CABINET CHANGES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24835, 7 February 1942, Page 7

CABINET CHANGES

LORD BEAVERBROOK WAR PRODUCTION POST NEW SUPPLY MINISTER LONDON. Feb. 5. British Cabinet changes have been announced by the British Official Wireless as follows: Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of War Production. Sir Andrew Duncfen, Minister of Supply. Colonel J. J. Llewellin, President of the Board of Trade. Mr Harold Macmillan, Under-secretary for the Colonies. Mr Ralph Assheton, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply. Mr Malcolm Stewart McCorqudale, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service. Mr Phillio Noel-Baker. Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport. ; Division of Office Arrangements are being made for-the office of Parliamentary and Finahcial Secretary to the Admiralty to be divided. Sir Victor Warrender will become Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty and Mr George Henry Hall Financial Secretary to the Admiralty. His Majesty the King has approved of a barony being conferred on Sir Victor Warrender,. and has also given his approval of Mr Macmillan's being sworn in as a member of the Privy Council. ■ ; Asked '.. in the House of Commons when he would be in a position to define the duties of, the new Minister of Production, the Prime' Minister, Mr Churchill, said that thsre were some minor details which required clarification, but he promised a statement on the next sitting day, and to arrange at the same time for the issue of a White Paper. Lord Beaverbrook, who resigns from the Ministry of Supply, becomes Britain's first Minister of Production. Return to Ministry of Supply Sir Andrew Duncan returns to* the Ministry of Supply, which he left last June to go to the Board of Trade. He will be succeeded by. Colonel J. J. Llewellin, who resigns from the, position of 'Joint Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of War Transport. '.'; One of Lord Beaverbrook's main duties, it is expected, will be to maintain close contact with Mr Donald W. Nelson, who holds a similar position in the United States. i •_■'.:.' The News Chronicle, referring to Lord Beaverbrook's appointment, says that no man in Britain has as wide ah experience of war production. BRITISH PRESS COMMENT (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 5. . While welcoming Mr Churchill's announcement of the appointment of a Minister of War Production, the general comment of the press suggests a reservation of opinion until the scope of the office is defined. , The Times, in the course of its comment,, says: " It may be presumed both from the parliamentary suggestion that Mr Winston Churchill expressly welcomed and from the analogy he drew with the position of the head of the War Production. Board of the United States, Mr D. W. Nelson, that the Minister will sit "in the War Cabinet without direct departmental responsibilities of his own. He will co-ordinate to the ends of, the war, the - contributions of the Ministries of Supply and Aircraft Production, the Supply Department of the Admiralty, and, as may be necessary, the activities of other departments the heads of which will remain outside the Cabinet. His relations with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of National Service -will, no doubt, t 5 settled within it."