MINISTRY OF SUPPLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 April 1939, Page 5

MINISTRY OF SUPPLY

ABOUT TO BE ESTABLISHED IN BRITAIN FUNCTIONS EXPLAINED BY MR CHAMBERLAIN. REORGANISATION PLANS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.43 a.m.) RUGBY, April 20. Mr Chamberlain, in the House of Commons, announced that the Government had decided to establish a Ministry of Supply and that Mr L. Burgin, the present Minister of Transport, ]vould be the new Cabinet Minister. The Bill, which was to be introduced as soon.as possible, would be so formed so as to enable a Ministry of Supply, in the full sense, to be set up. For the time being, however, the scope of the new ministry would be confined, by administrative action, to the following matters: Firstly,-it would deal with problems of Army supply, which had been considerably expanded by recent decisions to increase the strength of the Army. Secondly, the Ministry would take Over responsibility for certain stores of general use, which the War Office at present already supplied 10 other Government Departments, including certain civil defence requirements. It was intended that this system should be progressively extended as this was found desireable. Thirdly, the new Ministry would also take over res- • ponsibility for the acquisition and maintenance of reserves of essential metals and other raw materials required in connection with the defence programmes. Branches to be transferred from the War Office to the new Ministry would include branches responsible for research, design and experiment, production and inspection, and the Royal Ordnance factories. The Bill would, among other things, include provisions designed to secure priority for Government orders. It was proposed to establish Ministerial priority committees on the lines of the committee which, towards the end of last war, performed the duty of settling questions of priority resulting from demands from several services.