19 JULY 1940, Page 3

The Week in Parliament

Our Parliamentary correspondent writes: —On Thursday Mr. Hudson, the new Minister of Agriculture, earned the approbation of Mr. Lloyd George for his first Parliamentary defence of his department. Indeed, the presence of Mr. Lloyd George made the debate, and his notable intervention lifted the discussion out of the ordinary ruts. Speaking with few notes, he called forth from his vivid imagination and farming ex- perience a series of picturesque images and comments. He described agriculture as " a sort of evacuee amongst the indus- tries of the country." In commending the new survey, he said " every field ought to make its contribution to the life and death struggle of this great Empire." It was good to hear from Lord Winterton, " Love of land is not enough, British people must be taught to see—and perhaps this crisis w;11 teach them—that misuse of the soil intended by God to produce food on an overcrowded island is a crime against Nature and their own interests." What would Mr. Chamberlain, of Kettering memories, say to that? Many members, notably the stormy Mr. De la Bere, deplored the continued absence of cheaper credit, and Mr. R. C. Morrison pleaded for more assistance to his excellent municipal piggery at Tottenham.