In the meantime, however, Mr. Chamberlain reiterated the unwillingness of the Government to accept the proposal for a Ministry of Supply.
He argued that this would involve the use of compulsion, which employers and workers would not be ready to accept in time of peace.
The Prime Minister made the point that they were only in the third year of the rearmament programme, which was undertaken and organized as a five-year programme. To argue that because everything was not completed in three years the programme had broken down was, therefore, foolish.
Mr. Chamberlain said that he doubted if it would have been possible to squeeze a five-year programme into three years.
He admitted, however, that the review had shown the special urgency of certain parts of the programme, for Which practical reinforcements were necessary if they were not to jeopardize the whole scheme.
The Government would, therefore, direct itself to those parts, and Mr. Chamberlain reminded the House once more that there would, undoubtedly, be an addition to the total cost of the programme.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.