§ 6. Mr. LAMBERTasked the President of the Board of Trade when it is expected that the food department, formerly the Ministry of Food, will be wound up; and what is the necessity for keeping it in being?
§ Mr, BALDWINI anticipate that the Food Department will have ceased to exist by the end of the financial year. The necessity for keeping it in being was fully explained in the Second Interim Report of the Committee on National Expenditure, to which I would refer my right hon. Friend.
§ Mr. LAMBERTIs it really necessary that this Department should remain in being about four and a half years after the Armistice?
§ Mr. BALDWINIf my right hon. Friend looks up the Second Interim Report, he will see the reasons stated.
§ Colonel ASHLEYIs not the cost of this Department very much greater than the work it has to do? Does the work it has to do justify it?
§ Mr. BALDWINNo, I do not think so.