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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0123.PDF
JANUARY 23, 1919 1 in., end will have been achieved when a system 01 properly planned aq<i predetermined air routes has been instituted, with their aerodromes and other requirements, satisfying both military and commercial needs, between which there is no real conflict. On these routes there should be civil aerial services wherever there is a reasonable demand for the facilities of aerial traffic and irrespective of the test of financial success. Such services should ensure a Urge reserve, of skilled airmen and of aircraft available for, at any rate, sub sidiary military purposes, and should afford a market for aircraft manu facture sufficient to maintain the manufacturing industry on a scale allowing of a prompt and large expansion of the industry for war purposes. ©. Th« development of civil aerial transport to the extent outlined in the preceding paragraph cannot, in the opinion of the Special Committee, be brought about without some State action. That State may :—(A) Give its assistance in one or more of many possible forms to private enterprise ; or (B) May itself own and operate or participate in the ownership and operation of aerial transport undertakings. 7. These alternative policies have been very fully discussed by this Com mittee, and it is thought desirable that the respective arguments in support of both policies should be set out. U'ernatioc (A)— On behalf of this course, which is that favoured in the earlier report of the Special Committee, paragraph n, it is urged that, as in the case of main: factum, so also in the case of the civil use of aircraft, the hop- of commercial return is the utmost effective stimulus to enterprise, and that the experience of almost all other enterprises, at least in the United Kingdom, supports this view. In support of private enterprise, whether entered into by firms or com panies, it is argued that progress is much more rapid than has been found possible under the machinery of Government Departments. The case of civil aerial transport seems to be one which calls for special enterprise of a peculiarly open-minded character. The exploration of the possibilities of • ivil aerial transport must be undertaken in a spirit untrammelled by those methods which have hitherto been usually associated with Government con trol. Rapid progress in this new field of transport is essential if this country is to hold its own. It is urged against the exclusive operation of aerial transport services by toe State that this system would mean that the State would be the only purchaser of aircraft, and that this would necessarily discourage the desired development of invention and design, and might involve the necessity of the State taking the business of manufacture as well as of the use of aircraft into its own hands, a course which, for the reasons given in paragraph 4 above, is to be deprecated. It is urged further, therefore, that :— (a) Firms or companies should without interference be allowed to under take commercial services where they are willing to do so. lb) Firms or companies which undertake services desired by the State, but likely in themselves to be uuremunerative, should be assisted by the State to the extent calculated to provide a reasonable return on the capital invested. Such assistance might take the form of a guarantee of a minimum rata ai interest on capital, or even of cash subsidies fixed according to the number of aircraft and skilled flyers kept in continuous employment. Prece dents for arrangements of this kind are to be found in cases where the State has assisted steamship companies by providing, on very easy terms, part 01 the capital cost of ships constructed to certain approved specifications or by subsidising the ocean carriage of mails. Among other methods by which the State could assist private enterprise where such assistance is required, are the following :— (1) Charters might be granted to properly organised companies, giving them exclusive running rights for defined aerial routes, either in the United Kingdom or in the British Dominions and Colonies. (2) Aerodromes, landine places, meteorological stations and wireless telegraphic installations which will, in any case, have to be provided for the naval and military air fore, throughout the country, might be put freely at the disposal of private flyers and commercial undertakings as the roads are put at the disposal 01 the travelling public. (3) The establishment of high-speed land transport by motor vehicles and otherwise between aerodromes in the vicinity of large towns and the business centres of such towns. (4) The State might encou rage, by liberal contracts, the carnage of mails and parcels by air, or might undertake to take up a certain proportion of the accommodation provided for such carriage. (5) Facilities might be offered for the purchase or hire, at low prices, of aircraft surplus to military requirements at the end of the Wax. (6) A retaining fee might be paid to such owners of aircraft as agree to hold them at the disposal of the State. AlUmatio* (B)~ On behalf of the State ownership oi