DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 80, 16 March 1934, Page 7

DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

Control by One Minister WHOLLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK British Official Wireless Service. RUGBY, March 15. Lord Londonderry, replying for the Government in the House of Lords debate on co-ordinating the three fighting services in a Ministry of Defence, said that the plan of control by a single Secretary of State of two departments with a deputy in one was recognised as a failure and was dropped in 1921. A single Minister in peafce time would have such multifarious duties and responsibilities that it would be quite impossible for one man . to deal with all the activities involved. There was a definite limit to wise rationalisation and that limit would, in his judgment, be passed by any attempt to set up a single Ministry of Defence. In time of war effective control of the three services would at a very early stage pass beyond the capacity of any single Minister. The appoint- I ment of a Minister superimposed on the existing organisation would weaken the authority cf the Ministers at the head of the Service Departments. After outlining the present organisation and co-ordinating of the work of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Lord Londonderry said that the present system was well suited to the British constitution and ensured that the whole situation was continuously under review. It was at the present time achieving one of the essential purposes of any defensive system, namely, proper co-ordination of the activities of all departments concerned.