Mr. Stokes's New Task
Both Mr. Morrison and Mr. Stokes have during the past week expressed their confidence in the ability of the United States Government to follow a sound course. Mr. Charles Wilson has gone far to justify their confidence. Most of the required controls are already in existence. The new raw materials distribution programme will soon follow. The increased sulphur allocation to Britain, at considerable inconvenience to American production, is an early indication that that programme will be reasonable. It is now up to the British Government and people, through efficient organisation and production, to make the best use of the raw materials which can be obtained. The appoint- ment of Mr. Richard Stokes as Lord Privy Seal, in charge of raw materials, is undoubtedly a good start. But was it necessary to revive the once fashionable but largely discredited practice of creating a new Government Department to deal with each new question ? The reshuffle of civil servants which this procedure requires can hardly be carried out without some waste of time, and past experience has usually shown that such transfers of function set up undesired frictions. The practice of entrusting the Lord Privy Seal with the oversight of an urgent current problem is an old custom and a good one, but the practice itself will lose some of its value if it is to be accompanied by the proliferation of Government Departments. Is it likely, for example, that the new department will be able to do anything more effective to remedy the growing shortage of steel, to which the Minister of Supply has drawn attention, than is already being done by the Steel Board and the industry itself?
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