggested that they should exercise that discretion and I pointed out two particular classes of people to whom I hoped they would show discretion, the disabled ex-Service man and the widow with young children. The "Manchester Guardian, "a paper with some repute in this country, published a leading article in which it said words to this effect: ''This is the greatest administrative act of the century"—and yet I am alleged to be the author of the means test.
  Let me give another side of this pretty picture. I remember that in 1929, when I was on the opposite side of the House, with the help of my colleagues I was trying to put through a Pensions Bill, and I remember the kind of treatment I received from hon. Members who are now on that side of the House and who then were on this side. I remember when the 1925 Contributory Pensions Bill was before the House, how the Tory party sat there preening themselves, covering themselves with unction and taking on themselves a sort of holy pride as if they were protecting the self-respect of the poor of this country. They said, "We are getting away from this iniquitous inquiry such as you have under the old non-

  1481
  contributory pensions Act. We are going to institute a system under which the people will pay and will receive." In 1929 those who accused me of being the author of the means test before this circular was issued had Amendments on the Paper to try and force me to accept a means test for the old age pensioners. These are facts which are undeniable; the facts are on record. I remember keeping the House until late the following morning in order to break the resistance; and we broke it. The Government did not get the means test, but if they had they would have palmed it on to us.
  Let me follow out this history. Up to 1031 the unemployed in this country, so long as they were really out of work and work was not available for them, could receive unemployment benefit. It is true that during that period of growing economic crisis we built up a debt, but I am not ashamed of that. It was a payment which men received because they were out of work, and although I will not pretend they were treated generously they were at least treated fairly. In 1934, instead of this long period of benefit under the Act, we got the short period of benefit and then the inquisition. We protested against that at the time and we debated it night after night. We kept the House here nearly two days, I believe, on the discussion of that very principle. This vicious system introduced by the National Government in 1934 is now beginning to spread. We had a Debate a week or two ago on workmen's compensation. I took occasion then to say some very hard words—words which I do not regret. The same principle is to be applied there. There is not a Member of this House—because I asked a question on that day—who would say that workmen's compensation rates to-day are even reasonably adequate. I am not referring to exceptional cases, but the vast majority, and probably all. The present scales are inadequate. The only answer to that is to raise the scales.
  What is the proposal of the Government? Unless they put proposals which employers will not accept and which trade unionists will not look at, their intention, so far as they have any intention in this matter, is to deal with workmen's compensation by picking out what they call specially hard cases. In a working-class home, if a breadwinner is stricken down by industrial accident, there is hardship
  1482
  in that home. I repeat what I said on that occasion: the masses of the people live in poverty; poverty is hardship; and it is hopeless, therefore, to try to deal with this problem of workmen's compensation by dealing with hard cases. When we get this Bill, we find the same kind of principle. There is the old amount of 10s., and then, if you want any more, the inquisition again. It is obviously the policy of the Government to stabilise the existing provision that is made under various schemes, and, merely in order to satisfy their own consciences, to deal with hard cases in any new legislation that they have in mind.
  It is increasingly clear to me that the Government's intention is to pauperise the whole of our social services, to spread this miasma of pauperism through a new, more subtle, more diffused Poor Law system. It is that to which we object in this Bill, and we object with all the strength at our command. Hated as that Poor Law system was, it was at least concentrated; but now the whole spirit is to trail over one social service after another, infecting them all with the old Bumbledom, that we on this side wish to see destroyed for ever. The Parliamentary Secretary spoke of what the country would think of the Bill; we have had a very emotional picture of what Northern Ireland thinks about the Bill; also of what the great constituency of Mitcham has said about the Bill. We on this side believe that we know, as well as most Members, what the people will think about Part II of the Bill. We believe that there is bound to be an ever-increasing resentment by honest, decent, working-class people at this widening area of investigation, whatever help it may be that they seek to obtain. In our view—I do not wish to cramp the time of the right hon. Gentleman—the poor, the unemployed, the aged should be treated with dignity and respect. We shall go into the Division Lobby wholeheartedly in support of our Amendment, with stout hearts, to continue the fight until the shackles of pauperism and injustice which are now again being fastened on the necks of the poor are smitten from them, and they are accorded the treatment rightfully due to the citizens of a great nation.
  10.14 p.m.
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir John Simon): The right hon. Gentleman

  1483
  the Member for Wakefield (Mr. Greenwood), has addressed the House with his customary vigour and eloquence, but I am bound to say that, listening to him with attention, it appeared to me that he was wholly on the defensive, and was particularly concerned to defend his own record. [Interruption.] We have listened to his speech with complete attention. In the course of it, he referred to a large number of matters connected with Poor Law and workmen's compensation proposals, with which I cannot deal to-night. But there was an argument in one part of his speech which, I confess, I heard with a good deal of surprise. I quite appreciate the many points of criticism which have been made in the Debate, but I had supposed that the right hon. Gentleman himself was deeply convinced that it would be a real reform of our old age pensions system if the duties that fall upon the local authorities and the supply which they have to make to supplement old age pension allowances were transferred wholesale to a central fund and administered by the State. The reason I thought so, until I listened to him just now, was that the last time he made a speech about old age pensions was on 27th July last year, when he moved a Motion calling upon us to reform the system on the date that the Prime Minister first promised an investigation. I see that the right hon. Gentleman, in a speech which was in many respects most moderate, twice over made this express point, that it would be a vast improvement, almost an unhoped-for improvement, if the whole of this burden which at present rests on the local authorities was so transferred. [An HON. MEMBER: "Not the means test."] That is a separate point, and I will deal with it in a moment. I see that the right hon. Gentleman said last July:
  "It would be in the rational interest if the whole of that burden of £6,000,000 were taken away from the local authorities, even if the whole of it fell upon the State."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th July, 1939; col. 1703, Vol. 350.]
  Until I heard his vigorous defence of the action of the local authorities in relation to this relief, I had from that moment always supposed that at any rate the Bill would receive this measure of commendation, that we had done completely and altogether the very thing which he emphasised so much in that speech last July.
  1484
  If one is to make a review of this subject, it is necessary to realise—and this is true of every Government in turn—that those who have for the time being the direct responsibility for the finances of the country are bound to take a stricter view than that which naturally appeals, it may be, to other Members of the House. The right hon. Gentleman gave us a selection of references. Let me give one more. When Mr. Snowden was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the first Labour Government, at a time when I may perhaps describe him as the Simon Pure of Socialist finance, he had occasion very early in his Ministerial career to deal with a Motion to abolish all means tests in connection with old age pensions. I have here the report of what he said. He said:
  "As I listened to the speech of the hon. Member who moved this Resolution I was reminded of the days of my own irresponsibility. He spoke about the ease with which tens and fifties of millions could be got."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th February, 1924; col. 640, Vol. 170.]
  I, too, have here a responsibility cast upon me as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I have been bound to examine the proposals which have come before me from the point of view of finance. You pointed out, Sir, when you ruled on the Financial Resolution at the beginning of yesterday's Debate, that it is the function and the duty of the Government to see that due limits are set to the public money that is going to be expended for a particular purpose, and it is certainly my duty to examine these proposals from that point of view. I heard the hon. Member for Aberdare (Mr. George Hall) yesterday argue almost as though the present time was one when it was particularly easy and appropriate to find large quantities of additional public money for the purpose of improving old age pensions. He put it on a comparison of figures of the national income over a series of years and argued that, because the figure of the national income this year is very much larger than it was, say, in 1908, therefore it followed that this was a time when it was possible to pour much additional public money into this great social service. The argument is entirely fallacious. In the first place, these figures of national income are much disputed in amount; furthermore, the size of the figure to-day as compared with 1908 is partly due to the lower purchasing power of money.

