In his tribute to the people of Wales, to their adaptability and to their courage, the Secretary of State will carry the whole House. For my part, I count it an honour to stand here as the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales and seek to make my contribution, to the best of my ability, to the solution of some of the great problems which the right hon. Gentleman was discussing and which are dealt with in some detail in the Report before us. The right hon. Gentleman is right in saying that I am the Member for Monmouth, but I ask him not to probe in too much detail the precise relationship of my Constituency with the Principality. It is happily merged and obscured in the mists of history. We intertwine the rose and the leek in the insignia of our county, and we are proud to count ourselves as members of the ancient Kingdom of Gwent. I should like the right hon. Gentleman to leave us in that proud position, not yielding at all in our loyalty to the Principality and its interests, as, I hope, my presence here alone will show.

In a sense, the debate is non-controversial. I always hesitate to use that term in the House, because it is remarkable how much controversy we can extract from the most non-controversial situations, and I may have a word or two to say which would fall a little into that category. But, in essence, what we are discussing is a tribute, a very fair tribute, to the work of my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, North-East (Sir K. Joseph) and Lord Brecon and admirably set out—I pay my tribute to the fairness of the Secretary of State for it—in paragraph after paragraph of this document dealing with the great problems of communications, advance factories, the coal industry and the rest, and covering a period three-quarters of which at least came under the full responsibility of my right hon. Friend. I am very ready to take note of it. Indeed, if the right hon. Gentleman had gone a little further, I think that we should have been prepared to accept a Motion which welcomed it.

The background to this discussion is that, whatever differences may exist between us in the House, all of us are proud of the change which has taken place in the face of Wales over the past 25 years. Twenty-five or 30 years ago, there was 40 per cent. unemployment in the Newport employment exchange area. The conditions of those days were wonderfully set out in a book, which I am sure all of us have read, "How Green Was My Valley"—a wonderful description of those years, with the face of the valleys scarred by industrial development but with small real profit to the people of Wales, because many of them were compelled to leave their homeland; a picture of a place without hope, without jobs and without much of a future.

A comparison of that situation with the situation today gives cause for everyone on both sides of the House and in every occupation and place in Wales who contributed to it to feel heartily grateful. Today, in South Wales alone, light industry employs 60 per cent. more people than coal and iron and steel put together. This is a far healthier distribution of the employment pattern. It lends a far greater stability to the whole position of men and their families living in that part of the world.

The right hon. Gentleman called attention to an error in the sub-editing of a report in the Liverpool Daily Post—he must have been a good Tory sub-editor, I think, who added a nought to the number of factories built, though as each would have employed only eight people on the calculations set out the error was fairly obvious—but it remains the fact that, since 1959, 400 new factories have been brought in. One factory may close but another comes in. There is the new Ford factory, and we all pay tribute to Mr. Hugh Rees who, alas, is not a Member of the House of Commons, for the efforts which he made to bring Ford in. In one way or another, a total of about 30,000 new jobs can be provided.

In that period, there was, of course, a massive investment planned and made in schools, housing, roads and bridges, and advance factories, including the one planned for Blaenau Ffestiniog reported in paragraph 69 of the Report. All these are matters of which the House can be proud and properly take note, paying tribute to those who played a part in them.

The question we have to ask ourselves this afternoon is: can we maintain the impetus, can we keep this great surge of development going forward? The development is there for all to see. I have no need to labour the point before this audience. We all recognise what is happening when we go there. Wales is not a country on the defensive pleading for people to come. People are proud to come to most parts of Wales, and we are very glad of it. Can we keep the impetus moving forward?

The decisive factor in whether we can do so or not is the central policy pursued by the Chancellor of the exchequer. This more than anything else will determine our fortunes in Wales. I hope that the Secretary of State will convey to the Chancellor, who has just left, that a policy of inflation at the centre imperfectly contained by a squeeze at the extremities is remarkably uncomfortable to live with in the Principality. This is something which we must at all costs seek to avoid.

At this time—let us face it—we are suffering in some degree from the restrictive measures which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has thought necessary and proper to impose. I shall not debate the reasons now, but those restrictions can operate, and often do operate, far more damagingly at the extremities of a country than at the centre. On this point, I rather disagree with the First Secretary of State when he suggests that one can somehow arrange for the extremities to opt out. One can do something in that direction, I concede, but, in the broad development of the major monetary and fiscal policies of a country, it is the extremities which feel the pinch before anybody else. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will bring these facts forcibly to the attention of the Chancellor.

This brings me to the rôle of the Secretary of State. It is one which we are told, and we know, consists in part of a responsibility for housing. He said that he would complete some 20,000 houses this year. That is a matter for congratulation, but it has to be observed that 21,176 were building in September 1964, and he would fall far below the level of our normal appreciation of him if he could not complete the houses which were started by his predecessors. Nevertheless, we welcome the figure of 20,000.

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will be watchful of the activities of the Minister of Housing. I trust that in the Principality we shall be allowed proper freedom in the building of houses. There is, after all, a demand for houses, and when there is a demand for houses and the builders exist to meet it, there is a lot to be said for giving the one freedom to do the other. If we are to impose on the builders of Wales any complex procedures through licensing, whether arranged through the building societies or otherwise, we shall be doing damage to the real interests of those we all wish to serve.

The right hon. Gentleman's other responsibility is very largely for local government. Some reference is made to the history of that matter, particularly local government reform, in the document that we are considering. Local government reform is a highly controversial subject. It is a matter from which all of us tend perhaps a little to flinch. However, I believe that the future prosperity of Wales depends to a very large extent upon our having the courage to tackle the reform of local government. I believe that this must be done. Under our present structures local authorities are very often not in a position to attract the right sort of councillors, pay for the right sort of planning, or muster the right sort of resources to do the jobs which all of us recognise to be essential. Therefore, I think that the right hon. Gentleman will have to apply his energies—I am sure that he is doing so—along the lines, reported in this document, laid down by his predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, North-East, that a white paper should be produced which would set out the Government's own proposals for local government. As that is reported here, I take it that the work is still going forward. When that White Paper is produced, it will have to deal—I hope it will—with powers as well as boundaries.