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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0126.PDF
IfilOHT) STATE AID IN WE British are indeed a people whose comings in and goings forth are regulated not so much by laws written or unwritten as by a fetish more unchangeable than the laws of the Medes and Persians, which everyone knows were immutable. Precedent is the name of the fetish, and without consulting the potent oracle it is impossible to move, at least in any official manner. In an age and in a country which is ruled by precedents, as this land unquestionably is, it is a matter for constant wonder that at any time in past history anyone was ever found bold enough to take the initial step which created that valuable thing, a precedent. Perhaps it is that in days gone by the ancestors had more of the spirit of initiative than is now possessed by their descendants—though as an hypothesis it must be confessed this does not appear any too convincing, and it seems preferable to believe that the reliance which is placed in the guidance of the precedents is simply due to an innate feeling that so to rely upon them must make for continuity of policy as contradistinct from confusion. From that point of view there is perhaps a good deal to be said for respect of precedent. It is, however, like the elaborate systems which have been so largely introduced into business life of recent years—excellent so long as it is subordinated to the interests of the concern as a whole, but utterly to be deprecated when it becomes dignified into the position of the ruling partner. These preliminary reflections are brought about by a recollection of the French regulations now in force for the subvention of industrial vehicles. Doubtless the reader will wonder what is the connection between industrial motor vehicles and the interests with which this journal is identified. If he will but have patience we will endeavour to trace the analogy for him. It is not necessary to elaborate the details of the French scheme, farther than to say that in France most sub stantial financial help is provided for any owners of industrial vehicles of certain approved types, who are willing in times of national emergency to place them at the disposition of the State. A certain military grant is made at the time of purchase, and a further annual sum is paid towards maintenance provided certain not very onerous requirements meet with compliance. The vehicle must be maintained in a state of proper repair and efficiency and once a year it has to be submitted to the military authorities for the purpose of being put through a searching test—which is quite reasonable and proper. The funds to be applied to this most useful department of the public service are included in the appropriations for the army and are under the control of the Minister of War. Now there is, of course, no precedent for such a system of subvention in this country, or rather there was not until a few weeks ago when the Government, realising that the supply of horses for army purposes was in grave danger of dropping to vanishing point, approved of a system of bounties in encouragement of horse-breeding which is not so very different, on broad principles, from the French plan just outlined. For the purposes of our argument the horse-breeding bounties may be treated as constituting a precedent of a kind that is sadly needed at the present time; and it is to be hoped that an enlightened administration may ere long point to it in justification of a fresh policy it may conceivably see fit to take concerning the motor vehicle, and, what concerns us more, the aeroplane. FEBRUARY 18, 191 I. DEVELOPMENT. More than once of late it has been publicly announced by Mr. Grahame-White that he had laid before the War Office and the Admiralty concrete plans for the formation of an aeroplane reserve, somewhat on the lines of what he had seen in being when in the United States in quest of the Gordon-Bennett Cup. No details of the scheme have yet been given, nor do they greatly concern us one way or another at the moment. What is of moment, however, is that if this country is not to be left behind in competition with other nations the State must come to the aid of the private experimenter in some way or another as effectually as is done abroad; and that, perhaps, the principal stumbling block that stands in the way may be that which we have been discussing earlier in this article—to wit precedent—or, perhaps, we should rather say the want of it. Who cannot imagine the fate of a requisition for money to be applied in aid of the private development of aerial science when it had first reached the Treasury ? " Money to assist in developing the aeroplane ? " " My Lords have never officially heard of the aeroplane, and besides there is no precedent for anything of the kind." It is in view of this more than possible attitude of those who control the public purse-strings that we have been at some pains to draw a moral or morals from the French industrial vehicle scheme, and from the comparatively new British system of horse-breeding bounties. All reasonable folk are agreed as to the urgent necessity for this country to make strenuous efforts to get in front of rival nations in the development of aviation. For this there are many reasons, to say nothing of the alteration in the strategical position which the coming of the aeroplane is inevitably effecting. Great Britain has for so long led the van in the world's progress that for the sake of the national amourpropre alone she ought fo do all that in her lies to get in front and to keep there \ while certain it is to all who know the basic facts that this object can only be attained if adequate State aid be speedily forthcoming. How can the State best aid apart from the organisation of competitions and the purchase of machines of the most successful types, as advocated by us lately when referring to the French programme for next autumn? It is quite obvious that public money cannot be forthcoming for the assistance of any and! every inventor with a bee in his bonnet. Aid to practical flight is what is wanted, and how better can it be given than in the way of subventions along the French heavy vehicle lines, simply substituting "aeroplane" for "indus trial vehicle " ? Under such a system of subsidies, before long would spring into being a fleet of machines the owners and pilots developing into a corps of capable practical experimenters, each improving this detail or that of the machine itself, each contributing his quota to the sum total of home-acquired knowledge of the conditions of the air, and each at the call of the State in time of national need. It might be argued that all this will come in due course without the expenditure of the public money. But the mere fact that the State was show ing an active interest in the science, and was evincing a disposition to give it sympathetic assistance would give the movement a strong impetus that would be vastly to the gain of the whole country. There is roughly the scheme—for the precedent there is the horse-breeding subsidy. Now it is for those who are interested in the progress of aviation, and who have influence in high places, to set about the conversion of the authorities.
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