CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938 — Page 31

85

International Situation I NOVEMBER 1938 the senior officials. Over both these com- mittees, for the time being at any rate, while the organisation is being perfected, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Civilian Defence will preside. These com- mittees will be part of the organisation of the Committee of Imperial Defence, and their purpose will be to ensure a proper co-ordination between the civilian Services and the needs of the Defence Services.

Mr. H. Morrison: Is it intended that the Lord Privy Seal shall be a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence?

The Prime Minister: Oh, yes, certainly. That is a brief outline of the arrangement, which can be further developed. I feel confident that this arrangement will pro- duce the results we require in the shortest possible time.

Mr. Attlee: Will the Lord Privy Seal be the responsible Minister in charge, or will he be merely a co-ordinating Minister, running round and bringing other people together?

The Prime Minister: He will be both; he will be the responsible Minister in charge and also the co-ordinating Minister. With regard to national volun- tary service, it will be one of the first duties of my right hon. Friend to examine, with his colleagues, what will be the best way of availing ourselves of the general desire on the part of the public to help the nation. While the House is already aware that we have no intention of imposing compulsion in any form, we are satisfied that it is both de- sirable and practicable to meet the needs of civilian defence by voluntary action, provided that that action is suitably guided and organised.

With regard to the review of our mili- tary, naval and air defences, the right hon. Gentleman has mentioned again to- day the question of a Ministry of Supply, which, he says, he and his friends have long demanded. We have considered once more whether the time had come when it would be useful and desirable to set up a Ministry of Supply. In forming a judgment on that question, it is neces- sary to think very clearly what a Ministry of Supply would be expected to do which is not already done by the Service De- partments with the assistance of my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Co- ordination of Defence, whose title, of course, includes co-ordination of supply,

International Situation

86

and with the assistance also of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour. If a Minister of Supply were appointed merely to take over the designing and contracting staffs of the Defence Depart- ments, without any additional powers, I cannot resist the conclusion that the first effect must be a dislocation to some extent of the existing arrangements, and that must necessarily result, not in an accelera- tion, but in a slowing down of the pro- gress of our armaments.

If you are really to produce any substantial result-and even then it would not come at once-

I

you would have to arm such a Minister with compulsory powers, with powers of compulsion upon individual firms, and also upon individual men and women. venture to say that, while you can easily persuade people to accept compulsion of that kind in time of war, it is quite another thing to ask them to do so in time of peace; and it would be all the more difficult to obtain agreement because those powers, if given now, would not require to be exercised universally, but would have to be exercised with dis- crimination. You would have to dis- criminate between one firm and another, and between one individual and another, and you would have to justify yourselves every time you proposed to put compul- sion upon Firm A instead of Firm B, or upon Ben Smith instead of Tom Jones.

It must be remembered that we are not to-day in the same position as we were in 1914, in this respect: that we are not now contemplating the equipment of an army on a continental scale. Our require- ments to-day are limited; our difficulties are chiefly concerned with the supply of certain classes of specially skilled labour. I am not satisfied that in order to obtain that supply of labour where we want it, or, alternatively, in order to put the work where that labour is-I am not satisfied that it is necessary to introduce compul- sion. I am not satisfied that we cannot get what we want by voluntary co-opera- tion of employers and trade unionists. When we have done everything that we can on voluntary lines, if we find that we still cannot fill our requirements, then it will be time enough to talk about a Ministry of Supply with compulsory powers. But up to then I am convinced that the most satisfactory course is to per- fect and accelerate the methods we have been pursuing, and which have given a very large measure of success.

54