Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Colonies if he will now state the further proposals agreed with the Kenya Government for financial assistance in dealing with the problem of mixed farming areas, in addition to the present land settlement programme under which farms in selected areas are purchased from Europeans to provide smallholdings for Africans.
Mr Anthony Hurd: May we take it that Ministers in Kenya are agreed with Her Majesty's Ministers here that the problem of the European mixed farms is an urgent one and should be solved as soon as possible? Does my right hon. Friend hope to make a statement before the House rises for the Summer Recess?
Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what has been the outcome of the preliminary discussions he has had with the Berkshire County Council and other local authorities on the proposal made in the South-East Study for creating a new city in the Newbury neighbourhood; and what arrangements he has in mind for ensuring that local knowledge and opinion...
Mr Anthony Hurd: Is my right hon. Friend aware that Berkshire County Council last Saturday passed a resolution saying that while it did not accept, on present evidence, the need for a new city in the Newbury area, it was willing to enter into consultations for a closer survey to take place with my right hon. Friend's Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to see whether additions to...
Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what increase in the home production of beef, other butcher's meat, and poultry has been achieved in the past 13 years; and to what extent meat consumption per head of the population has increased.
Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Minister of Transport whether he has now obtained from surveys all the information he requires to reach a conclusion on the line he will recommend for the M.4 motorway through Berkshire; and when he expects to make a detailed statement.
Mr Anthony Hurd: May I take it that the Ministry will resume consultations with the local authorities in Berkshire and Wiltshire, so far as that may be necessary, so that we may get a better meeting of minds than we have been able to achieve so far?
Mr Anthony Hurd: We have all fallowed with great interest what has been said by the hon. Member for Devon, North (Mr. Thorpe) about some aspects of this case concerning pasteurised eggs and the licences given by the British Egg Marketing Board. I shall be interested to know what the Minister himself has to say about it when he replies to the debate. I am left with the thought that if members of the Liberal...
Mr Anthony Hurd: Sir A. Hurd indicated dissent.
Mr Anthony Hurd: I must be careful not to trespass as the hon. Member for Devon, North (Mr. Thorpe) has trespassed, but it comes within the terms of the scheme to consider for a moment what has been the effect of previous cuts in the rates of subsidy. This evening we are being asked to approve a cut in the rate of subsidy for nitrogen and phosphates. There was a cut last year when the fertiliser industry...
Mr Anthony Hurd: We do not export fertilisers from this country.
Mr Anthony Hurd: The fertiliser industry. There is no net export of fertilisers from this country. We ought to recognise that, inevitably, this is an industry of big units, and that because of the techniques which are being developed, in the years ahead it will be an industry with still bigger units. That will bring benefits to the farmer by way of cheaper fertilisers both in this country and on the...
Mr Anthony Hurd: That point was raised when Mr. Speaker was in the Chair, and I think that he ruled that we should not pursue it any further. I do not want to add to what Lord Netherthorpe is reported to have said in the Evening Standard tonight, which was a repetition of what he said at the last annual general meeting of Fisons.
Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether a decision has now been reached on the use to which the installations at Greenham Common are to be put when the United States Air Force hand over this base at the end of this month.
Mr Anthony Hurd: What does my right hon. Friend mean by "undeveloped"? Does he mean covered in gorse or bracken—or what?
Mr Anthony Hurd: I agree with some of the remarks made by the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. Skeffington). It is a pity that we have not got a fuller picture of the present situation and prospects in all the regions. The problems of the South-East are obviously the most pressing and, the Government having given us this Study, I think we ought to get on as best we can with the information that is...
Mr Anthony Hurd: Will my right hon. Friend acknowledge that the firms making these pesticides have been very forward and energetic in research and, in many cases, are able to provide alternative effective preparations which are safe to both human and animal life? Will my right hon. Friend say something more about sheep dips? Is it not a fact that the use of dieldrin and aldrin has greatly improved the...
Mr Anthony Hurd: Will my right hon. Friend accept our congratulations on a good job done for British agriculture and for the public generally? Regarding milk, where the most necessary improvement has been made in the producer price——
Mr Anthony Hurd: —so as to ensure that the supply to the consumer is fully maintained, will my right hon. Friend say whether the maximum retail price is to be kept at 9d. a pint right through the year? At the conclusion of this fourth Price Review for which my right hon. Friend has been responsible, will he say whether he sees the way clear for agriculture to carry forward its productivity still further...
Mr Anthony Hurd: asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations if, following his recent discussions with Kenya Ministers and European farmers in Kenya, the Governments of Kenya and the United Kingdom have now agreed on further measures to facilitate the acquisition at fair valuation of more European mixed farms for the settlement of Africans; and if he will give an assurance that all European...
