– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 April 1948.
Sir Waldron Smithers
, Orpington
12:00,
26 April 1948
asked the Minister of Transport if the steamer "Samkey" which was recently lost at sea was insured; for how much; and with whom.
Mr Alfred Barnes
, East Ham South
The "Samkey" was on bareboat charter to His Majesty's Government from the United States Government and, in accordance with normal practice, was not insured.
Sir Waldron Smithers
, Orpington
May I take it that the British taxpayer bore the loss? Will the right hon. Gentleman give an assurance that in future a proper business procedure will be adopted and that these ships will be insured at Lloyds?
Mr Alfred Barnes
, East Ham South
This is a far better business procedure than that suggested by the hon. Gentleman. It has turned out very much to our advantage to carry this risk ourselves, taking into account the whole of the chartering which the Government have done.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