  1485
  But, more than that, it is the greatest possible delusion to suppose that the increase in the figure of the national income between two periods is a proof that there is a larger quantity of national wealth which is capable of being poured into a particular service. I should quite expect that, if the war goes on and becomes the great struggle that it is likely to do, when the economists come to work out the national income for 1941 it is very likely that it will show a further increase and that they will give extremely large figures because of the enormous outlay that will be entailed; but it is a complete fallacy to suppose that that puts us in a much easier position to find large sums of public money for such a purpose as this than was the case same time back. I myself think that the mere fact that the House of Commons is able to devote two days to discussing how the pensions scheme may be improved now is a most wonderful proof of its determination to improve its social services in spite of the frightful burdens of the war. In July we were called upon by the right hon. Gentleman's Motion to consider whether we could not face this important problem, and the Prime Minister replied that, in spite of the fearful additional burdens with which the country had had to be loaded for rearmament and defence, we would make such an investigation. When the war broke out it was thought that it might be extremely difficult to pursue that hope, but we had a further Debate on 1st November, and I told the House I would resume that investigation and would do my utmost, with the help of those who could advise me best, to see whether the scheme could be improved.
  I must remind the House that I there laid down the condition, which indeed the Prime Minister had formulated earlier in the year, that if there was to be a substantial improvement in the rate of contributory pension, it was, in present circumstances, essential that the addition should be substantially financed by additional contributions and that the part which the Exchequer could play in contributing to that extra outlay must be regarded as entirely subordinate. I laid it down clearly, and what happened? I must digress for a few minutes because part of the speech of the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton) last night rather surprised and
  1486
  puzzled me. When I undertook the investigation into this question I invited the assistance of representatives of the Trades Union Congress and representatives of the organised employers, with the addition of help from official and actuarial quarters. That investigation was conducted on the distinct understanding—nay, the distinct promise—that the contributions that were being made to the investigation by the different parties should not be revealed. I well understood why that should be thought desirable, and I never told the employers what were the suggestions made to me by the Trades Union Council, because I thought it might prejudice their position in the negotiations. I never revealed, on the other hand, what were the views of the employers, to the Trades Union Congress. Yesterday it was referred to, and I was asked what it was that the employers were willing to do. I must say, in view of the suggestion made last night, that it would not be true to say that the employers' organisations had shown them-selves unwilling to help, or had been obstructive. I may fairly say that I am most grateful for the help that I got from both quarters, and that that help was given in order to try to produce a scheme.
  When this question was examined—and I beg hon. Members to remember this, because it is no good speaking of this matter in general; one must have a grip on the figures—I found that if you take the old age pension of 10s., the contributory pension asit is to-day, before we start to try and improve it, it is a pension which is being met, of course in part, by contributions, but as to 60 per cent. by payments from the Exchequer. Of every 10s. which an old age pensioner gets to-day, 6s. is provided by the Exchequer and the balance from contributions. That, of course, is an important factor, and great as is the burden on the Exchequer, it will grow. I therefore was bound to bear in mind my stipulation that if pensions were to be improved, it must be done by increased contributions, and that with my responsibilities as Chancellor I could not agree to substantial sums being paid by the Exchequer for this purpose. Let me tell the House what it would mean to increase by means of a flat rate of 5s. the 10s. pension to 15s., and I am confining myself to contributory pensions for the purposes of this state-

  1487
  ment. Suppose you had to provide that increase out of contributions from workmen and employers. At present the two contributions, in the case of men, amount to 11d. per week—5½d. for the workman and 5½d. for the employer. Does the House realise what would be the addition which would have to be made to the weekly contributions if you were going to add 5s. to the pension? You would have to double the present contribution and make it is. 10d. instead of 11d., and in a short time that would not be sufficient, and you would have to get a still bigger contribution. That is a very serious fact.
  Anyone who has really tried to work out the finance of this scheme will see how serious it is, and it is even more serious in the case of women than of men. I am including the benefit to the wife at 60 of the old age pensioner of 65 and also insured women at 60, and if you made the pension 15s., then the woman's contribution, which is 5½d. per week shared between her and the employer, would have to be increased by another 1s. 3d., making a total of is. 8½d. I confess that I was rather staggered by these figures. I am as anxious as anyone to see that we do the best we can, and most effectively, on this subject now. I realise as clearly as anyone that there are cases of great hardship which we must struggle to meet, but when I came to that situation I found that it was not possible to suppose that such an immense increase could be expressed merely by stamps on a card, and I was further faced with the question whether I could make a larger additional contribution from the Exchequer.
  I must tell the House that my task as Chancellor of the Exchequer is at present a very hard task, and I felt bound to come to the conclusion that although I could make some contribution to a scheme, I could not make a contribution which would secure an increase in pensions of that amount. It was in those circumstances that a possible alternative was considered. I admit, of course, that our alternative has features which are open to criticism and raise anxieties about inquisition and so on. I agree with all that, but I want the House to co-operate in making the scheme as good as we can.
  1488
  I was met with this situation, and I put it to the House. The truth is that a plan to try and improve old age pensions by adding a flat rate of so many shillings is open to two very great objections. One objection is that in some cases the addition is not needed, and the other objection, which in many cases would exist, is that the addition would not be enough.
  Mr. Kirkwood: If it was not enough, more could be given.
  Sir J. Simon: If you made it 10s., you would still find that the argument which was made so well this afternoon by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health is unanswerable. As she said, we all of us feel that it is lamentable that these poor old people should have to go to the Poor Law; we should all of us like to see a system which would avoid that, if possible. But do you avoid it by adding either 5s. or 10s.? You do not. It is quite plain that the real difference between us is that the Government are trying in this Bill, by centralising this administration, to avoid some of these handicaps and difficulties; but, on the other hand, I think some hon. Members opposite are so wedded to the idea of increasing the flat rate all round that they are prepared to swallow the consequence—namely, that after that had been done, great numbers of people would still have to go to the Poor Law. I will read to the House two sentences from the leading article in the "Daily Herald "this morning, for I could not wish the contrast between the Government's plan and the other plan to be out more clearly than it was in the "Daily Herald":
  "The point is that the Government might have granted a flat-rate increase in the pension—which would still have allowed specially needy cases to get public assistance."
  That is the plan which, apparently, the "Daily Herald" favour, and which they, at any rate, think is the plan of the Labour movement, for they go on to say:
  "This was what the Labour movement and the pensioners' organisations proposed."
  In other words, leave the burden on the rates, leave people who have the greatest need for help, after they have exhausted their increased pensions, to get it as they do now. I cannot see that that avoids the

  1489
  means test. For my part, I am completely convinced—it will no doubt take time for some to accept it, but I see indications that it is being accepted—that the way to deal with this is not to treat each old age pensioner as being in exactly the same position as every other old age pensioner, because he is not. Flexibility in giving the additional assistance is really necessary in a fair scheme. In these Debates there is a natural inclination to think of the old age pensioners as men and women on the verge of destitution, but that is not a true picture of all the population of 3,000,000 who are drawing 10s. a week as an old age pension. What do you need to get a pension of 10s. a week at 65? You do not need to be on the verge of destitution. You may be a Member of Parliament. You may be a trade union leader. You may be a person with substantial investments. You do not get the pension at 65 because you are on the edge of poverty; you get it because you are 65. The only conditions which have to be fulfilled are these: first, you must have been insured for the last five years; second, you must have 104 stamps on your card; and, third, except in cases where you can show that you have been insured for 10 years by the time you reach 60, you must satisfy what is called the "average contribution" condition.
  I say, with the greatest possible respect to hon. Gentlemen opposite, that the truth about the great mass of the people who are called old age pensioners is that while there are some of them who do, I agree, need help—much more help than any practicable flat-rate increase would give—there are others who could not claim to be in that position. Is it to be argued then that because we must do the best we can for the poorest of them, we must therefore give the same cash payments to all 3,000,000 people?
  Mr. E. J. Williams Mr. E. J. Williams rose ߞ
  Sir J. Simon: I would gladly give way to the hon. Member, but may I ask that I should be allowed to get on with my argument? I do not think I will annoy anybody in doing so, and it is impossible to deal with a subject like this in reply to a series of interruptions.
  Mr. Williams: I wish to put only a short question. Is the right hon. Gentleman's argument at the moment in favour
  1490
  of an individual rather than a household test—that the income of the individual should be taken into account and not the income of the household?
  Sir J. Simon: I was about to say something about the test, and I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for his question, which is quite a natural one, and I am grateful for the way in which he put it. But I was trying to show the House, what I think any fair-minded man or woman will recognise, that this is no mere device or trick which is intended to defraud the poor, but a serious attempt, made even in the midst of the stress of war, to find a way out of these tremendous difficulties.
  I desire next to say a word about the condition of retirement. I think that in itself shows a recognition of the fact that we must distinguish between different sets of people, though, for my part, I do not think this is a good time in the history of our country to encourage people, who are able to do work and are doing work, to retire from that work. I should have thought that people who might be earning £2, £3, or £4 a week would not be very likely to give that up for an extra 5s. or 10s. a week. I must say that I am a little sensitive to the suggestion that people who have reached the age of 65 should give up work—perhaps because I happen to have a birthday in the month of February.
  I believe that the right principle to apply is that which was stated yesterday by the hon. Member for East Birkenhead (Mr. White), namely, to give the greatest help you can in the shortest time where it is most required. That is the object which we had in introducing the Bill. What does it do? First, it takes away the old age pension from the realm of public assistance. Application to the public assistance committee for a supplementary grant was a most unpleasant necessity which must have deeply distressed the recipients, and I have always felt that it was a shame that old age pensioners should, for this purpose, have to go to the relief office, to be dealt with in exactly the same way as anybody who was receiving outdoor relief. We have altered that, and altered it in away which ought to be commended by the House, because it secures, not only that the administration will be central, but that the minimum relief given will be the same scales as those which operate under the

