§ Major Procterasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what was the reason for Mr. Sidney Foster's resignation of his position at the Ministry of Food?
§ Mr. MabaneMr. S. Foster, general manager of the Milk Marketing Board, had from the outbreak of war given my Department the benefit of his part-time services unpaid. At the beginning of September he held concurrently the posts of Director of Milk Supplies within the Ministry and that of General Manager of the Board. When the decision was reached that my Department, as from 1st October, was to become the sole purchaser of milk from the Milk Marketing Board,530W it was clearly inconvenient for this arrangement to continue. A division was accordingly created within the Ministry to purchase milk from the Board and to sell it to distributors and manufacturers. On 3rd September a letter was sent from my Department to Mr. Foster telling him of the revised arrangements proposed and inviting him to accept a new post of adviser in milk supplies. Mr. Foster replied on 9th September declining the invitation, stating at the same time that he disagreed with certain features of the Ministry's policy regarding the sale of milk, as he believed that the revised arrangements would strengthen the position of the middle-man, lead to unnecessary services and increase the real spread between producers' and consumers' prices, but giving an assurance of full cooperation with the officers of the new division. Mr. Foster's resignation of his appointment within the Ministry was accepted on the 18th September.