Efficiency in Defence
The smallness of the attendance in the House of Commons during the discussions on the Defence White Paper indicated, not indiffer- ence but substantial satisfaction with the proposals therein outlined ; if there had been ground for criticism the critics would have been present in force. On certain points there is, of course, room for some question. The disappearance of the Committee of Imperial Defence is to be regretted for historical reasons, but the new body is better adapted to contemporary needs, and the Prime Minister gave em- phatic assurances that the disappearance of the word " Imperial " betokens no kind of loosening of contact with the Dominions ; on this point, none the less, there is room for some concern ; the pro- vision for liaison officers is not altogether convincing. But on the major issue, the unification of the fighting services under a single Minister of Defence, with the Prime Minister ultimately responsible as he must be, there is general agreement. The size of the new committee has its drawbacks, but it is inevitable in view of the com- plexity of modern warfare ; Mr. Lyttleton, indeed, suggested with some reason that failure to provide for the participation of the Ministry of Transport in the commitee's work was an omission that should be rectified. That this country should be thus employed in gearing up the machine of war at a moment when all hopes are staked on the United Nations could easily be made the subject of cynical comment. It is a case not for that, but for sober and melan- choly reflection. But as things stand there is no choice, and there is nothing provocative about preparedness. With the Government and the whole nation the United Nations' policy holds the foremost place. It is only in the event of that machinery breaking down, which it will never do through fault of ours, that the other machinery will be called into action. But since that might conceiv- ably happen it must be kept always ready for action.
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