Sir John Anderson: There is one small point which I should like to bring to the notice of the Committee arising from this Clause. Clause 8, as hon. Members will observe, makes provision for grants towards the expense of constructing additional landing stages, not being Festival landing stages. It makes no provision for any contribution towards the cost of operating or maintaining such landing stages. The point...
Sir John Anderson: With the indulgence of the House, before coming to the more immediate matters which are our concern today, I should like to go over some of the ground of the previous Debate last month in which I was prevented from taking part by my absence in Canada. As I see the matter, we are confronted by two distinct problems which, though interconnected, ought to be considered separately. This is...
Sir John Anderson: I certainly do not understand it. Have the people in fact been so much better off?
Sir John Anderson: Is it not a fact that they have been consistently misled into thinking they were better off, when in truth they were only enjoying temporary advantages derived from the accumulated savings of the community and gifts from our good friends overseas? That is the plain fact, and it is absolutely terrifying to me that one should find the Prime Minister of this country basing himself upon a view of...
Sir John Anderson: That is a very material difference. The words were: Last year output per man-hour in industrial production rose in this country by about 4 per cent."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th September, 1949; Vol. 468, c. 15.]
Sir John Anderson: This is a figure per man-hour and, unless we take account of the working hours, the figure is quite meaningless.
Sir John Anderson: It is not quite the same. There may be fewer hours in the man-year. I wonder how far those figures reflect the real situation.
Sir John Anderson: Production per man-year depends on the number of working hours in the year—[HON. MEMBERS: "Percentage?"] Hon. Members had better take some time off for reflection.
Sir John Anderson: I am sorry, but I have a fairly long speech to make. If we may assume for a moment that those figures are correct, one cannot help asking where all that production has gone and, further, one might ask where the raw materials came from which enabled that increase of production to take effect. In any case, the figures of increased production, even if they are correct, do not fully justify the...
Sir John Anderson: We must take men as they are if we are to preserve any element of freedom in the country—[HON. MEMBERS: "Freedom for what?"]—freedom for the people. As I have said before, I was not disposed to blame the Government over much for the mistakes that they made, as I think, in the first flush of enthusiasm after a resounding victory at the polls. But I do condemn them for not having realised...
Sir John Anderson: I referred to one particular dispute.
Sir John Anderson: I was referring merely to what had happened within my knowledge at the beginning of the post-war slump in the early 1920's.
Sir John Anderson: The right hon. Gentleman is having a great deal of fun, but surely he knows that, at the time of the return to the Gold Standard, there was practically universal opinion in its favour?
Sir John Anderson: I did not pour scorn.
Sir John Anderson: It is folly to rely solely upon it.
Sir John Anderson: I am very glad of the opportunity of opening this Debate, for there are certain points which, I think, need clearing up in connection with what I can only describe as a most deplorable muddle. I have no intention of going in detail over the events of the last few weeks. There are, however, certain considerations of a general character which I want to put to the Committee and I shall refer to...
Sir John Anderson: I am greatly obliged to the right hon. Gentleman. In point of fact, when, on learning that it was proposed to set up such a committee as the Maxwell Committee I asked that it should be called the Emergency Committee, I did so precisely for the purpose of avoiding any confusion of that kind, because I knew and others knew that the Port Emergency Committee, informally constituted but...
Sir John Anderson: With great respect, that has nothing to do with the point I am making. I expressly stated that I was expressing no view on the advisability or otherwise of the pronouncement made by the Dock Labour Board. I am not in a position to pass judgment on the Dock Labour Board; and I am strongly inclined to suggest that the Government were not in a position to do that either. The point which I am...
Sir John Anderson: If the hon. Member will read what I have just said he will realise that I made two points quite clear. I think that the masses whose loyalty is not in question should not be penalised. In regard to the others there should be a process of examination, which implies discrimination.
Sir John Anderson: That Act also prohibits conscription of labour.
