ECONOMIC SURVEY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1941, Page 6

ECONOMIC SURVEY

LORD STAMP'S.TASK

CO-ORDINATING WAR PLANS

(Britlsn Offlrlal Wireless.)

RUGBY, February 15,

The first phase of Britain's effort to solve the, immense problem of co-or-dinating the war plans of the various Government Departments closed with the announcement of the winding up of the economic survey directed by Lord Stamp since before the beginning of the war

The aim of Lord Stamp and his colleagues, says "The Times," was to keep watch over the whole economic field to see, and wherever possible forestee, what was required to be done, to examine how it could be done most effectively and with the least detriment to efforts in other directions, and to reconcile the divergent views inevitably taken by the different Departments concerned, each of which necessarily sees every problem from its own angle. The survey authority, which met regularly several times a week, discussed every aspect of Britain's economic life as it affected or was affected by the war, and drew up proposals. The difficulty of machinery to carry out the proposals smoothly and progressively was continually arising, and Mr. Churchill recently announced that he thought the best method to effect the necessary co-ordination was through executive committees of Ministers.

"The Times" says it is safe to say that, no matter who directs the economic effort, or whatever method or organisation is devised, the materials assembled by the survey in their memorandum covering every phase of this effort are bound to prove of the utmost value. Gratitude is due to Lord Stamp and his colleagues for their unstinted labours of the past 18 months.