MINISTRY OF PRODUCTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 February 1942, Page 4

MINISTRY OF PRODUCTION

MR. CHURCHILL’S EXPLANATION

RUGBY, February 10.

The functions of the new Ministry of Production were explained by Mr. Churchill, in the Commons, by reading the opening paragraphs of a White Paper, as follow: “Firstly, the Minister of Production in the War Cabinet is the Minister charged with the prime responsibility for all the business of Defence and the War Cabinet. He will carry out all the duties hitherto exercised by the Production Executive, excepting only those relating to manpower and labour; secondly, these duties include the allocation of available resources in a productive capacity, and raw materials (including arrangements for their import), the settlement of priorities of production where necessary, and the supervision and guidance of the various Departments and branches of the Departments concerned; thirdly, notwithstanding anything in this Paper, the responsibilities to Parliament of the Ministers in charge of the Departments concerned with production, for the administration of their Departments, remain unaltered, and any Ministerial head of a Department will have the right to appeal either to the Minister of Defence or to the War Cabinet in respect of the proper discharge of such responsibilities; fourthly, the Minister of Production will also be Minister responsible for handling on behalf of the War Cabinet, discussions on the combined Board set up here and in the United States to deal with munitions assignments and raw materials as between the Allies.” Mr. Churchill then commended the scheme to the House adding: “It is certainly capable of modification in practice. I hope that it will be given a fair trial by all concerned.”

Mr. Churchill had previously outlined the history of the administration of war production and supply. He reminded the House that in the last war, when he was at the Ministry of Munitions, the burden did not appear too great for him. Having seen this system in action at close quarters, when he became Prime Minister he took the opportunity of restoring it. In October, 1940, the air bombardment being at its height, there was an advantage in placing at the head of the Home Security Department a Minister who had special knowledge of London, which up to then had sustained the brunt of the attack. Accordingly, Mr. Morrison, then Minister of Supply, became Minister of Home Security, and this enabled him to offer the double post of Minister of Aircraft Production and Minister of Supply, which comorised four-fifths of the whole field of production, to Lord Beaverbrook. “Unfortunately,” said Mr. Churchill, “Lord Beaverbrook, owing to his health, did not feel able to undertake any additional burdens. Therefore, I made an arrangement under which the three Supply Departments and the Controller’s Department of the Admiralty, which had worked independently, were grouped together for a common purpose. This was the first -time the Admiralty had come so fully into the common system, and it is a tribute to the manner in which the Minister of Labour discharged his difficult duties that they were now ready and willing to take a further step towards unification. I do not feel that this system has worked badly, and I do not accept the many complaints made against it. “The entry of the United States into the war, far-reaching measures for the pooling of Anglo-American resources, and the appointment of Mr. Donald Nelson over the whole sphere of American production, created an

ENTIRELY-NEW SITUATION

Lord Beaverbrook had established very close and intimate connections with the chiefs of American production, and he enjoys the confidence and goodwill of the President. In shaping the new organisation, it is natural that he should De the British representative in the various pooling arrangements which were made. It followed from this that he should be put into a position, broadly speaking, similar to that occupied by Mr. Nelson, and that someone should be able to speak to the United States representing British war production as a whole. I found myself, therefore, drawn to the conclusion before I left America that there should be a Minister of Production, and that Lord Beaverbrook should be that Minister. I am very much fortified by the undoubted wish of the House and the Press, that such an o'Xce should be created, and I have accordingly taken all the necessary steps to bring the policy into effect. It should be pointed out, on one hand, that we are not creating a Ministry of Munitions of nominally one Department under one executive head, for a large portion of the war supply. On the contrary, the Departments retain their separate identities under their respective chiefsAs a War Cabinet Minister, Lord Beaverbrook will exercise general supervision and guidance over them, and will concert and co-ordinate their ac-

tions. Moreover, the Controller’s Department of the Admiralty will come within the scope of the new office, except in so fan as warship design and the fixing of naval programmes are concerned. Certain productive or distributive functions exercised by the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Works and Buildings are also being brought within the scope of the Ministry of Production.”