Unearthing Extravagances The work done by the Select Committee on
National Expenditure through its Sub-committees is an invaluable corrective to errors which are bound to occur frequently among the hurried improvisations of war-time. Again .and again in the course of its inquiries it tracks down some ex- ample of extravagance or inexperience which might easily be avoided by better co-ordination or more business-like methods. Thus in its eleventh report, now issued as a White Paper, It points out that, although on the outbreak of war the Office of Works arranged to establish a nation-wide reserve of building materials, and actually there were large stocks of materials within easy range of Coventry at the time of the bombardment, the emergency organisation only used these stocks to a trifling extent, and surgent priority instructions were sent out to distant manufacturers. Result—materials came more slowly than they need have done, and supplies elsewhere were curtailed. Again, attention is drawn to the Ministry of Supply's method of purchasing second-hand cars. Through failure to use the ordinary trade channels, prices have been Paid generally 3o -per cent. above trade figures. It is to be hoped that the Committee will continue to look, and ex- haustis ely, into the whole question of the ordering and purchase of vehicles of all sorts, including heavy tractors for the services Often in the supply services more haste means less Speed; there are occasions when just what is really needed by the Army or Air Force can only be got when the real trade expert is called in. There are many matters of this Sort Which cannot be too thoroughly explored, and the Select C°14nlittee does valuable work when it discovers them.
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