Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 4 Tachwedd 1965.
When I spoke in the hon. Gentleman's constituency—and I propose to go there again the week after next—I answered the questions that were put to me. We had a good, rowdy meeting in Hereford on that occasion. At the beginning of it it was made so clear to me that his constituents were misinformed and curious on certain subjects that we devoted the whole of the meeting to questions. Thus, the whole meeting was devoted to the matters which his constituents wished to raise. I propose to perform the same service for his constituents, I think next Saturday week, when we can carry the instruction further forward.
The coal industry has, naturally, formed a major topic in the debate. Nobody can doubt the fear and concern that prevails in the Welsh valleys on this subject. What strikes me always as being so obscene about the views of the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Box) is the callousness with which he speaks about this matter. He never seems to have any imagination or to understand what has happened over the years—and what has happened in the coal industry, and the results of those happenings over the years, is something unique to that industry.
Hon. Gentlemen opposite do not understand these facts and that is why they make so many mistakes about the industry. What has happened in the coal industry—and as far as I know in no other industry—is that for a period of 30 or more years the industry was declining. During that period those employed in the industry had to feel that their industry was being ground down and was heading for something like disaster. That went on from about 1920 until after the last war. A steady decline all through this period meant men having to live and work in an industry which they felt was declining and they had to suffer from the psychological factors which arise from such a state of affairs.
Then, after 1946–47, the industry was built up from the low position into which it had been allowed to fall. Year by year, as the result of enormous effort and by great exertion—chiefly on the part of the miners but also resulting from the superior technical organisation of public ownership—the industry was resurrected and built up to a position which very few people would have forecast as being possible. There was an increase in output of 30 million to 40 million tons of coal compared with the situation immediately after the war.
I should be grateful if the right hon. Member for Monmouth would make his second speech a little more softly so that I can hear myself speak; he may not wish to listen to what I am saying, but I do. The industry was built up to a position which many people prophesied could not happen. It was a great triumph for those who were responsible for its organisation and who worked in it. It was a great triumph for public ownership and for the nation, but particularly for the miners.
And now, for the second time in the same century, we see a declining position again. This is what is so unique about the industry; what is so bitter and difficult for these people to take. That is why I described the observations on the industry of the hon. Member for Cardiff, North as obscene, because he has no imagination to understand what has happened and how people in the industry feel.