NO FREE HAND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 121, 24 May 1944, Page 9

NO FREE HAND

MINISTRY OF FOOD

AN EFFICIENT ENTERPRISE

Although businessmen who had offered their services and had been accepted when the Ministry of Food was set up in England had stipulated that they should have a free hand, they soon found that in practice nobody in the Government's service had a free hand, said Mr. W. Bankes Amery, leader of the United Kingdom Food Mission to Australia and New Zealand, when he addressed the Auckland Creditmen's Ciub in Milne and Choyce's reception hall to-day on the organisation of the food supply.

Mr. Amery described the organisation set up by the Minister of Food in order to deal with what became the largest commercial enterprise in the world to-day. This was not only his own opinion, but also the opinion of the leading American commercial journal, which described the organisation as the most efficient enterprise in the world. To deal with the food problems the organisation had been divided into at least 60 separate commercial departments, each of which had its own directorate. In practically every case the director gave his services free. The policy of the Ministry had to be settled by the Minister, but the Minister was subject to Parliament and, in turn, Parliament to Cabinet and the businessmen on the Ministry soon found that they did not enjoy that freedom which they had in their own private businesses. Success of Points System One great difficulty was reconciling the claims of the different ments. For instance, the Director of Fruit was most anxious to ensure a good supply of fruit to the people and it was a bitter blow to him, when Cabinet decided that all imports of fruit had to be discontinued. One of the great successes of the commercial organisation of the Ministry of Food, said Mr. Amery, was the introduction of a points system for the rationing of dry groceries in groups. It was found impossible to ration these items individually but, with the assistance of the business directories, groceries were allotted points values which reduced the consumption ot articles in short supply and increased the consumption of specially nutritions goods which had formerly not been in great demand. Under the guidance of Lord Woolton the army of commercial experts was welded into a' team of men working solely for the country's good and not under linos of ci free hand for each. Department.