  1491
  Assistance Board. The Assistance Board have already been gathering a certain amount of material in preparation for what they will have to do. Since I like to take cases and see what it really means, I sent a message to the authorities saying that I should like cases to be given to me to see how they would be dealt with. I will give three instances.
  Here is a case of a woman who is a pensioner, aged 72. She is bedridden, with a daughter of 49 who looks after her. She lives, I think, in the Middlesex area, and the rent is 13s. 4d. The board, applying the present Regulations, and remembering that we undertake that, under the new procedure, there is to be no worse treatment than those Regulations, would give, in addition to her 10s. pension, 23s. 6d. in summer and 25s. 6d. in winter. What form of addition to the flat rate will do that? Here is another of these cases. A man, also in Middlesex, who is 65, whose wife is 57, and therefore will not be caught yet by the 60 years concession, pays 26s. in rent. There is, however, a sub-let, bringing the rent down to 14s. The board, applying the Regulations, would think it necessary to give him 24s. in summer and 26s. in winter, an addition to the 10s. pension. Another is the case of a man, aged 69, whose wife is 44, with a step-daughter of 13, a daughter of 10, and a younger son. The rent is 6s., and the board, applying its Regulations, would give about 28s. in summer and 30s in winter, in addition to the pension. I wish at once to explain to the House that I have given these examples to show how plain it is that a mere flat-rate addition will not meet the case.
  Mr. Lawson: If these are standard cases to be taken, how does the right hon. Gentleman explain the fact that, as I said this afternoon, the public assistance authority in Durham are quite sure that under the assistance proposed by the Government, the old age pensioners on the average would be 5s. a week worse off than at the present time?
  Sir J. Simon: I wanted to ascertain from the Assistance Board what in fact would happen if they applied their existing scales. I am not as familiar with the details as I dare say some hon. Mem-
  1492
  bers are. Information I have, official information, on the very point is enough for me to say that the merit of the Government's plan is that it does provide flexibility. [Interruption.]
  My hon. Friend the Member for East Fife (Mr. Henderson Stewart) made an admirable speech yesterday. He referred to the statement that I had made and to the possibility that this system would lead to greater stability in the allowances of supplementary pensions than was the case when public assistance authorities dealt with it. It is a mistake to suppose, as some hon. Gentlemen did, that there exists a regulation of the Unemployment Assistance Board requiring a review once a month. That may be the practice in the case of unemployment, but it is obvious that in the ordinary old age pensions case there is a far greater stability of conditions. The payment will go on for a considerable period, and instead of an old man having to go to the Post Office with one document to get his 10s., and then to a different place—perhaps some distance away—to the relieving office, to make another application, the procedure will be concentrated and he will be able to go to the Post Office and get the whole of his payment according to a regular system. My hon. Friend the Member for Oxford University (Mr. A. Herbert) is particular in regard to the use of words, and in his absence I would venture to say that the diuturnity of old age is a good deal greater than the diuturnity even of unemployment.
  There is a much worse needs test which the law is applying now, and the proposal we are making is not, as some people are being led to suppose, to impose a needs test where no needs test exists. Let it be clearly understood by every old age pensioner—and I appeal to everybody in the House to help about this—that there is nothing we are proposing which requires a needs test to apply to the contributory old age pension of 10s. That pension is a right. I do not know how it comes about, but there are certain people, either innocent or ignorant, who have got that mistaken impression, and I have no doubt that everybody in the House will wish to correct it. There is at present a family test which is applied, or ought to be applied, in reference to the supple-

  1493
  mentary grants. We abolish that. There are many cases where it is right that a son or daughter living away should send something home to the old people. On the other hand, under the existing system, there are cases where a son or daughter is regularly sending more than he or she can conveniently spare to help the parents. I take a pride in having put an end to that. I would far sooner rely on the natural, sense of feeling of sons and daughters who are away to help the old people, than continue the existing system.
  It is necessary, if we are ever to try to fit relief to the case, if we are to realise that there is a difference between one case and another, that we should have some method of measuring needs. Nobody would say that, if there be two old age pensioners, each with 10s. a week, one of whom urgently needs additional help in order to keep himself in a decent state, and the other of whom is living in a home, in comfort, with a shelter and a fire and a table, with sons who are earning large sums, the needs of these two people are the same. I believe it to be an insult to the real feeling of sons regarding their parents to suggest that so long as this scheme is fairly administered it will result in dissension. It does depend upon how it is administered. I agree that it makes all the difference in the world whether the system is to become a wooden, mechanical thing, grinding out the benefit without feeling or sympathy, or is to be worked in a better and more human spirit. I know there are hon. Members of this House and among the party opposite who have honourably admitted that, since the Unemployment Assistance Board has started, the fears which they entertained that it would prove a cruel and soulless instrument have been removed. I know that is true. I regard it as an essential part of the Government's duty in this matter not merely to pass this Bill but to do every thing we can with the help of the House to secure that the administration is good.
  Just let me make a final point. We have had several reviews of the history of this subject in the course of the past two days' Debate.
  Mr. Davidson: It is time to review the big pensions.
  Sir J. Simon: Let that subject be for a moment. I am speaking of old age pensions. Let me deal with the history of this subject. In the beginning, no one influenced opinion on this subject more than Joseph Chamberlain. And let me mention a name in connection with the party opposite, the name of a man whom I greatly respected, Mr. George Barnes. Perhaps I may mention a personal reminiscence. I remember travelling to London with Mr. Barnes on 1st January, 1909, to a celebration meeting in the East End because that was the first day on which the old age pension had ever been paid. Mr. Asquith provided the money.
  Mr. Glenvil Hall: Pushed into it.
  Sir J. Simon: Oh, no. I knew Mr. Asquith better than the hon. Member did. He provided the money and the Act was passed, under the direction of the right hon. Member for Carnarvon Boroughs(Mr. Lloyd George). There have been great improvements since including the Contributory Pensions Act of 1925 sponsored by the present Prime Minister. I shall have no objection, if this Bill passes, for it to be associated—as some critics have threatened—with my name.
  But a far better result would be this. We have had our two days of vigorous Debate and it has been, as has been said, a splendid example of what a free Debate in a free country can be. Is it too late for the House of Commons, as a whole, to take the Bill, consider it, improve it, if you will, and try to make it a real piece of work done by the House of Commons, with no credit claimed on one side and no blame attributed on the other? It would be a wonderful thing in the records of this House that, during our fight for freedom and liberty abroad, we had not forgotten the needs of the old folk at home.
  Question put, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
  The House divided: Ayes, 249; Noes, 134.

