Centralisation of Gas
The Government will be greatly assisted, in answering critics of its nationalisation policies, by the report of a Committee of Inquiry into the gas industry, which was appointed by the Coalition Govern- ment in 1944. The report is the work, not of Socialist doctrinaires, but of hardheaded business men ; and its proposals amount to a recom- mendation that the industry as a whole should be nationalised. At the moment the industry is operated partly by private and partly by muni- cipal concerns ; the Committee recommend that they shall all be pur- chased by the State, and reorganised under ten Regional Boards, who will be responsible for all the concerns in their areas. The Committee sees advantages in placing responsibility for the industry squarely on the shoulders of the Minister and the regional direc- tors, and the opportunity for public criticism this will afford ; at the same time, they give the directors complete freedom in operat- ing the concerns under their control. By this reorganisation of the industry they hope to gain the advantages of a reduction in costs, improvement in labour conditions, economy in capital charges, im- provements in distribution and sales organisations, and an expansion in research ; but they propose that the results should be subject to review after ten years. They do not criticise the efficiency of the industry as it exists today, but say that "the existing forms of organi- sation no longer suit present day conditions, and are even less likely to provide the scope to meet the problems of the future", This is, in fact, the basic principle of the whole nationalisation programme ; it is for the Government to demonstrate that it applies not only to gas but to other industries.
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