British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 986

CHAPTER XXVI.

or by Controllers, consists at present of the Controller of Heavy Industries and Director of War Production as Chairman; the Liaison Officer; the Director of Customs, Excise and Trade: the Controller of Light Industries; the A.Q.M.G., H.Q., Palestine; and the Secretary to the Board.

Up to the 15th December, 1945, the Board had held 111 meetings. The meetings of the Board are presided over by the Chairman, who is also the formal head of the department.

SECRETARIAT OF THE BOARD.

3. The executive officer of the department is the Secretary who is the bead of the office known as the Secretariat of the Board. The main duties of that office, which consists at present of four senior and some 35 clerical officers, are as follows :

(a) to convene meetings of the Board, keep a record of its proceedings, implement its decisions and convey its recommendations to the appropriate authorities;

(b) to conduct correspondence on behalf of control and other Government departments with supply authorities outside Palestine and in particular the British Supply Mission (Middle East) - the Middle East Supply Centre prior to the 1st November, 1945 - the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and the British Colonies Supply Mission, Washington:

(c) to act as a liaison office between the various control departments and the Middle East authorities and between those departments themselves on questions relating to imports into and exports from Palestine. This includes the preparation of procurement programmes, the progressing of individual orders, and the preparation and publication from time to time of notices to the public relating to import and export licensing procedure;

(d) to place bulk orders on Government account and maintain records of supplies to Palestine from the U.S.A. under lease/lend and cash purchase arrangements;

(e) to maintain a Register of Approved Manufacturers, the condition of inclusion in which is that no increase in the basic wage of a worker may be granted without the previous consent of the Board; to deal with applications by firms included in the Register for permission to grant increases in basic wages; and to collect information regarding the activities of registered undertakings:

(f) to deal with arbitration arising out of contracts placed by control departments in the name of the War Supply Board;

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