Mr Alastair Harrison: The hon. Gentleman mentioned the figure of £1,750 for a farm of 1,000 acres. Would it not be more like 100 acres?
Mr Alastair Harrison: First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Rankin) upon his luck in the Ballot and also upon his judgment in selecting this piece of legislation. It is a logical piece of legislation to come before the House in view of certain Measures which have preceded it over the last decade or so. We have had a good deal of legislation which has dealt directly or indirectly with...
Mr Alastair Harrison: Surely the banks are also dealing with other people's money.
Mr Alastair Harrison: Can my right hon. Friend give an indication of the months over which that experiment took place?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am glad to have the opportunity to intervene, because the tenor of the debate has shown the anxiety felt on both sides of the House about how we are to undertake the job which we have set ourselves with the Forces which may be available, especially in view of the doubts about getting those Forces. It was encouraging to hear that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is not depressed...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I stand corrected by my right hon. Friend, but I think that the hon. Member for Dudley made it clear that the true figure was 182,000 to carry out our commitments with units up to strength. The next few years will be vital. I hope that the Government will very seriously consider whether they will be able to get these men and to carry out the job which they have been given effectively, without...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I believe that the hon. Gentleman made some mention of £14 million a year.
Mr Alastair Harrison: One of the least satisfactory aspects of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference seems to me to be the communiqué. If it brings out much detail of the discussions that go on, then it probably inhibits people from expressing their opinions too much, and if it does not, it produces a lot of platitudes like the current communiqué contains which read as if they contain no real substance....
Mr Alastair Harrison: I find that point about a consultative council very interesting. Does the hon. Member envisage that it would deal with economic development and not with anything that had to do with international political affairs, or does he think that it should deal with political affairs as well?
Mr Alastair Harrison: Would the hon. and gallant Gentleman specify the firms and which parts of the bank have been preferentially treated?
Mr Alastair Harrison: rose—
Mr Alastair Harrison: rose—
Mr Alastair Harrison: Will the hon. and gallant Member be prepared to repeat those allegations that he makes about preferential treatment outside the House?
Mr Alastair Harrison: Did you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, lead the hon. and gallant Member into it?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I have listened with considerable interest to the speech of the hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Hull, East (Commander Pursey). As he said in his final remarks, he was talking about this matter with experience and knowledge of thirty years at sea. It enables him to assess, as he thinks, the situation at Maldon. It would, I should have thought, have given him some knowledge in sifting...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I beg the hon. and gallant Gentleman's pardon. I understood him to mean the surface of the bridge. As the hon. and gallant Member said, it is very much in dispute whether the roadway of the bridge has ever been flooded, even in the floods of 1953. All the evidence that I have shows that it has not been so flooded. The hon. and gallant Gentleman quoted what two photographers from London had...
Mr Alastair Harrison: I want to get one matter quite clear. At that time, who was Colonial Secretary—the hon. Member or somebody else?
Mr Alastair Harrison: I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bermondsey (Mr. Mellish) for explaining why the Minister of Transport and the hon. Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn) were not here. I began to be extremely suspicious, and wondered why a colonial light, which comes under the control of the Ministry of Transport, should have its legislation introduced by the Minister of State for Commonwealth...
Mr Alastair Harrison: In adding my welcome to the Bill, I would emphasise the point made by a number of hon. Members, particularly the hon. Lady the Member for Wood Green (Mrs. Butler), that we are groping in the dark with regard to how to deal with this problem. I hope that my right hon. Friend will watch the operation of his powers under the Bill and, if necessary, not be afraid to amend the Bill or to introduce...
Mr Alastair Harrison: The hon. Gentleman ought to speak for himself.
