Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Yes.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Exactly. That is the example I put. If the man had under £20,000 of these shares, the valuation would be approximately just over £20,000, but if he held the same value of shares in his own business, it might come to twice or three times as much. That is why I think the private company or one-man business will suffer compared with the man with the same amount of capital who holds it in a...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: It has been said often in this House that no speech influences any vote at all, but I must admit that the speech of the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations has influenced me this afternoon. I came into the House knowing little or nothing about this subject. I had only read about it before: I had never heard it debated fully. I have heard a very good debate today in which there have...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I think the noble Lord, from what he has said, would not be able, if he was a member of a judicial inquiry, to help acting judicially. I can remember him as a member of the Simon Commission and of the Round Table Conference on India. Every suggestion that has been made and all the evidence put forward today has been in favour of what the Secretary of State has said. I believe in the...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: My answer to that would be that I have made up my own mind, and that I believe in the judicial inquiry from what I have heard in this House today.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The Royal Commission Report of a few years ago produced legislation which made it difficult for company directors to carry on their businesses. They had to be extremely careful that they did not go beyond the law in any way. Earlier this morning the Attorney-General mentioned general and specific instances, and many things seemed to be left to the view of the Commissioners. The...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I wish to call the attention of the Attorney-General to a comparison of two similar companies, one registered in the United Kingdom and the other registered in the Union of South Africa. Those two companies might have identical capital, be pursuing exactly the same interests and have exactly the same directors, but the difference in law under subsection (3) will certainly discourage capital...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I read this Amendment and found it, like many Liberal Amendments, a trifle obscure. I thought it meant that new machinery and packaging were intended, and I was brought to my fleet because I know of export markets which have been already lost. From 1935 to 1939 there were several large firms in this country doing a profitable business in importing wood from the Scandinavian countries and...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: This Motion, although it was so moderately and temperately moved by the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. G. Thomas), and seconded by the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street (Mr. Bartley), is likely to do more harm than good in Northern Ireland. As the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Haire) has said, religious differences were settling down and certainly they are far less today than when I was a...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: These are the rules of the Government of Northern Ireland for the allocation of houses. Houses are given to persons who are not already in occupation of adequate housing accommodation; persons whose houses are unfit; persons whose houses are overcrowded; persons, or members of their families residing with them, suffering from tuberculosis; the occupiers of hutted or other temporary...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The Parliamentary Secretary emphasised several times the words "Great Britain." I think and hope that the Parliament of Northern Ireland will agree to the Bill and will wish to come in with a member from Northern Ireland on the Scottish Committee. If and when Northern Ireland comes in, will the words "Great Britain" mean the United Kingdom?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: asked the Minister of Transport if he is aware of the inequitable distribution of the emergency cuts in rail and steamer traffic due to the coal shortage; and if he will make a statement on the directions he will issue to the British Transport Commission to ensure that cuts in services are equally distributed on all the routes affected.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Is the Minister aware that one cross-Channel steamer service, that between Belfast and Heysham, has been cut since the coal shortage, whereas the other cross-Channel services belonging to British Railways have not been cut? Has the right hon. Gentleman now abandoned the policy of fair shares for all?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The speech of the hon. and learned Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Bing) led me to believe that he was making an attack upon the Government or upon some laws in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, I have not the legal knowledge of the hon. and learned Gentleman. All I know about this Bill is that under Clause 6 (11) no prosecution shall take place in Northern Ireland without the consent of the...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: It may be purely formal, and I am sure that hon. and learned Members on this side of the House understand very well what the hon. and learned Gentleman says. All I know is that, speaking for the people of Northern Ireland, I can say that if there should come another war we shall be by the side of those in this country.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time." I would begin by calling attention to the time of the appointment and of the report of the proposed committee. The committee would not begin to investigate until 1st January, 1952, and the report would be submitted by 1st January, 1953. It is extremely probable that by that time there will be another Government, and I certainly should...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The Clause refers to only one inspection. It is not intended that there should be a continual inspection, although I think that if the right hon. Gentleman adopts the suggestion of an independent report he will wish to continue with it.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The Secretary of State for the Colonies has mentioned the difficulty whch would arise if any of these schemes were handed over in the future to self government. I would ask him to turn his attention to a place which has been handed over to self-government some four year ago—that is India. In India there were railways run by the State, agricultural farms run successfully by the State,...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Has the hon. Gentleman forgotten Malaya and the thousands of acres of rubber and tin planted there by private enterprise, which is doing so much for the British Empire today?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation if he will permit the erection of automatic slot machines in the passenger buildings of aerodromes in the United Kingdom so that passengers can conveniently insure themselves against accident and death on any particular flight.
