Government Adoption of the Scheme
Page 120
28. This was, in outline, the project to which Ministers were asked to give their approval. It was presented to them with the recommendation that for the establishment and operation of this project, the type of organisation necessary is a corporation which, though entirely owned by H.M. Govern- ment, would be run on commercial lines and would enjoy the maximum possible freedom of action in the actual conduct of its affairs." The proposals represented the best assessment which the three experts, who had been sent out to investigate possibilities, could at that time make on the basis of the evidence which they had collected. Ministers responsible examined them, discussed them with Colonial interests at home and overseas, and passed them for detailed examination to officials. On November 25, two months after the Mission's report had been presented, the Minister of Food informed the House of Commons that the Government had decided to proceed with. the Scheme, to accept the Mission's proposed programme for 1947, but to delay any decision about the full scope of the plan until there had been more time to consider it.
The White Paper (Cmd. 7030)
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29. While operations for the first year were put in hand, a further and much more detailed examination of the plans for subsequent years was made. Ministers took the best advice available to them, and in February, 1947, their final decision was printed in the form of a White Paper entitled "A Plan for the Mechanised Production of Groundnuts in East and Central Africa " (Cmd. 7030). The Government's view contained in this document was that "the Scheme is a practicable plan for alleviating the world shortage of fats, which is likely to last, for many years; that it is agriculturally sound; that, subject to reasonable assumptions, it involves no unjustifiabie financial risk; that labour difficulties can be overcome... and that it could prove of great benefit to the African populations as well as to the people of the United Kingdom." It went on to state that "His Majesty's Government have, there- fore, decided to proceed immediately with the development of approximately three and a quarter million acres of land in Tanganyika, Northern Rhodesia and Kenya, on the general lines recommended by the Mission." The dangers of binding the Agency responsible for carrying out the work to the precise plan recommended by the Mission were, however, foreseen, and it was made clear that the plan was to be subject to "continuous review in the light of fresh information gathered as the work progresses." Indeed, it was not thought impossible that the plan might have to be radically re-cast in the light of experience. The risks involved were underlined, but so also was the Government's conviction that these risks were worth taking because of the benefits which the Scheme had to offer. At the time when the White Paper was published, it was clear that there were difficulties in the way of procuring, overhauling and shipping sufficient tractors and mechanical transport in time for 150,000 acres to be cleared for planting. But the advice given to the Government by those who had been engaged upon looking into possibilities, was that these difficulties might still be overcome, and, in any event, it was thought advisable to push ahead without loss of time so as to ensure the planting of the maximum possible acreage of groundnuts in 1948, irrespective of the acreage planted in 1947.
The Managing Agency Appointed
30. The Government accepted the view that the most suitable body to undertake the management of a project of this kind was a Corporation owned and filanged by the Government. But the establishmget lof(such1 @9body
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