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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0306.PDF
understandable, however, that there has been no particular rush on the part of individual owners to voluntarily submit to this scheme of confiscation, for that is what it amounts to. Clearly, to ask a person to dispose of goods at a substantially ess price than he paid for them is to invite him to submit to a sort of blackmail. If the State wants this petrol, then it should pay for it at the proper rate. We do not mean that the possessors should be allowed to make a profit on it, but we certainly are of opinion that they ought not to be asked to submit to a loss. The most businesslike manner for the Government to deal with the matter would be to compel the owners of any greater amount of petrol than a very nominal fixed quantity to declare it to the Petrol Committee. The tetter should then arrange to take it over at the price actually paid for it, which could easily be verified by the production of invoices or the sales book of the person from whom it was obtained. It may be objected that the Government purchases its petrol at a much lower figure than it would have to pay to the private car owner, and that it would thus be out of pocket on the deal. That may be so, but the principle is well established that the individual ought not to be asked to bear the whole of a burden which properly belongs to the community. Either this petrol is wanted or it is not. If it is not, there is no more to be said. If it is, then it should be paid for at a rate which will not cause its present—and quite legitimate —holders to make a loss on its surrender to the authorities. .. . The question of dismissed war workers, Munition ParticularlY women, is causing some Workers, amount of discussion just now. Owing to the lessened demand for certain materials of war it has been found necessary to close down factories and terminate contracts, with the in- evitable result that a number of munition workers— about ten thousand, so far, we believe—have been dismissed from their employment. It appears that all possible notice was given, though in some cases this amounted to no more than a week, and as far as could be done measures were taken to find other work for those whose services were no longer needed in their old tasks. MARCH 21, 1918. In some quarters these dismissals appear to have been taken as a grievance-—quite unnecessarily, as'we think. The truth of the matter seems to be that the demobilisation of war labour has begun in certain directions rather earlier than was expected, and, that being so, we fail to see where the grievance lies, more particularly as it is the case that although certain spheres of war industry are being brought to an end, others are taking their places. But even if this were not so, and there were no other war industries open to demobilised workers, it would be as well for every- one concerned to realise at once that war is not the normal state of the country, and that once it is over there will be a general demobilisation of labour war. We agree that the sudden cessation of employment which too many have come to regard as a permanency is disagreeable to those affected, but on the other hand there is to be set against this the fact that most of our war workers and munition makers have, for the past three years, been earning wages that were beyond the wildest dreams of pre-war times, and that if thrift had been practised we should not have had to read of women and girls discharged under the new conditions being absolutely stranded even for the funds to take them back to their homes. It is a very regrettable fact that the munition worker has not, as a rule, practised thrift at all. He, or she as the case may be, has made a great deal of money, and spent it as it has been earned, so that the cessation of war work will come doubly hard on them. However, that is their own look out, and it is scarcely reasonable, that the State should be asked to make work for them when their services are no longer required in the direction in which they have hitherto been employed. In the case of the women workers who have recently been discharged, it may be pointed out that there is plenty of work for them. Many will be required to fill the vacancies normally occurring in factories, while the " comb-out " of men for the Army will create demand for labour which can only be filled by women. The R.F.C., the " Wrens," the W.A.A.C. and the Land Army have vacancies amount- ing in the aggregate to many thousands per month. There is no reason, therefore, to fear that unemploy- ment on a large scale will result from the closing down of a certain number of war contracts which entail the dismissal of a comparatively small number of workers. WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT METHODS. THE report of the Select Committee on National Expenditure which has just been presented to the House of Commons is an illuminating document. It throws a lurid light upon the wasteful methods of the Ministry of Munitions, and it is surprising that so little notice has so far been taken of its revelations. It is pointed out at the outset that the Ministry has become a vast regulative establishment administering practically the whole enginering and chemical in- dustries of the country, but remains, as it began, a great buying, and incidentally selling, concern, probably the largest institution of the kind that the world has ever seen. The work is mainly divided among three branches, Supply, Finance and Contracts, but the two last mentioned, in spite of recommenda- tions by the Committee in previous reports, are still relegated to the background. The Supply Officers are all-powerful, and their sole idea is production. While recording their appreciation of the work of the Supply Officers in the early days of the Ministry, the Committee points out that Supply Officers seem ''to have underestimated the importance of the financial aspect. We do not observe sufficient recognition on their part that they stand toward the nation somewhat in the position of trustees who havejnonies entrusted to their charge, and therefore bear the corresponding obligation of being in a posit on to show that adequate steps have been taken to safeguard National Expen- diture should criticisms bejnade at any future time. In this connection it must not be forgotten that the Supply Departments are in another form either traders supplying the goods or closely associated with the traders." It is, of course, recognised that the old elaborate system of tenders and estimates is not suitable for use in war-time, but there is no necessity to fly to the other extreme, simply ordering everything which is indented for, regardless of expense, and leaving the Finance and Contracts Branches to settle the bill at some time in the future. It is pointed out that Supply should have been glad 302
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