§ 48. Mr. Bossomasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, since local authorities and various boards and committees have been empowered to make expenditures for war purposes that will draw Exchequer grants, a special committee has been created with exclusive 678 function to recommend economies or savings before the actual expense is incurred?
§ Sir J. SimonThese bodies can only incur expenditure which will ultimately fall on the Government with the consent and approval of the appropriate Government Department. The normal methods of peace-time control have been supplemented by arrangements to provide for more rapid and frequent consultation between local authorities and local representatives of the Government. Control is more likely to be kept effective by the development in this way to meet the conditions of war of the well-tried practices of peace than by the appointment of a special committee which, besides being less effective, could hardly fail to retard action in directions where prompt action is vital in present circumstances.