  NOES.

  Adams, D. (Consett)

  Graves, T. E.

  Pearson, A.

  Adams, D. M. (Poplar, S.)

  Hall, G. H. (Aberdare)

  Pethick-Lawrence, Rt. Hon. F. W.

  Adamson, Jennie L. (Dartford)

  Hall, J. H. (Whitechapel)

  Poole, C. C.

  Adamson, W. M.

  Hall, W. G. (Colne Valley)

  Price, M. P.

  Alexander, Rt. Hon. A. V. (H'lsbr.)

  Hardie, Agnes

  Pritt, D. N.

  Ammon, C. G.

  Harris, Sir P. A.

  Quibell, D. J. K.

  Banfield, J. W.

  Hayday, A.

  Ridley, G.

  Barnes, A. J.

  Henderson, A. (Kingswinford)

  Riley, B.

  Barr, J.

  Henderson, J. (Ardwick)

  Ritson, J.

  Batey, J.

  Hills, A. (Pontefract)

  Roberts, W. (Cumberland, N.)

  Beaumont, H. (Batley)

  Hollins, A.

  Robinson, W. A. (St. Helens)

  Bevan, A.

  Horabin, T. L.

  Sexton, T. M.

  Broad, F. A.

  Isaacs, G. A.

  Shinwell, E.

  Buchanan, G.

  Jackson, W. F.

  Silverman, S. S.

  Burke, W. A.

  Jagger, J.

  Sinclair, Rt. Hon. Sir A. (C'thn's)

  Cape, T.

  Jenkins, A. (Pontypool)

  Sloan, A.

  Cassells, T.

  John, W.

  Smith, Ben (Rotherhithe)

  Charleton, H. C.

  Jones, A. C. (Shipley)

  Smith, E. (Stoke)

  Chater, D.

  Jowitt, Rt. Hon. Sir W. A.

  Smith, Rt. Hon. H. B. Lees- (K'ly)

  Cluse, W. S.

  Kennedy, Rt. Hon. T.

  Smith, T. (Normanton)

  Cooks, F. S.

  Kirkwood, D.

  Sorensen, R. W.

  Collindridge, F.

  Lansbury, Rt. Hon. G.

  Stephen, C.

  Cove, W. G.

  Lathan, G.

  Stewart, W. J. (H'ght'n-le-Sp'ng)

  Daggar, G.

  Lawson, J. J.

  Strauss, G. R. (Lambeth, N.)

  Davidson, J. J. (Maryhill)

  Leach, W.

  Summerskill, Dr. Edith

  Davies, R. J. (Westhoughton)

  Leonard, W.

  Thurtle, E.

  Davies, S. O. (Merthyr)

  Lunn, W.

  Tinker, J. J.

  Dobbie, W.

  Macdonald, G. (Ince)

  Tomlinson, G.

  Dunn, E. (Rother Valley)

  McEntee, V. La T.

  Viant, S. P.

  Ede, J. C.

  McGhee, H. G.

  Watkins, F. C.

  Edwards, A. (Middlesbrough E.)

  MacLaren, A.

  Watson, W. McL.

  Edwards, Sir C. (Bedwellty)

  Maclean, N.

  Westwood, J.

  Edwards, N. (Caerphilly)

  Mander, G. le M.

  White, H. Graham

  Fletcher, Lt.-Comdr. R. T. H.

  Marshall, F.

  Whiteley, W. (Blaydon)

  Foot, D. M.

  Messer, F.

  Wilkinson, Ellen

  Frankel, D.

  Milner, Major J.

  Williams, E. J. (Ogmore)

  Gallacher, W.

  Morrison, Rt. Hon. H. (Hackney, S.)

  Williams, T. (Don Valley)

  Gardner, B. W.

  Morrison, R. C. (Tottenham, N.)

  Wilmot, John

  Garro Jones, G. M.

  Mort, D. L.

  Windsor, W. (Hull, C.)

  George, Megan Lloyd (Anglesey)

  Muff, G.

  Woodburn, A.

  Gibson, R. (Greenock)

  Naylor, T. E.

  Woods, G. S. (Finsbury)

  Graham, D. M. (Hamilton)

  Oliver, G. H.

  Young, Sir R. (Newton)

  Green, W. H. (Deptford)

  Owen, Major G.

  Greenwood, Rt. Hon. A.

  Paling, W.

  TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—

  Griffith, F. Kingsley (M'ddl'sbro, W.)

  Parker, J.

  Mr. R. J. Taylor and Mr. Mathers.

  Griffiths, J. (Llanelly)

  Parkinson, J. A.

  Bill read a Second time.
  Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House for To-morrow.—[Captain Margesson.]
  The remaining Orders were read, and postponed.
  ADJOURNMENT.
  Resolved, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Captain Margesson.]
  Adjourned accordingly at Twelve Minutes after Eleven o'Clock.