civil aerial transport services, either exclusively or in partnership with private enterprises, it is argued :— (a) That since it is admitted that State assistance is in any case necessary for the development of the civil use of aircraft to the extent necessary in the national interest, a system under which all chances of profit are left to private companies, while the State undertakes a great part of the risk, and the certainty of expense, is the least desirable system from the public point of view, and the most exposed to justifiable criticism. (ft) That if the State must undertake civil aerial transport services in the national interest, it should at least undertake or participate in owning and controlling those services which promise to yield a profit as well as those which do not. (c) That such a system would avoid the possibility of confusion and economic waste through unnecessary competition between private com panies in a field in which the State protected them from loss, and the certainty of waste involved in private companies obtaining Provisional Orders or Private Acts of Parliament, and in such directions as the expense of company pro motion and the unnecessary multiplication of directing staffs, (rf) That State ownership or participation with private enterprise need not be an unsuccessful method of development. («) That while the ownership by the State of commercial enterprises may lie under the burden in each case of justifying its own necessity, it may fairly be said that in this instance the insufficiency or unsatisfactory character oi the alternatives put forward furnishes the required proof, and that transport has always been one of the first fields in which public ownership has shown itself successful, as witness even in Great Britain many municipal tramwav enterprises, (ft That, moreover, in this particular instance the matter a so bound up with national defence that any State would be justified in going tar beyond its accustomed limits in •Tommereial undertaking in order to make certain of creating the equipment of men and material and the sources of production needed for its own protection, and that whatever may be the normally held view of State ownership, State ownership of aerial transport services including all ancillary equipment is forced upon the community as an unavoidable measure of national self-protection. 8. The Special Committee feel that the questions of principle and policy lnvotved in the two alternative views described above raise such grave issues that it is for the Main Committee itself to judge between them ; but in any case it seems necessary that the steps to be taken to secure the main object aimed at, namely, the provision of the indispensable reservoir of aerial power, should be considered and determined upon by His Majesty's Government at once, as it win be too late to consider them after the War. If at the con clusion of peace diract na\-a knd military orders fall off vrrv grratlv. and no I asms -.tepi, have been taken in advance to create other markets for the manufactur ing industry, the manufacturing industry will dwindle with great rapidity and may well cease altogether to exist, except to the extent necessary to comply with such diminished naval and military orders as the State may still continue to give. It cannot last without orders while the State is considerhifc what steps can be taken to develop the commercial use ot aircraft—a process that is likely to occupy some time. H. White Smith (Chairman) ; *L. N. Guillemard ; R. O. Cary; Alan K. L. Chorlton ; R. M. Groves, Wing Capt., R.N.; G. Holt Thomas ; J. W. McCay, Major-General; *G. E. P. Murray ; Mervvn O'Gorman, Lieut.- Col.; Frank Pick; W. P. Schreiner ; J. D. Siddelev ; T. Sopwith ; Arthur /.. Turner : E. R. Wavland, Lieut.-Col. D. O. MAIXOI-M (Secretary >. March Sih, 1918. L. N. GUILLEMARD. G. E. P. MURRAY. NOTE.—A summary by the Chairman, Mr. White Smith, of the two reports of Special Committee No. 3 is attached. Brief Summary of First and Supplementary Reports. Special Committee No. 3. The questions originally put to the Committee and the conclusions arrived at can be briefly stated as follows :—-What will be the position of the air craft designing and constructing industry at the conclusion of the War, and how far can the industry provide for the requirements of civil aerial transport for aircraft ? It was immediately found that, so far from there being any difficulty in meeting the. requirements for aircraft, the demands for civil aerial transport, for some time, would be quite inadequate to keep the industrv alive. It was considered essential in the interests of National l>efence that the industry should be kept alive. The Committee, there fore, felt that, in order to keep the industry in such a condition as to be always able to respond to war emergencies, the services of the industry should i^mtinue to be employed for the design and development of naval and mili tary aircraft, and for the carrying out of the national construction of aircraft lor the future, and this would enable the design and construction for civil aerial transport to grow on a sound and permanent basis. In effect, while the Committee have