MR. IVINTOUR AND THE MINISTRY OF FOOD. (To THE EDITOR
OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Mr. Wintour's removal from the appointment of Perma- nent Secretary in the Ministry of Food should not be allowed to pass without public explanation. His admirable work as Director of Army Contracts led to his selection by Lord Rhondda, no mean judge of men, for the post of chief administrative officer of the Ministry of Food, and the admitted success of that Department is largely due to Mr. Wintour's talent for organization, driving-power, and strength of character. When a permanent official with this history of efficiency is summarily removed, the public, who employ Mr. Clynes as well as Mr. Wintour, have a right to ask " Why ? "
There is much more involved in this matter than the personal injury to Mr. Wintour. We have a Civil Service which, whatever its faults (and no organization is free from faults), is in point of efficiency and purity without a rival. Its ranks are filled by men who have sacrificed the chances of fortune and high position offered by other vocations for a career in which certainty of income, security of tenure, and just and decent treatment supply attractions that compensate for the smallness of the pecuniary rewards. It is in the public interest that these attractions be maintained, and every flagrant instance of attack on them should therefore be investigated. The State is, or should be, the model employer, and to find a Labour Minister acting in what appears to be an arbitrary manner is disheartening to those of us who look forward to the elimination of arbitrary treatment from private employment, not to its introduction into the public 67 Campden Hill Court. 67 Campden Hill Court.
[We hope that some answer will be made when Parliament meets if not before. The question which Sir Harold Stuart asks is a grave one.—ED. Spectator.]
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