CIVIL DEFENCE.
  AIR-RAID WARDENS'POSTS (HEATING).
  AIR-RAID WARDENS'POSTS (HEATING).
  PERSONNEL (WAGES).
  PERSONNEL (WAGES).
  AIR-RAID PRECAUTIONS (SCHOOLS).
  AIR-RAID PRECAUTIONS (SCHOOLS).
  EVACUATION (YOUNG CHILDREN).
  EVACUATION (YOUNG CHILDREN).
POST OFFICE.
  TELEPHONE SERVICE.
  TELEPHONE SERVICE.
  EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (PARCEL POST RATES).
  EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (PARCEL POST RATES).
  PRINTED PAPER (POSTAGE RATES).
  PRINTED PAPER (POSTAGE RATES).
  TELEVISION SERVICE (SUSPENSION).
  TELEVISION SERVICE (SUSPENSION).
RUSSIA.
  AIR FORCES (INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING).
  AIR FORCES (INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING).
  FINNISH WAR (MEDIATION).
  FINNISH WAR (MEDIATION).
  CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS (DATE OF PAYMENT).
  CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS (DATE OF PAYMENT).
  INCOME TAX (RELIEF).
  INCOME TAX (RELIEF).
FOOD SUPPLIES.
  INVALID DIET.
  INVALID DIET.
  MILK.
  MILK.
  MEAT CONTROL.
  MEAT CONTROL.
  SAUSAGES.
  SAUSAGES.
  PUBLIC KITCHENS.
  PUBLIC KITCHENS.
  FEEDING-STUFFS (POULTRY).
  FEEDING-STUFFS (POULTRY).
  SUGAR.
  SUGAR.
  RETAILERS' REGISTRATION (LICENCES AND CERTIFCATES).
  RETAILERS' REGISTRATION (LICENCES AND CERTIFCATES).
  MIXED MEAL.
  MIXED MEAL.
  BACON.
  BACON.
  FAT STOCK GRADING.
  FAT STOCK GRADING.
  EGGS.
  EGGS.
  CEREALS.
  CEREALS.
ROYAL NAVY.
  SCOTTISH FISHING BOATS (PAYMENT).
  SCOTTISH FISHING BOATS (PAYMENT).
  HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP "ROYAL ARTHUR."
  HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP "ROYAL ARTHUR."
  WIRELESS OPERATORS (MERCHANT SHIPS).
  WIRELESS OPERATORS (MERCHANT SHIPS).
  MERCHANT SHIP CONSTRUCTION.
  MERCHANT SHIP CONSTRUCTION.
  FISHERMEN (RESPONSE TO APPEAL).
  FISHERMEN (RESPONSE TO APPEAL).
  ARMAMENT (MERCHANT SHIPS).
  ARMAMENT (MERCHANT SHIPS).
  DESTROYERS, ETC. (WELFARE ARRANGEMENTS).
  DESTROYERS, ETC. (WELFARE ARRANGEMENTS).
  OFFICERS (PAY).
  OFFICERS (PAY).
  ENEMY SUBMARINES (LOSSES).
  ENEMY SUBMARINES (LOSSES).
  OFFICERS (PROMOTION TO FLAG RANK).
  OFFICERS (PROMOTION TO FLAG RANK).
  ROYAL NAVAL AUXILIARY HOSPITAL, BARROW GURNEY.
  ROYAL NAVAL AUXILIARY HOSPITAL, BARROW GURNEY.
  FISHING FLEETS (PROTECTION FROM AIR ATTACK).
  FISHING FLEETS (PROTECTION FROM AIR ATTACK).
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS.
  MINISTRY OF PENSIONS (NORTH STAFFORD AND SOUTH CHESHIRE).
  MINISTRY OF PENSIONS (NORTH STAFFORD AND SOUTH CHESHIRE).
  REQUISITIONED HOTELS, HEREFORD.
  REQUISITIONED HOTELS, HEREFORD.
  BRICKS.
  BRICKS.
  MINISTRY OF INFORMATION (REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION)
  MINISTRY OF INFORMATION (REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION)
  MINISTRY OF FOOD (STAFF, WALES).
  MINISTRY OF FOOD (STAFF, WALES).
  NAVAL AND MILITARY PENSIONS AND GRANTS.
  NAVAL AND MILITARY PENSIONS AND GRANTS.
  DRURY LANE FUND.
  DRURY LANE FUND.
  WOMEN POLICE.
  WOMEN POLICE.
ROYAL PARKS.
  WATER FOWL (COST OF FEEDING).
  WATER FOWL (COST OF FEEDING).
  FOOD PRODUCTION.
  FOOD PRODUCTION.
ROYAL AIR FORCE.
  BUILDING CONTRACTS.
  BUILDING CONTRACTS.
  CAMPS AND HUTMENTS (ARCHITECTS).
  CAMPS AND HUTMENTS (ARCHITECTS).
  BRISTOL CHANNEL TOWNS.
  BRISTOL CHANNEL TOWNS.
  REQUISITIONED LAND.
  REQUISITIONED LAND.
  PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (RELIEF SCALES).
  PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (RELIEF SCALES).
UNEMPLOYMENT.
  SACK AND BAG INDUSTRY.
  SACK AND BAG INDUSTRY.
  BENEFIT, SEAHAM (LIFE ASSURANCE INFORMATION).
  BENEFIT, SEAHAM (LIFE ASSURANCE INFORMATION).
  MILITARY SERVICE (CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS).
  MILITARY SERVICE (CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS).
  COMMODITY PRICES.
  COMMODITY PRICES.
COAL INDUSTRY.
  DOMESTIC SUPPLIES.
  DOMESTIC SUPPLIES.
  OUTPUT (STATISTICS).
  OUTPUT (STATISTICS).
  MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES (REOPENING).
  MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES (REOPENING).
BRITISH ARMY.
  RECRUITERS (PAY).
  RECRUITERS (PAY).
  DEPENDANTS EXTRA ALLOWANCES, LONDON AREA.
  DEPENDANTS EXTRA ALLOWANCES, LONDON AREA.
  SICK LEAVE (PAY AND RATION MONEY).
  SICK LEAVE (PAY AND RATION MONEY).
  DENMARK (BRITISH MILLED OFFALS).
  DENMARK (BRITISH MILLED OFFALS).
Preamble
The House met at half past three of the clock, The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (CANTERBURY) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1a; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH PROVISIONAL ORDER (ILKLEY) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read 1a; to be printed, and referred to the Examiners.
SUNDAY ENTERTAINMENTS ACT, 1932:
  THE URBAN DISTRICT OF AXMINSTER ORDER.

    THE BOROUGH OF NEWBURY ORDER.
    THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA): My Lords, I beg to move that the Orders made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department under the Sunday Entertainments Act, 1932, and laid before the House on Thursday last, be approved.
    Moved, That the Orders made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department under the Sunday Entertainments Act, 1932, and laid before the House on Thursday last, be approved.—(The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.)
    On Question, Motion agreed to.

THE TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR SYSTEM.
3.33 p.m.
LORD LAMINGTON LORD LAMINGTON had given Notice that he would ask His Majesty's Government whether in view of the fact that hundreds of thousands of the people of this country now serving in the Navy, Army, Air and defence forces used the twenty-four-hour system it would not be desirable that the Post Office should work
586
on the system for general purposes and move for Papers.
The noble Lord said: My Lords, for the reason given in my question it would seem an appropriate time for the Government to adopt the twenty-four-hour system. My noble friend Lord Newton and myself have for several years brought this subject forward, but some time has now elapsed since we last did so. Therefore perhaps I may tell your Lordships in a few words what has taken place in the past in regard to this matter. The system was adopted in the last Great War. Then in 1920 the Home Office appointed a Committee, of which the noble Viscount, Lord Stonehaven, was Chairman, to inquire into the matter. That Committee reported unanimously in favour of the adoption of the principle of the twenty-four-hour system, and said that whenever it had been tried it had worked very successfully. Not many years ago Lord Stonehaven stated in debate in this House that in what had happened since he saw no reason to change the opinion to which he and the Committee over which he presided arrived.
Twice a Motion in favour of the system has been carried in your Lordships' House. Although the Government have disregarded that action of your Lordships, the Government spokesmen have never put forward any real argument against the system. On the contrary, those spokesmen for the Government have themselves said that personally they approved of the system. Amongst those who thus expressed approval were the noble Marquess, Lord Londonderry, the noble Earl, Lord Lucan, and on one occasion the noble Lord, Lord Marley, when he spoke for the Labour Government then in office. I think I can say that there has never been a single concrete objection raised against it. There has never been any real argument given why it should not be adopted. The only thing that has been said by Government spokesmen was that there was no public demand for it. I may point out in this connection that there was no public demand for Summer Time. It took the late Mr. Willett ten years of advocacy before he could persuade the Government to accept his proposal. I can remember, too, that in the last century the late Mr. Henniker Heaton was years before he could induce the Government to adopt

587
his Imperial penny post system. It is no argument to say that the public have not expressed a demand for this change in our system of hours. The B.B.C. had a test to find out what proportion of the pub lic was in favour of a change. I do not think anyone doubted what the answer would be. People who utilise the existing system naturally do not think of the benefit that would result from the adoption of this new system. The B.B.C. themselves, I believe, are in favour of the change which I now advocate. I had a letter from a former head of the B.B.C., who said that the B.B.C. approved of the system, that they use it themselves in the case of their engineering and outside broadcast branches, and that they have found it very satisfactory and particularly useful for the Empire service.
There has never been any real argument advanced against this change. We have had in your Lordships' House a Peer saying he did not want to get a new watch or a new clock, as he would have to do if this system was adopted. Also, outside the House, people have been heard to object to the idea that instead of having what they call a five o'clock tea they would have to have a seventeen o'clock tea, or a twenty o'clock dinner. Of course there would be no real change in the habits or customs of the people or any inconvenience to anybody. It is not a mere fad. At the present time thousands of our young men are having to be put through the test of learning how to use the system, because it is absolutely essential to the conduct of the present war, whether on land, at sea or in the air, that our forces should know how to use it. There must be one single system for the notation of time in war, and surely it is desirable that everybody should be made thoroughly acquainted with what is the best system for arranging and working any organisation in wartime. At the present time I understand that on the home front the A.R.P. in some cases have the two systems working side by side. That seems to me an extraordinary inconvenience. Why allow such a confused situation to arise?
This new system, it seems to me, is long overdue. I think every secondary school in the country ought to use the system so that the scholars in those schools, when they leave, will be
588
thoroughly familiar with it. Another consideration is in relation to the members of our forces overseas coming home on leave from France. A correspondent has pointed out that our soldiers leave France on the twenty-four-hour system and when they arrive at home they find the a.m. and p.m. system in force. That is a great inconvenience. They have difficulty in working out the time for their journey and notifying relatives or friends at what hour they may be expected. I repeat that there is no justification for the Government refusing to adopt this system, which would cause no trouble to anybody. While no valid objection has ever been made against it, there are some cogent reasons given by those who advocate it. I have a letter from Dr. Spencer Jones, the Astronomer Royal, who says:
"The heavens are not divided into two halves, and the astronomer is compelled to use the twenty-four-hour system. Nature leaves him no choice. The twenty-four-hour system is the system of nature."
He goes on to say:
"The adoption of the twenty-four-hour system in other countries has proved an unqualified success. It is difficult to believe that a system which has been found necessary in all those spheres of activity in which accuracy is essential and which has proved satisfactory in practice in other countries, is not suitable in this country."
That is strong evidence of how very desirable it would be to have this system in vogue.
Both the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Astronomical Association use it, and the Royal Society advocate its use. I was speaking to the secretary of the Royal Geographical Society the other night and he strongly endorsed it. If it is objected that it is only the scientific societies who favour the change, I would add that the London Chamber of Commerce approves the system and that a resolution in favour of the system was put forward by the London Chamber and carried at the annual meeting of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce. The Federation of British Industries also approve the system. Imperial Airways have adopted the twenty-four-hour system and so have travel agencies. Newspapers such as Modern Transport are also in favour of the system. The Editor of Modern Transport, in a letter to me, wrote:
"…the identity of the vital interests of Great Britain and France is such as to

