POWER & DRIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1941, Page 5

POWER & DRIVE

IN BRITISH WAR EFFORT MEANING OF CABINET CHANGES. MR CHURCHILL RESPONDS TO DESIRE OF NATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 2. The Cabinet changes, says the Press Association, reflects the determination of the Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, to impart the utmost power and drive to the war effort. Lord Beaverbrook, it is believed, becomes virtual Deputy-Prime Minister with the duty of concentrating on the direction of general policy, particularly on the home front. Mr Churchill himself remains in control of war strategy, while Lord Beaverbrook directs the general field of production, the maximum utilisation of manpower and woman-power and the co-ordination of the Ministries concerned. The Press Association states ‘that when Lord Beaverbrook joined the War Cabinet it was implicit that he would remain at the Aircraft Production Ministry only till production had reached a satisfactory level. That has now happened, releasing Lord Beaverbrook for wider duties.

The "Daily Telegraph" says the big surprise is Mr Leathers's appointment as Minister in Charge of the Amalgamated Department of Shipping and Transport. He is little known in the political world but is a leading authority on dock problems.

The combination of the two Ministries will simplify the speeding up of and the turn-round of shipping. Members of Parliament have long urged that the Minister of Shipping should have more power to co-ordinate the authorities concerned with the loading and discharging of ships. The "Daily Mail” says the War Cabinet is gradually evolving nearer the shape which many Parliamentarians consider necessary—a number of Ministers free from departmental responsibility and able to direct their complete energies to major wai- planning. Mr Attlee, Mr Greenwood and Sir John- Anderson have been largely released from Whitehall tasks for general directive work.

The “Daily Mail,” in a leader, says: “Mr Churchill has responded to the desire of the nation. We have arrived at the point where new men'obviously have become necessary for the more efficient conduct of the war. Mr Churchill has replanned the Ministry on highly constructive lines. He has partially admitted the idea of a, Supreme Wai’ Cabinet composed of men not harassed by departmental, duties.

“Lord Beaverbrook, whose title is unique in British history, will devote his time to the general direction of war policy. He has been one of the big successes of the Government. He has stimulated every department of aircraft output. He leaves the Ministry, with Britain well on the way to Air supremacy. i “The telescoping of the Shipping and Transport Ministries,” the paper adds, “is a sound move which could with advantage have been taken before. There is no room in the movement of goods for two sets of officials competing and overlapping each other.” Political observers say that Lord Beaverbrook's appointment to a nondepartmental post will answer in advance criticism which some members of Parliament intended making in the war debate next week. These members have been advocating that Ministers in the War Cabinet should be able to devote the whole of their attention to war problems without being hampered by departmental questions. The sending of Mr Cross to Australia is in keeping with Mr Churchill’s policy of placing young Ministers in the Dominions, as instanced by the appointment of Mr Malcolm MacDonald as High Commissioner to Canada.