One result of this altered outlook may reasonably be looked
for. While no one suggests that rearmament should be slowed down there is likely to be greater insistence on safe- guards against waste. The Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of Arms arrived at the conclusion that the methods now adopted to prevent the amassing of undue profits were inadequate. They proposed the creation of a controlling body, presided over by a Minister responsible to Parliament, having executive powers over supply, manufacture, costing and the authorisation of orders from abroad. So far the Government have refused to consider anything of the kind, but it is at least conceivable that they will be constrained to yield to the increased pressure arising from a general realisation of our future budgetary difficulties. Sir Archibald Sinclair raised this subject, not for the first time, in his speech on Wednesday, and Mr. Stokes made the interesting assertion that only an auditor familiar with the whole of a firm's business can accurately gauge the profit made on any single transaction.
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