589
make the matter more urgent than hitherto; for misunderstanding about the time of trains, ships or aircraft might well have grave results…it seems strange that, whilst our statesmen emphasize so strongly the close liaison in all spheres of interest now existing between Great Britain and France, so simple an adjustment as a change in the written description of the hours following noon should be deemed impossible."
Two nautical almanacs are in use. The smaller one used by the Navy is on the twenty-four-hour system. The Admiralty list of tides is on the twenty-four-hour system and so is the Air Almanac. These are compiled by Dr. Sadler who is strongly in favour of the adoption of the system. The convoy system, at the present time, is run on the twenty-four-hour method. I understood until this morning that all merchantmen had not adopted the system, but I had a message from the secretary of the Navigators and Engineer Officers' Union who said that now all merchantmen use the system. Some time ago the Editor of the Nautical Magazine wrote to me strongly supporting the system, particularly for the benefit of coastal navigation. He said that coastal shipping needed the system badly, but could not adopt it unless the system also operated on land. Now I understand it is becoming more often used by coastal shipping, but it would be much more efficiently carried out if the system operated on land. The Nautical Magazine is a paper of considerable repute and very wide circulation all over the world. I would like to quote a few sentences from a letter written to me by the Editor. He wrote:
"At this time when so many sea disasters are taking place and foreigners calling for assistance and probably giving time in twenty-four-hour system, it must be confusing to…our seafarers.…Some, in fact most, merchant seamen admit that the twenty-four-hour system would be an advantage to them, but they are up against the British public on shore."
If the railways would give an undertaking that they would adopt it, I believe it would be of great advantage to anyone who travels, and particularly to those making long cross-country journeys. At the time of one of our former debates on this question, I had a letter from one of the railway companies in which they themselves made a mistake between a.m. and p.m. The adoption of the system would be for the benefit of the whole community. I repeat that there would
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be no disturbance of ordinary life. People would be quite unaware of the change, for the most part, unless they were taking a railway journey. If it is desirable to have the twenty-four-hour system used on cables, as it is, why should it not be used on all Post Office telegrams? In the eighteenth century, Lord Chesterfield, the celebrated writer of letters to his son on the Continent, was much troubled by the confusion of dates between the Continental new style and the English old style. He went to the Duke of Newcastle, then head of the Government, and asked that the almanac of England be brought into line with the Continental calendar. The Duke said he would have no new-fangled system, and that a change might incite an uprising of the people if they believed, as they possibly would believe, that they would lose eleven days of their life. However, Lord Chesterfield was not disheartened and he got into communication with those who had experience of the new system, Lord Macclesfield, then President of the Royal Society, and Dr. James Bradley, the Astronomer Royal. With their help a Bill was drafted which went through the House of Lords.
I am encouraged by that to hope that some action by your Lordships to-day may induce the Government to give way and not let bureaucratic objection stifle a very useful reform. To-day no legislation is necessary. All that is required is an order from the Postmaster-General that the twenty-four-hour system should be adopted for the arrival and departure of mails and that new tablets should be put on the pillar-boxes. It will not be necessary to-day to convert a whole nation because already hundreds of thousands use the twenty-four-hour system. They are conversant with it and would not be likely to raise any objection. In former days the Government refused to take action for fear that people might get excited. To-day the Government do nothing because there is no excitement. Something should be done to simplify our present system because that would be an advantage for the whole kingdom. I beg to move.
3.50 p.m.
LORD NEWTON: My Lords, when I hear my noble friend bring forward this familiar suggestion, I am always reminded of the case of Galileo pleading

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that the earth moved and being persecuted by Cardinals and other officials. My noble friend is in no danger of being imprisoned or tortured by permanent officials; all that they can do to him is completely to disregard all that he says. There is nothing fresh to be said on this subject, but there is a certain amount of interest attaching to it owing to the fact that it is a singular and, I am glad to think, a very rare instance of extraordinary official obstinacy which has no justification of any sort or kind. This is a proposal which cannot hurt anybody. It does not offend anybody in any sense, and there is nothing whatever to be said against it. In fact, I might go so far as to say that there is no opposition to it at all, or at all events no opposition worth considering. The only tangible objection I have ever heard against it was made by my noble friend Lord Cranworth, who I regret is not present here this afternoon. Lord Cranworth said that the agricultural community, or at all events a large proportion of them, were under the impression that the wet seasons were caused by the adoption of Summer Time. He thought, therefore, that if an alteration of the clock were made it would produce the most alarming consequences. I may add that the opponents of Summer Time managed to mix up theology with the question, because there were many people who went about saying that we were proposing to interfere with what they called "God's time"; in other words, implying that Providence had a special consideration for the Greenwich meridian.
In addition to these people that I have mentioned, I believe that some of the listeners to the B.B.C. have also protested. I cannot think what they have to protest about, because the functions of the B.B.C., so far as I know, are purely aural, and nobody proposes to interfere with the aural matter at all. Everybody will be at liberty, if this proposal is adopted, to talk about "a.m." and "p.m." as much as they please. The only thing that matters is the written word. Whilst these people are occupying themselves with protesting against a harmless innovation, I wonder that they do not do something else. I wonder, when they complain of the difficulty of deciphering figures, that they do not take
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the case of the Bible and of the Prayer Book; those two books are full of Roman figures which are far more difficult to deal with than anything that we propose. The Psalms and all the chapters in the Bible are defined in Roman figures. They might with just as much justification protest against their watches and clocks being marked with Roman figures instead of the ordinary Arabic figures.
As I have said, there is no real opposition to this change at all. There is nothing to attack in it. It does not offend anybody. It is not a political question, and it is certainly not a theological question, as is apparently the view of some people. It is not an economic question, and it does not offend anybody in any sort of way. Neither does it cost anything. If it was an expensive experiment, I could understand the opposition, but it is not going to cost anything at all. If it has any economic effect at all, it will be to make an economy, because it will certainly result in considerable saving on the part of the railway companies. It is no good my going on, however, expatiating on the advantages of the change, because these arguments have been used over and over again, and everybody is familiar with them. I own, with deep respect, that neither my noble friend nor myself will be able to make the least impression upon the Government and the permanent officials, but, if they will not pay attention to us, if they look upon us as antiquated cranks, I will produce much better and stronger evidence in favour of the proposal. I have a letter in my pocket from a man whose name will certainly inspire respect here, who is one of the really efficient people in this country: I allude to Lord Ashfield. Everyone knows what his position is. I shall not take up the time of the House by reading his letter, but he writes to me that he is strongly in favour of the proposal because it would enormously simplify both the drawing up and the interpretation of time-tables.
That is my only object: I want to simplify these things. At the present moment, owing to our system, Bradshaw is a sort of literary jungle; it is almost impossible to find one's way about in it at all. In fact, it is almost as difficult to decipher as the horrible Gothic text used by the Germans, which is of such an unsatisfactory character that even the

