Mr Robert Hudson: I want to conclude soon, to allow hon. Gentlemen opposite an opportunity to speak. They can continue to interrupt if they wish, but I intend to make my speech. I was about to say that by the spring of 1950 it was fairly clear that the situation had changed. But the Government did not agree. In January, 1950, they had a contract for 50,000 tons of zinc a year from Canada, and they cancelled...
Mr Robert Hudson: The result, of course, will be that the Minister will not get the zinc. If I may divert for a moment, that is what the Minister of Food has been doing. The Minister of Food is never tired of telling us of the advantages we get from our bulk purchase agreements. Most of these agreements contain clauses to allow a variation of price up or down, according to market variations, of 7½ per cent....
Mr Robert Hudson: The fact is that the Government take the attitude that the gentleman from Whitehall knows best—
Mr Robert Hudson: I cannot give way; I did not interrupt the hon. Gentleman's speech. The trouble is that the Government think that the gentleman from Whitehall knows best, and they are labouring under the delusion that, in a period of rising world prices in which we find ourselves today, regarding both food and raw materials, by adopting a system of bulk buying they can prevent the world market prices...
Mr Robert Hudson: I am much obliged to the right hon. Gentleman, and I shall leave it to the House to judge in a moment or two the accuracy or otherwise of his statement. At the time when he says we had ample supplies in this country for current and immediate future needs, the actual Government stocks of zinc were 41,800 tons in July and 36,900 tons in August. The average consumption at that time for the...
Mr Robert Hudson: The Minister is getting himself deeper and deeper into the mire. He obviously has not taken the precaution to fortify himself with actual figures. The figure for August was 36,900 tons, which was six weeks' supply; the figure for September was 28,900 tons, which was five weeks' supply—I do not see much sign of the stocks on the way coming along—the figure for October was 21,300 tons,...
Mr Robert Hudson: I do not want to take up any more time. I have a number of examples covering other industries that. I could give.
Mr Robert Hudson: Yes—by the Government's action in not buying the cotton. I am certain that if other people had been negotiating with the Americans we should have had a better chance of getting more cotton.
Mr Robert Hudson: The shortage of raw materials is more serious because it affects the employment and cost of living of the people, and, because of the bottlenecks, it will create the possibility of not getting on with our re-armament programme as quickly as we should.
Mr Robert Hudson: Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that it would have been better if the Government had done a bit of hoarding of raw materials all last year?
Mr Robert Hudson: Is not the result of this research very valuable, and was it not completely ignored when the chickens and eggs scheme was started?
Mr Robert Hudson: We are very grateful to the President of the Board of Trade for his explanation, and I think my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for New Forest (Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre) will probably be willing to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment. I am not a lawyer and I am, therefore, at some disadvantage, but it seems to me that the difficulty arises from the definition of the word "control." The...
Mr Robert Hudson: Because there was no Minister here to move the Third Reading of the Bill.
Mr Robert Hudson: is this not one of the results of Government buying?
Mr Robert Hudson: We have only the right hon. Gentleman's word for that, and we do not accept it.
Mr Robert Hudson: Has the right hon. Gentleman's attention been called to the report of the Chamber of Shipping about the chaos caused to the freight market by the action of his bulk buying department?
Mr Robert Hudson: Why did not the hon. Gentleman's Government do it?
Mr Robert Hudson: The right hon. Gentleman has apologised for the technical nature of the reply, but the only clear thing that emerges from this discussion—with which I am sure you, Sir Charles, if you were allowed to say so would agree—is that it illustrates the need for a fundamental change and a tidying up and elucidation of this very complicated matter. I confess that when the right hon. Gentleman was...
Mr Robert Hudson: The right hon. Gentleman has given some interesting figures relating to the values, which have risen. Could he tell us anything about the volume?
Mr Robert Hudson: I am sure that the officials of the Department will be very pleased at the praise which has been poured on them today from all sides of the House. Personally, I am bound to say that I have heard it with very great pleasure, having been responsible many years ago for helping to nurse the child through its growing pains. I was particularly interested in the remarks of the hon. Member for...
