FOOD MINISTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 April 1921, Page 8

FOOD MINISTRY.

A £385,000 FUNERALPEACE DELEG ATE’S / DILAPIDATIONS. i j In the House of Commons the Food Controller (Mr. M'Cutdy) presented a supplementary estimate for the Ministry of Food amounting to £385,000. Sir Donald M : Lean’s motion for the reduction of the vote by £110,0(10 was defeated by a narrow margin of 28 out of 148 voters. The Labour men, though inclined to be critical, especially .over an item of £15,250 for dilapidations at the Hotel Majestic during the Peace Conference at Paris, voted *with the majority, and the Government was, in fact, saved from defeat by the Labour vote. There were others besides the Labour men who were indignant over that particular ftem. Mr. Ormsby-Gore said that it was a clear example of how Government Departments prevented ths House of Commons fi-om knowing the facts. They wanted to know why the people who caused these dilapidations did not pay for them. If a soldier destroyed his kit he had to pay for it, but clerks were allowed to rag about with the furniture, and the British House of Commons was called upon to pay the bill. He asked when would we get back to normal conditions, in which the presentation of a Supplementary Estimate was rightly regarded by the’ House as a crime unless some exceptional event had happened since - the original Estimatewas presented. Tie protected against the vicious habits of the Government of depriving the representatives of the

people of financial control by incurring expenditure without waiting for the sanction of the House. ACCUMULATED MEAT STOCKS. Mr. MKhirdy explained that drastic economies had been effected during the last six months,, and to a -large extept the sum he was asking for represented the funeral expenses of Departments of I the Ministry which had rendered great service to the country. Dealing with the disposal of the accumulated stocks of meat which caused congestion at the ports, the Minister said that two years’ supplies had to Ye handled. The Ministry had been sifteessful in disposing of four-fifths without injury to the British taxpayer or British trade. ESTIMATES. Sii* Donald Maclean asked the Committee of Supply to bear well in mind that the need for the Ministry of Food was daily declining. The Food Control Com'mittee was being abolished, but in its place was being set up a new department called the “Regional Organisation.” This, he said, was the most muddled estimate he had ever mot with in the course of a fairly long experience of the, House of Commons. He calculated that there were over 4000 officials of the Regional Organisation, according to the return set out in the Estimates, and 12 months’ salaries for them were being asked for. and yet the Minister declared no such organ isatin existed, Mr. M‘Curdy explained that all the staff of the organisation were under notice, and that at the end of the year; there would be no Food Control Committee.

“And, notwithstanding that the Regional Organisation is to come to an end by 31st December, £210,000 is asked for foi’ salaried,” said Sir Donald Maclean, “ £6500 for travelling expenses, and £!Q00 for incidental expenses'. The money, of course, has been spent. But, supposing the committee decides that some of this expenditure is not

justified, what is going to happen ? It shows the futile position the House of Commons is in in regard to expenditure.” A RIDICULOUS POSITION. Mr. G. Locker-Sampson referred to an extraordinary state of affairs in Scotland. The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce had issued to members a printed form in regard to hams and bacon. The Food Ministry were charged 224 s 6s per cwt. for the best quality of ham, against a price of 146 s per cwt. charged by the trade. It was ah absolutely ridiculous position. They were paying the Food Controller out of the taxpayers’ money, and increasing the cost of food. If the consumers of the country were having to pay for more for this particular commodity than they would have to pay without control, the sooner they did away with control the better it would be. ‘(Cheers.) He had also been in correspondence with a firm of millers, who told him that they had 5000 tons of bags of flour for the Government. They had had it nine months, and they were not allowed to sell it. The flour now was actually crawlin*.! with mites over the floor, and unless it was used immediately* it would be unfit for human fqbd. If the only result of ■ the Ministry of Food in this ease was to ; raise the price to the consumer, he said control should come to an end as soon as possible. Captain S. Wilson said he had never seen Estimates presented in the manner that these were. He would willingly pay £210,000, not only to abolish regional organisation, but ajso to abolish the right hon. gentleman himself. (Laughter.)