HC Deb 11 February 1949 vol 461 cc104-6W
Mr. Hastings

asked the Lord President of the Council whether he will now give further information about the new arrangements for the conservation of flora and fauna throughout Great Britain.

Mr. H. Morrison

Arrangements have now been completed for the constitution of a Nature Conservancy with the following membership:

  • Prof. A. G. Tansley, M.A., F.R.S. (Chairman).
  • Alexander Anderson, M.A., M.P.
  • Charles Elton, M.A.
  • E. B. Ford, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.
  • Harry Godwin, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.
  • E. H. Keeling, MC., M.A., M.P.
  • N. B. Kinnear, C.B.
  • Professor R. C. McLean, M.A. D.Sc.
  • Professor J. R. Matthews, M.A., F.R.S.E.
  • E. M. Nicholson, C.B.
  • Professor W. H. Pearsall, D.Sc., F.R.S
  • M. Philips Price, M.A., J.P., M.P.
  • J. A. Steers, M.A.
  • W. L. Taylor, C.B.E.
  • A. E. Trueman, D.Sc., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.

The Nature Conservancy—a more convenient title than Conservation Board—will be responsible for the whole of Great Britain, but in accordance with the recommendations of the Scottish Wild Life Conservation Committee in Cmd. 7235 and as a result of consultations with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, activities in Scotland will be under the supervision of a Scottish Committee with the following composition:

  • Professor J. R. Matthews, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S. (Chairman).
  • A. Anderson, M.P.
  • H. C. Beresford-Peirse.
  • Dr. Frank Fraser Darling, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S.E.
  • Arthur Bryce Duncan.
  • Dr. D. N. McArthur, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S.E.
  • Major Sir Basil H. H. Neven-Spence, D.L., M.P.
  • Professor A. D. Peacock, D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
  • Professor J. Ritchie, M.A., D.Sc.
  • Professor John Walton, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
  • The Earl of Wemyss and March.
  • Professor C. M. Yonge, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.R.S.E.

Dr. John Berry, M.A., F.R.S.E., has, with the consent of the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board, to which he is biologist, been released to serve as Director for Scotland. As I informed the House on 2nd November last, Captain Cyril Diver, C.B.E., has been appointed as Director-General and his office is at Thorney House, Smith Square, S.W.1.

The Conservancy is seeking a Charter on similar lines to the Charter of the Agricultural Research Council, with which it will work in the closest co-operation. The Committee of Privy Council for Agricultural Research will be reconstituted as the Committee of Privy Council for Agricutural Research and Nature Conservation and the Minister of Town and Country Planning will be added to it in view of its extended responsibilities over the Nature Conservancy as well as over the Agricultural Research Council.

The Conservancy will start work at once, but the House will appreciate that it will need considerable time to survey and prepare action over the complex range assigned to it.