Mr Archibald Manuel: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what will be the mileage and value of road schemes which will be commenced during 1970.
Mr Archibald Manuel: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that in no period of Scottish history has provision for roads been made at the volume and at the standard that we have today?
Mr Archibald Manuel: asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the number and cost of new roads and road improvements carried out in the county of Ayr from 1965 until 1969, inclusive.
Mr Archibald Manuel: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the people of Ayrshire are expressing universal appreciation at the width and scope and excellence of road improvements and new roads constructed in Ayrshire since 1965, with the possible exception of the two Tory M.P.s in Ayrshire who have slim majorities and perhaps think that my right hon. Friend is doing too well?
Mr Archibald Manuel: Is my right hon. Friend aware that what the right hon. Member or Argyll (Mr. Noble) is advocating, much to my surprise and pleasure, is that more direct labour should operate throughout forestry? I have been trying to do this for many years. Like the right hon. Gentleman, I deplore the growth in sub-contracting.
Mr Archibald Manuel: rose—
Mr Archibald Manuel: Can my hon. Friend inform the House of the number of these old houses which have received improvement grants which are estate houses belonging to noble families and other landed gentry? Does he not consider that there should be an incomes test such as that applied to local authority tenants before they can get houses?
Mr Archibald Manuel: He now sits silent and will not reply.
Mr Archibald Manuel: It is a lie.
Mr Archibald Manuel: On a point of order. Mr. Speaker. May we have your help? A series of charges has been rightly levelled against the right hon. and learned Member for St. Marylebone (Mr. Hogg). Instead of replying to those charges, he puts up his second string. We do not want the monkey; we want the organ grinder.
Mr Archibald Manuel: Does my right hon. Friend appreciate the complete hypocrisy of hon. Members opposite as regards unemployment and conditions in Scotland? Is he aware that in the early 1960s unemployment rose as high as 136,000, over 50,000 higher than it is today?
Mr Archibald Manuel: Since foxes are cultivated for sport in many areas by hon. Gentlemen opposite, can my hon. Friend break down the figures and give a comparison between the number of sheep worried and killed by dogs and the number of lambs taken by foxes?
Mr Archibald Manuel: Mr. Archie Manuel (Central Ayrshire) rose—
Mr Archibald Manuel: When the hon. Gentleman says that the problem was not so big under the Tories as it is now, I hope that he will exclude from that argument Scotland, where, while we are dissatisfied with the present figures, in the early 1960s unemployment rose as high as 136,000.
Mr Archibald Manuel: I hope that the hon. Gentleman will tell us what he intends to do about it.
Mr Archibald Manuel: It has no fee-paying schools.
Mr Archibald Manuel: They also have Members of Parliament.
Mr Archibald Manuel: indicated dissent.
Mr Archibald Manuel: Every one?
Mr Archibald Manuel: At that school?
