A Minister for Home Defence The Select Committee on National
Expenditure has come out with a most timely report on (among other things) the better organisation of the civil defence services. True to its terms of reference, it approaches its problem from the point of view of economy in expenditure and man-power, but does not hesitate to deal with the widest issues of efficiency, which, after all, is the whole purpose of expenditure. It is drawn towards the conclusion that civil defence should be the responsibility of a single Ministry whose duty it would be— acting through the Regional Commissioners—to co-ordinate the various services and avoid duplication of staffs. It is no disrespect to the local authorities to say that their machinery is not equal to all the emergency tasks of civil defence. If the enemy could be counted on to act in accordance with local boundaries all might be well. But that is not in the nature of war. The enemy, as Commander Stephen King-Hall points out in The Times, is engaged in a military operation against the whole population of this island, and the defence of the whole population against the Blitz is a military operation on our part demanding central direction and the closest co-opera- tion between the local services acting on a regional basis. The division of control over local services between different departments leads to delay and indecision. A single Ministry with wide powers acting through the Regional Commissioners could ensure swift decisions and co-ordinated action.
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