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natives cannot distinguish between the different letters. I often wish that when the future of Germany was under consideration at Paris the use of this particular type had been forbidden. If we adopt this proposal, all these difficulties will disappear; and, quoting the authority of Lord Ashfield, there is no doubt that all the intelligent people connected with transport are in favour of the change. They will not move, however, until the Government—either the Home Office or the Post Office—help them.
I do not know which noble Lord is going to have the privilege of reading out the draft with which he is supplied for the purpose of answering this Motion, but no doubt the draft will be of the usual kind, which does not carry conviction to anybody, not even to the noble Lord who has the honour of reading it out. As I say, I do not know who is going to discharge this duty, but I know perfectly well what he will say, or rather what he will be told to say by his brief. He will be told to say, I expect, that the listeners to the B.B.C. objected, and then the reply will fall back, there being no reason against the adoption of the proposal, on the old, threadbare device of saying that there is no public demand for it. Of course there is no public demand for it. When is there ever any public demand for anything; of the kind? If we had waited for public demand or for public manifestations of approval in the year 1751, when the calendar was altered, we should now be fifteen days out in the calendar. It is all very well to talk about public opinion. It is easy to excite public opinion about certain things, but it is exceedingly difficult to excite the public on any question of social reform. If, for instance, somebody was to start a correspondence in the Press regarding the laws of first class cricket, proposing that there should be four or five stumps instead of three, or something of that kind, the newspapers would be flooded with letters from excited correspondents which would last for months; but a proposal of this kind does not excite any interest at all.
The British public are strangely unimaginative. They can be worked up on a political, Party question, to a certain extent. You can get them to agitate for votes and you can get them to agitate for anything which they think will fill their pockets, but to appeal to them for
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any social reform is perfectly useless. There has never been any public manifestation in favour of anything of the kind. I have cited the question of the calendar but there are in fact many other questions upon which the public would never express its opinion at all. If we had waited for public opinion, we should never have had compulsory education in this country; there would certainly not have been vaccination, or any legislation against many of the nuisances from which we have suffered in the past. All these things would have been left alone. Here is a case, however, where, as I say, there is no trouble at all in bringing this proposal into operation. It would not cost anything, it does not require any legislation, and the only reply of the Government is that there has been no public demand for it.
It may be strong language, but personally my opinion is that this is a most contemptible contention. Governments do not come into office in order to give effect to whatever may be the public clamour at the moment. It is the duty of the Government to administer the affairs of the country in an intelligent way, and if it is satisfactorily proved that a particular change which involves no trouble at all ought to be brought about, then I think they are not fulfilling their duty if they refuse to take any action with regard to it. Well, I am afraid that my noble friend and myself are wasting our time in appealing to the present Government. They are not going to pay any attention to us, and I do not think we shall get anything out of these people so long as they are in office. Nobody desires less than I do to see noble Lords opposite in office, but I confess that if that calamity did occur, it would in my opinion be slightly mitigated because they have given an undertaking that they will deal with this particular anomaly. I comfort myself with that assurance.
4.2 p.m.
EARL FORTESCUE: My Lords, this is a subject that has been debated many times in the past few years in your Lordships' House, in fact it might almost be called a hardy annual. The noble Lord in raising the matter again has suggested that the Post Office should adopt this change with a view of other Government Departments adopting it afterwards. But successive Governments have never

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thought that there was any public justification for the change, or that it would be right to make it, but that no material advantage would be gained thereby. The B.B.C. adopted this method for a short time in 1934, and, in proof of the fact that there was no public demand for it, it is interesting to know that while there were eleven letters of protest, there was only one letter in favour of it. I think that speaks eloquently for the fact that this change is not required.
On the first of this month the Financial Secretary to the Treasury replied in another place to a question by Mr. Joel asking that this system should be adopted by many Government Departments, and said that it was up to the head of each Department to decide for himself whether it was really wanted. The Post Office has already used the system in all radio and telephone messages to countries where it is now in use, and it is also used in all correspondence to countries where it is used for shipping purposes, railway purposes and air-line services. It may be seen therefore that where it is necessary to use the system it is used. If it were adopted generally it would mean that many changes would have to be made. All the post boxes would have to be altered, all the notices would have to be altered, postmarks would have to be altered, and in the opinion of His Majesty's Government the public might not understand clearly what was required of them, and it might have the result of leading people not to post their letters at the right time. The noble Lord, Lord Newton, pointed out that this system is already used by hundreds of thousands of people in the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, but it is perfectly obvious that there must be millions in this country who are not using it.
LORD NEWTON: Because they have not got the chance.
EARL FORTESCUE: No, but at the same time the Navy, Army and Air Force are not in any way muddled by having to use both systems. The question of cost was raised. I am informed that the cost would not be less than £20,000, and I am sure your Lordships will agree that we do not want to spend any more money at the present time than is absolutely justified. Therefore at a time when many restrictions and inconveniences are being
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imposed on the public the Government do not think they would be warranted in making such a change, which they do not think desirable.
4.7 p.m.
LORD LAMINGTON: My Lords, I confess I had hoped that in these critical times we should have had a more satisfactory and sympathetic answer from the Government. Apparently the real difficulty is that of expense, but in these days £20,000 spent on the introduction of this system would not be very much if there was justification for it. I maintain that there is perfect justification. It is desirable for the simplification of our defence system, and also for the general purposes of the country. I feel that this reform is bound to come soon, and the sooner the better. Apparently the Government have gone to the trouble of making some contact with other countries in regard to the postal services, but on the whole I think their reply is unsympathetic. I beg leave to withdraw my Motion.
Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.

INDUSTRIAL ASSURANCE AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES (EMERGENCY PROTECTION FROM FORFEITURE) BILL.
Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
4.9 p.m.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT CALDECOTE): My Lords, the position of the holders of life assurance policies has engaged the attention of the Government for some little time. Very soon after the outbreak of the war it became apparent that a number of people who had paid sums of greater or less amount in respect of life assurance policies were in danger of losing the benefit of those policies if they were prevented by circumstances, in view of the war, from continuing to pay the premiums. A Committee was very soon set up for the purpose of considering what relief could be provided for these persons. My right honourable friend the Attorney-General in another place early in January announced that arrangements had been made with the insurance companies that dealt with ordinary life policies. He then stated that the circumstances of the holders of what are generally called the industrial

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assurance policies were being considered, and that some protection would if possible be devised for them also. In the case of the life assurance policies, with which most of your Lordships are familiar, the arrangements were made with the consent of the companies. It has not been possible to pursue quite the same course in the case of the industrial assurance companies because they are largely regulated by Statute, and therefore it is necessary to give them powers to do what this Bill now proposes.
Noble Lords who have looked at this Bill might think it dealt with very small matters. Thai is true in one sense, because this Bill will affect life policies taken out for amounts of only a few pounds, where the premiums are collected in sums of a penny or two pence per week from house to house by the collectors for the societies; but I am sure your Lordships will agree that it is no objection to this Bill that it seeks to protect the interests of these people of small means to whom the surrender value of the policies is just as important as the surrender value of larger policies of more wealthy persons. The Bill will apply to policies not: exceeding £50, and I can, I hope, state quite briefly the reason why that limit has been fixed. In general, these industrial assurance policies are taken out for what are called funeral benefits—that is to say, to cover the funeral expenses of the person in whose interest the policy exists. The limit permitted by the law on such policies is £50, and therefore that seems a suitable line to be drawn between the policies protected by this Bill and the policies which will not be protected. Such policies form the great majority of industrial assurance policies.
The Bill applies to policies of three different kinds, and some of your Lordships may, perhaps, be a little puzzled to know why it is necessary to divide them into three categories. Ordinary industrial assurance policies, as by law denned, are policies in respect of which the premium is payable at intervals of less than two months and is collected by collectors of the society from house to house. There are registered friendly societies that carry on this business. They are called collecting societies, and the policies issued by these friendly or collecting societies are mentioned in Clause
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1 (b) of the Bill. There are also registered friendly societies other than collecting societies which issue policies. In most cases the premium is paid on something other than the life of the policy-holder, but in some cases there is a specific or separate premium in respect of the life of the policy-holder, and that class of policy issued by registered friendly societies which are not collecting societies will be covered by the Bill.
Quite briefly, without troubling your Lordships with a technical statement, the scheme of this Bill is to provide that in the case of all these three bodies which issue life policies, it shall be incumbent on them, in the case of arrears, to give a notice specifying the arrears and also a notice that the holder may, if he is unable, owing to circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war, to pay the premiums, apply to the society for protection. If, having received such a notice, he then applies to the society for protection, the company may give him protection—that is to say, the policy will not come to an end merely because the premium has not been paid. If the society refuses to give protection, he may appeal to the Industrial Assurance Commissioner, who will decide the matter in accordance with what he considers to be the equity of the transaction. There is one clause, Clause 3, which, on the face of it, is formidable because it provides what is to happen when there has been such a default in paying premiums on the policy which, by the procedure I have mentioned, will be a protected policy. I am sure your Lordships would not desire to be troubled with these details, but there is to be separate treatment of a policy in respect of which a claim arises while the policy is protected and premiums therefore are unpaid. Another class of protection is to be given in the case of a policy which is a whole-life policy but in respect of which no claim has matured. Thirdly, provision is to be made in the case of an endowment policy which is in force at the expiration of the period of protection. If, for instance, an endowment policy is for a period of twenty years, and premiums are not paid for one year, the maturing date for the policy will then be twenty-one years from the time it was taken out, not twenty years.
The other provisions are based upon actuarial considerations with which I

