Mr Robert Maxwell: I cannot accept that remark. No slur has been cast. Powdered milk was introduced as an economy, but it did not appear to be popular and it has been rescinded.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I require notice of that question.
Mr Robert Maxwell: Will my right hon. Friend consider extending an invitation to General de Gaulle to visit this country for discussions about—
Mr Robert Maxwell: Since part-time-drivers are an issue which ha: been raised by many hon. Members on this side, may I ask whether the hon. Gentleman is aware that public transport in the United States where part-time drivers are employed is a complete, utter and abysmal failure? Were it to be introduced in London, the public services, which are, by and large, the best in the world, would come to a halt.
Mr Robert Maxwell: Will my right hon. Friend consider setting up a committee to study how computers might be used to disseminate the results of research and development to assist the medical profession to obtain the latest advances in science and technology which may be useful in healing patients and saving expense in the hospital service?
Mr Robert Maxwell: Does my right hon. Friend believe that the United States can maintain the gold price at 35 dollars an ounce? If not, if the decision is to de-monetise, does my right hon. Friend think that Her Majesty's Government will follow? Or, if gold is revalued, what consequences does my right hon. Friend see for us?
Mr Robert Maxwell: How can the right hon. and learned Gentleman call a club reputable and at the same time know that some have used strong-arm methods? The two surely do not go together.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Before commending the Bill to the House, I should like to thank those right hon. and hon. Members of all parties who have lent their names as sponsors to this, in principle, uncontroversial and urgently needed Measure. I should also like to thank the Government for the assistance they have given me in bringing the Bill to this stage. I...
Mr Robert Maxwell: That is excluded, most definitely. I am not putting forward the Bill on the basis of take it or leave it. There is an enormous amount of room to improve it in Committee, but I am glad that the hon. Member accepts it in principle.
Mr Robert Maxwell: If the hon. Member will raise them, I shall be glad to give way. The Bill would substitute for the present unsatisfactory system a new system of control by local authorities over industrial and other chimney heights. There is power to prohibit emission of dark smoke from industrial or trade premises ouberwise than from a chimney. Emission from a chimney is already controlled in Clause 1. On...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I see no reason in principle why not. The Bill would give the Minister power to direct local authorities to submit programmes of smoke control and require them to carry them out. This would be used for cases where the Minister was satisfied that an authority had not been exercising powers of smoke control sufficiently in spite of grave local need as specified in Clause 6. It will make it an...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I should not like to give such an assurance. I should like to explain why the Clause will be valuable. If the Minister did not have these powers we might be forcing local authorities to implement the Measure at a time when it was inopportune or when the local authorities did not have the means to do so. I certainly assure the hon. Gentleman that if he fears that the Minister is likely to use...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I am quite sure that my right hon. Friend has no intention of using these powers unreasonably. I would certainly use whatever influence I have to ensure that the Bill is so worded that the Minister cannot use his power in an unreasonable way.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I certainly give the assurance that that matter will be taken into account in Committee. There is a new principle in this Bill on planning which I hope will commend itself. In the case of a planning application which does not receive approval because the local authority takes a long time considering it, when chimney heights are involved, I am proposing to put in the Bill a provision whereby...
Mr Robert Maxwell: I would gladly support that invitation to my hon. Friend to intervene.
Mr Robert Maxwell: I have been asked to reply. No, Sir. We will not return to the former practice of buying wines through multiple shippers. All wines are bought through one shipper, since in this way we have liberated some £10,000 in capital and are able to purchase on very favourable terms. Commonwealth wines may at present be purchased only by special order, but the Catering Sub-Committee are currently...
Mr Robert Maxwell: No. The purchase of wines is not determined on questions of politics. It is a question of demand. We do have demand for Australian wines, and we are looking into it. If there should be demand for Australian or Cyprus or Russian wines we will——
Mr Robert Maxwell: —or South African—we will look into it.
Mr Robert Maxwell: We do not propose to differentiate on a political basis between what goods we in the Department buy. We buy in the best possible market to get the best possible produce for hon. Members and their guests, and the staff.
Mr Robert Maxwell: In arriving at these cuts, are the rural bus services being treated better than, for example, the rail services, particularly having regard to the railway closures in constituencies such as mine? Is he aware that the rural bus services in some areas are so abominable that if additional financial cuts are imposed on them life will be made almost impossible and intolerable?
