§ 16. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Food how many leaflets, for the purpose of helping foreign visitors to the Festival of Britain, describing food rationing arrangements and printed in foreign languages, were issued by his Department and subsequently withdrawn; what were the reasons for the withdrawal; the loss sustained by his Department; and what communications on the subject have been received from foreign embassies.
§ 17. Mr. J. Langford-Holtasked the Minister of Food how many leaflets in foreign languages, describing food rationing details for visitors to the Festival of Britain, have been issued; in which languages these leaflets have been withdrawn; and why.
§ 18. Sir John Mellorasked the Minister of Food how many leaflets about food rationing, recently printed for his Department in foreign languages, have been withdrawn; and why.
§ 27. Sir Herbert Williamsasked the Minister of Food how many leaflets were printed by his Department in foreign languages explaining our rationing system to prospective visitors to the Festival of Britain; and how many have had to be destroyed because of linguistic errors.
§ Mr. WebbAbout 247,000 copies were printed in French, Dutch and Spanish; 43,000 were sent to food offices; only a small number were distributed to the public. The rest have been withdrawn. A mistake was made in the 1730 selection of translators and I should like to express regret for any inconvenience that may have been caused to foreign visitors. The loss amounted to £340. The only communication received from a foreign embassy on the subject came to an official in my Department from an official at the Dutch Embassy, to whom I am grateful for his trouble and helpfulness. I am sorry about this. I admit, quite frankly, that it was a bad error, which could have been made even by a Conservative Minister of Food, and for which, of course, I take full responsibility.
§ Mr. NabarroDoes the Minister realise that there is at present an acute shortage of paper and board, which there was not under a Conservative Minister, and will he therefore take urgent steps to stop this profligate dissipation of public funds?
§ Mr. Langford-HoltWhen the right hon. Gentleman says that a mistake was made in the choice of translators, does he mean that this work was done by an amateur linguist in his own Department or that it was handed out to an outside agency?
§ Mr. WebbThe translator was engaged by my Department and did not turn out to be quite efficient—that is all.
§ Captain CrookshankWhen the Minister admits that he accepts full responsibility for this error, why does he assume that anybody else would have made the same mistake?