always feh complete confidence in the eventual suc cess of civil and commercial transport, yet they felt that, for some time to come, it could not be looked upon to support the industry. The other phase, of the question which is dealt with by the supplementary report mav be summarised that :— # (a) Cost" what it may, this country must lead the world in civil aerial transport. (6) The State must have a reservoir of aerial power capable of meeting a sudden demand for expansion of the Naval and Military Air Forces. Put shortly, we may say, " It must be done." Approaching the question, therefore, from this point of view, it becomes evident that, if civil aerial transport is so necessary to national interests, every step possible must be taken by this country and the Empire to foster the rapid development of this form of aerial power, and by it the power of production in this country. The development of civil aerial transport to the extent outlined in the preceding paragraph cannot, in the opinion of the Special Committee, be brought about without some State action. The State may a) Give its assistance in one or more of many possible forms to private enterprise; or (6) may itself own and operate, or participate in the ownership and operation of, aerial transport undertakings. The arguments in support of each of these policies have been very fully discussed bv the Committee, and are set out fully in their Report. It is desired that the members of the Main Committee shall consider them in full as set out, and for this reason no resume has been attempted. In conclusion, the Special Committee feel that the questions of prinapK and policy involved in the two alternative views described above raise such grave issues that it is for the Main Committee itself to judge between them ; but in any case, it seems necessary that the steps to be taken to secure the main object aimed at, namely, the provision of the indispensable reservoir 1 if aerial power, should be considered and determined upon by His Majesty"8 Government at once, as it will be too late to consider them after the War. If at the conclusion of peace direct naval and military orders fall off very ereatly, and no steps have been taken in advance to create other markets for the manufacturing industry, the manufacturing industry will dwindle with great rapidity and may well cease altogether to exist, except to the extent necessary to comply with such diminished naval and military orders as the State may still continue to give. It cannot last without orders whik the State is considering what steps can be taken to develop the cominercia' use of aircraft a process that is likely to occupy some time. (Signed) H. WHITE SMITH, Chairman. APPENDIX VI Report of Special Committee So. 4. This Special Committee was appointed to advise the Main Committee upon the problems of labour and of the technical education of artisans and mechanics, male and female, arising in the development of civil aeronautics with special reference to :— (1) The possibility of setting up a model tvpe of industrial organisation applicable either to the whole of labour employed in aircraft manufacture and in aerial transport, or, if necessary, to separate groups of labour so employed, for the purpose of avoiding the friction and conflicts which char acterise present labour disputes. (a) Problems connected with dilution of labour, and the rates of and methods of calculating wages. (3) The necessity for some scheme of technical education applicable to artisans and mechanics, male and female, employed in aircraft manufacture and in aerial transport, and the extent (if any) to which such a scheme should be dependent upon State or municipal assistance. (4) The necessity for an administrative body or bodies to control the entire industry of aeronautics with regard to labour and labour conditions, in- eluding technical education, as above mentioned, and the question of the representation on such body or bodies of the State, the employer and labour, and the limits within which the control of such a body should be exercised. r. The Special Committee have given their most careful consideration to the questions submitted to them by the Main Committee. Before pro ceeding to deal with detailed points arising on its terms of reference, the Special Committee have thought it advisable to submit at the outset of their report the conclusions they have arrived at in relation to the four headings to which special attention is directed in those terms of reference. These conclusions are submitted in the form of answers to the specific questions raised in these four headings :—- (1) (a) There is no possibility of setting up a model type of industrial organisation applicable either to the whole of the labour employed in air craft manufacture or to separate groups of labour so employed. At th- * In signing this Report we wish to point out that it is based on the sup position that strategic requirements will necessitate the maintenance of a larger productive capacity than commercial demands can absorb, and thai our acquiescence in the measures recommended is conditioned by that sup position. 3
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