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need not trouble your Lordships. There is one clause in the Bill—Clause 4, for which it will be proposed to substitute another clause—regarding the case of a person who at first is unable to pay the premiums owing to circumstances connected with the war, and then comes into a position in which he can pay them. It would be wrong to give him protection in these circumstances. Another clause will be moved, in pursuance of an undertaking given in another place, to provide for the policy being put back on its ordinary basis. There are one or two other clauses which deal with such matters as the right of a policy-holder to apply after the statutory period in which he is entitled to apply has expired. The Commissioner is, in these cases, given a discretionary power to allow application for protection, notwithstanding the expiry of the time.
There is only one other thing I need say. The Bill, as I have told your Lordships, was designed to deal with policies of not more, than £50, but it was also only intended to apply to policies which were effected at least two years before September 1, 1939, the reason being that policies which have not been operating for at least that period of time have very little surrender value. However, in pursuance of an undertaking by my right honourable friend the Attorney-General in another place, an Amendment will be proposed to your Lordships providing that policies in respect of which two premiums have been paid before September 1, 1939, will be protected. This is a measure which has to be effected by Act of Parliament, but it has been the result of consultations with the various societies concerned. A number of interests have been consulted, and I think I am right in saying that it has had a great deal of consideration, both in another place and by the people directly concerned. I hope your Lordships, therefore, will give it a Second Reading, and that it will be passed into law at an early date. I beg to move.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
4.20 p.m.
LORD SNELL: My Lords, my noble friends and I venture to support this Bill which has been moved by the noble and
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learned Viscount on the Woolsack. It has, as he has told your Lordships, been thoroughly examined in another place, and it is, on the whole, an agreed Bill. We have some feeling about it, because it does give to poor people some assurance that efforts at thrift that they have made are not suddenly to be rendered useless. We have to remember that, under existing circumstances, a very serious injury may be done to thrifty people who suddenly find themselves unable to continue contracted payments. Unemployment overtakes a poor family and immediately its whole financial position is undermined, and unemployment which occurs through no fault of the person concerned is a most serious matter. Your Lordships, I am sure, will be anxious to save such persons from as many of the disabilities attaching to that situation as possible. In regard to insurance as a whole, we desire to say, in giving our assent to this Bill, that we also believe that the whole insurance system is in urgent need of reconsideration; but that does not arise at the present time, and therefore, because this Bill seeks to help poor people in the circumstances mentioned, and because it is an agreed Bill, we have pleasure in commending it to your Lordships' House.
On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

COTTON INDUSTRY BILL. [H.L.]
Read 3a, (according to Order).
Clause 4:
Payment to Empire Cotton Growing Corporation.
(2) The Cotton Board shall pay to the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation a sum equal to one penny in respect of each hundred pounds, or fraction of one hundred pounds, of cotton comprised in a purchase in respect of which a contribution is payable under the last preceding section. The said sums shall be ascertained and paid at such times and in such manner as may be agreed between the Cotton Board and the said Corporation, or, in default of agreement, as may be determined by the Board of Trade on the application of either of them.
4.23 p.m.
LORD TEMPLEMORE LORD TEMPLEMORE moved, in subsection (2), after "each," to insert "five," and to leave out the word "one" ["one hundred pounds"] and

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insert "five." The noble Lord said: The object of the first of these Amendments, as I explained on the Second Reading of the Bill, is to correct a clerical error which at present exists in the Bill. Under the clause as now printed, the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation is to receive one penny on every hundred pounds or fraction thereof, whereas it was intended by the Government that it should receive one penny on every five hundred pounds, as it does at present under the Cotton Industry Acts of 1923 to 1938. Your Lordships will remember that, in order to save money by not reprinting this Bill, I said that I should bring forward the necessary Amendments on the Third Reading instead of in the Committee stage. These are the two Amendments which effect what we want to do, and I beg to move them.
Amendments moved—
Page 4, line 25 after ("each") insert ("five")
Page 4, line 25 leave out ("one") and insert ("five").—(Lord Templemore.)
On Question, Amendments agreed to.
Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.

SPECIAL ENACTMENTS (EXTENSION OF TIME) BILL. [H.L.]
Read 3a (according to Order): Amendments (Privilege) made: Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.
LIPTON TRUST BILL. [H.L.]
The CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES informed the House that the Promoters do not intend to proceed further with the Bill. Ordered, That the Bill be not further proceeded with.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
4.25 p.m.
LORD SNELL: My Lords, I beg to ask the noble Earl, the Leader of the House, if any statement can be made about the business of the House for next week.
THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (EARL STANHOPE): My Lords, there is no business on the paper for tomorrow and so I propose that we should
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not meet, except for judicial business, until next Tuesday. Then I propose that the House should meet next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, February 27, consideration will be given to certain Draft Orders under the Government of India and Government of Burma Acts, reported from the India and Burma Orders Committee yesterday. Then, secondly, there will be the Committee stage of Lord Wright's Solicitors (Emergency Provisions) Bill, of which we took the Second Reading yesterday. We shall also take the Committee stage of the Industrial Assurance and Friendly Societies (Emergency Protection from Forfeiture) Bill, to which your Lordships have just given a Second Reading. Lastly, on Tuesday, we have consideration of Lord Astor's Motion on the need for improving the production and distribution of food in war time.
For Wednesday, February 28, the business on the Paper is Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Motion urging the need for drastic curtailment of consumption of goods by the civilian public. The business for Thursday will include the Second Reading of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Bill, provided that we are able to give it a formal First Reading on Monday next. I am not quite sure how soon it will be finished with in another place, but if we manage to get the First Reading on Monday at a formal sitting of the House, I propose that the Second Reading should take place on Thursday. Of course, if the Bill does not reach us on Monday, we shall have to reconsider that arrangement, in order that your Lordships may have time to see the Bill and consider it before it is discussed here. Also, on Thursday, there is a Motion by the Duke of Montrose on the lack of adequate comfort for members of the Services when travelling or on leave.
I understand that from now on the judicial members of your Lordships' House are meeting later, and that therefore they will not finish their business in time for us to meet at half-past three o'clock, as we have been doing. I therefore propose that in future we should meet every day at four o'clock instead of half-past three. I hope that that will not inconvenience your Lordships. The House will remember that Summer Time comes into force next week end, on Sunday next, so that we shall get an hour's

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more daylight, and I trust that meeting half an hour later will not be an inconvenience to your Lordships.
LORD SNELL: Will there be any statement on the international situation next week?
EARL STANHOPE: So far as I know, I do not think so. I am not sure yet. Of course events may arise which may make it necessary, but so far as I know I do not think there will be one.
House adjourned at twenty-eight minutes past four o'clock.