* * * * Lord Winterton and Sir John Wardlaw
Milne continued the attack initiated by Mr. Shinwell a week ago. Lord Winterton demanded a greater effort, both at home and in the Colonial Empire, to improve production and supplies, and asked for a more comprehensive rationing system. Sir John complained that we were not yet using our industrial strength, and uttered a solemn warning on our financial position. The reply made by Sir John Anderson was not reassuring. The House is look- ing for some signs of an economic policy. There may be one. But so far no Minister has been able either to describe it or to explain the reasons for continued unemployment and unused industrial capacity. Members are asking, with full appreciation of the enormous difficulties due to sinkings and bombings, whether our present organisation of the Home Front is as efficient as the times demand. How does Lord Beaverbrook's restless energy fit into an ordered economic policy? What precisely does Mr. Greenwood do? Should we not have a Ministry of Production? Nobody wants compulsion, but everyone would like to see more order.
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