Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I should like to take up the question of flying boats which my hon. Friend the Member for Inverness (Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton) mentioned in a very good speech. That speech aroused in me the hope of flying boat excursions up the West Coast of Scotland, when I might hope, at last, to be able to visit Staffa and Iona, which I have never yet been able to do. The first question I wish to...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The question of accidents has been raised by two previous speakers, but I will leave that subject, expressing the hope that these approaches, especially at Ringway Aerodrome, Manchester, will be perfected as soon as possible. During the past five years no one has been very critical in civil aviation Debates. Members have felt that the Ministry and the aeroplane manufacturers had not had a...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, what reports have been made to his Department that the beam on the approach to Ringway Aerodrome, Manchester. is sometimes distorted or bent.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Can the hon. Gentleman say whether the conditions which caused the fatal accident at Ringway in August, 1949 have been eliminated?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Can the hon. Gentleman say when that report will be made public?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation what percentage of pilots approaching Ringway Aerodrome, Manchester, now report that the Ground Control Approach is satisfactory.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Can the hon. Gentleman say if the approach aid will be put in, and this aerodrome made as up-to-date as other aerodromes in the United Kingdom?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Is the Minister aware that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction among the families of English and Scottish airmen who are stationed in Northern Ireland, because the husbands are fortunate enough to be there and their families are away from them; and is he also aware that absence makes the heart grow fonder—very often of somebody else?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Under the proposed capital gains tax which the hon. Member advocates, would not the fortunate holder of Woolworth shares be able to set off against his profits in Woolworth's the losses he might have incurred in the Dalton issue, which stands at 66 today?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Can the Minister inform the House of the percentage of spectacle lenses exported?
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: When I first read this Bill, thought that there was nothing very bad in it, and I almost considered voting with hon. Members opposite. After all, this should not be regarded as a political Bill. We should all speak as passengers on the airlines and as taxpayers. But after listening to the speeches this afternoon, I am bound to come down on the side with which I always vote. Let me deal,...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: It would be untrue to suggest that Northern Ireland welcomes this Bill. It would be much better if conditions had remained the same as they were before 18th April and Eire were still a part of the British Commonwealth. I mistrust republics. So many of them start off fairly, as they did in Spain and Germany, and afterwards become police States. Words such as "graft" and "political boss" never...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: This matter arose in the course of the Debate yesterday, and was referred to by the hon. Member for Rochdale. However, I shall leave it at that. As the number of Roman Catholics has increased in Northern Ireland, I am certain that thousands of them voted in the last election for the Union. I have heard criticisms today of the Government of Northern Ireland. I should like to put on record in...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The right hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Mathers) criticised the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and I was alluding to the action of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in looking after their minorities. At any rate, I do not intend to delve into the past in the same way as the hon. Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Bing) did yesterday. I should not go into the passionate reasons why Northern...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I consider that this Government has been very generous indeed to the citizens of Eire. I think the English people are generous and tolerant, and the same applies to the Scots and the Welsh. I do not intend to say those words again, because we in Northern Ireland say that it is very dangerous to give people too good a conceit of themselves. I never intend to say anything against people such as...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: Certainly we in Northern Ireland strongly object to this title "Republic of Ireland." Even when the South of Ireland was called "Eire" or "the Irish Free State," we had mistakes in our letters and parcels going down through the South. I have even had a letter from the Foreign Office addressed to "County Down, Eire." I think that the title "Republic of Ireland" will add to this confusion....
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I should like to make one constructive suggestion, and perhaps in his reply the Minister may give an indication of his mind on this subject. In Northern Ireland we have no steel industry, but we are very large consumers of steel. In fact, I think we have the largest single shipyard in the whole world, and we also have very large textile machinery foundries like those of Combe, Barbour and...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: The hon. Member will find foreigners there people from overseas.
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: I should like to be as constructive as I can in the short time at my disposal. I have heard nearly all the speeches and I have heard the blame for this meat shortage being put on conditions which existed as early as the 15th century. Certainly the shortage was started in 1940 by the Battle of Britain, when we had to plough up so much arable land. I will begin by confining my attention to...
Lieut-Colonel Sir Walter Smiles: It certainly was possible to have a rasher or two of bacon between the bread. In his answer the Minister of Food said that it was not possible to allow farmers or agricultural workers to keep a single pig without the necessary laws in regard to inspection being enforced. The people do not like these inspections. A great many of those people in the country always kept one or two pigs. Indeed,...
