HC Deb 16 November 1937 vol 329 cc210-3
42. Major Mills

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he proposes to set up any local organisation in connection with the plans which are being prepared in his Department for safeguarding the food supplies of this country during an emergency?

Mr. Stanley

Yes, Sir. It has been decided, as part of the plans which are in course of preparation for controlling the supply and distribution of food and feeding-stuffs in the event of an emergency, to create throughout Great Britain a "shadow" organisation which could, without delay, act as a Food Control Committee in the area of each local authority, as during the period of food control in the Great War. I will, with my hon. and gallant Friend's permission, circulate further particulars in the OFFICIAL REPORT, together with the names of the gentlemen who will act as divisional food officers.

Mr. Bellenger

Of what will the shadow commission consist? Will it be distributive or purchasing?

Mr. Stanley

The shadow organisation will be in readiness for an emergency, to perform all the duties performed under the Food Controller in the last War.

Mr. Alexander

Can the right hon. Gentleman say when this decision was taken and with whom consultations have taken place?

Mr. Stanley

Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will put that question down.

Following are the particulars:

Great Britain, excluding London and the Home Counties, will be divided into 15 divisions (eight in England, two in Wales and five in Scotland) for each of which a divisional food officer has been appointed. In addition a chief divisional food officer has been appointed for Scotland. Each divisional food officer will, at an early date, approach each of the local authorities concerned in his division, and discuss arrangements for setting up the proposed "shadow" organisation in the area.

In London and the Home Counties, divisional food officers will not be appointed for the present; the Food (Defence Plans) Department will itself approach local authorities in these areas and generally undertake, for the time being, the work which in other parts of Great Britain will be performed by divisional food officers.

It is not anticipated that any expenditure will be incurred by local authorities in this connection in peace time. In the event of an emergency, the expenses of local food control committees would be defrayed from national funds.

The following appointments of divisional food officers have been made, in consultation with the Secretary of State for Scotland so far as appointments in Scotland are concerned:

Name, Division (showing counties included) and Headquarters.

I.—ENGLAND AND WALES.

Northern.

Sir Arthur Lambert, M.C., D.L., J.P. (Durham, Northumberland, with Tees-side) Newcastle-on-Tyne.

North Eastern.

W. Carby Hall, Esq., C.B.E., F.R.I.B.A.

(Yorkshire excluding Tees-side)—Leeds.

North Western.

E. Gardner, Esq., J.P. (Cheshire, Cumberland, Lancashire, Westmorland)—Liverpool.

North Midland.

W. O. MacArthur, Esq. (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Soke-of-Peterborough, Nottinghamshire, Rutland)—Nottingham.

Midland.

Sir James Curtis, K.B.E., D.L., J.P. (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire)—Birmingham.

Eastern.

Lieut.-Colonel O. M. Lanyon, D.S.O., J.P. (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Isle of Ely)—Cambridge.

Southern.

Lieut.-Colonel E. Tennant (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Sussex)—Reading.

South Western.

F. T. Lee-Norman, Esq., M.C., A.M.I.C.E. (Cornwall, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire)—Bristol.

North Wales.

Major W. Lloyd Griffith, M.B.E., J.P. (Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire)—Caernarvon.

South Wales.

Sir Thomas Jones, K.B.E. (Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan-shire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire)—Cardiff.

II.—SCOTLAND.

J. W. Peck, Esq., C.B. (Chief Divisional officer for Scotland)—Edinburgh.

South East of Scotland.

J. Erskine Dods, Esq., O.B.E., M.A., LL.B., S.S.C. (Midlothian (including City of Edinburgh), Berwick, East Lothian, Peebles, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Westlothian)—Edinburgh.

West of Scotland.

Colonel W. D. Scott, D.S.O., M.C., D.L., J.P. (Lanark (including City of Glasgow), Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Renfrew, Stirling, Wigtown)—Glasgow.

East of Scotland.

C. H. Marshall, Esq., S.S.C., D.L., J.P. (Angus (including City of Dundee), Fife, Kinross, Perth)—Dundee.

North East of Scotland.

George Bennett Mitchell, Esq., D.L., J.P., F.R.I.B.A., F.S.I. (Aberdeen (including the City of Aberdeen), Banff, Kincardine, Moray, Orkney, Shetland)—Aberdeen.

North of Scotland.

Colonel the hon. Ian Malcolm Campbell D.S.O., M.A. (Inverness, Caithness, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland)—Inverness.