It was high time that members turned their attention to
the cost of rearmament. No one suggests that an upper limit can now be placed on the expenditure of the Service Departments or that their demands should be too jealously scrutinised. But the announcement that the figure of £1,5oo millions, already forecast as the cost of the five-year programme, is to be exceeded has come as a shock both to Parliament and the public. The taxpayer is at least entitled to the assurance that every practicable safeguard against profiteering and waste is being employed. As Sir Archibald Sinclair pointed out, most people would have more confidence on this point if the Government had not dismissed quite so cavalierly the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of Armaments. A highly effective maiden speech on this subject was delivered by Mr. Stokes, the victor of Ipswich. He argued con- vincingly and with a wealth of technical knowledge that the Government was paying far more than necessary for its shells, and made the interesting suggestion that every firm taking part in the rearmament programme should be com- pelled to employ a member of a fixed panel of auditors. The Civil Servants who were sent down to visit the works, painstaking and capable though they were, had not a chance. Mr. Stokes is a promising recruit to the ranks of the Opposition—and promising recruits are particularly welcome in that quarter.
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