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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0360.PDF
MARCH ao. that the £3,000,000 which General Seely told the House had been earmarked for the purposes of civilian aviation is really only a small proportion of the whole amount which will be actually available for the purposes of encouraging development. At the same time, we still think that the actual amount allocated is far too small, having in view the fact that we are on the threshold of opening up an entirely new means of transport, in which the .capital expenditure is bound to be very heavy. It is quite possible that the intention of the Government is to go farther along the route of expenditure on useful development than is indicated by General Seely's statement, and it is because we have that idea in mind that we are inclined to wish that he had been more definite as to the exact intentions of the Ministry regarding the whole question of civil development. As it was, he was vague to a degree, and it is this quality of a want of definiteness that leads to uncertainty in the minds of those who are anxious and willing to get to work as soon as it is known that there is a real policy behind the generalities to which the House and the public are being treated. • • • General Seely told the House that this Really countfy *s in the lead of the nations First ? m aerial matters. Certainly in military strength we are first and it is doubtless the case that in scientific progress during the War we have easily led the others. But we agree with Captain Wedgwood Benn that it will at least be well if we do not accept the proposition without careful examination. It is all very well to assert that we lead, but mere assertion is scarcely concrete fact. Can we justly assume that we do lead when, with the exception of the few military machines that are now in the air for training purposes and the official cross-channel service, there is little flying being done in the country ? Contrast this with the progress that has been made in the United States, where numbers of mail and passenger services have been developed since the end of the War. True, it is impossible to blame our own Government for the want of comparative progress. The United States as a nation has no frontiers to worry about. Its own territories are so vast and the need for inter communication so great that it is self-contained to a degree that we can never hope to be. It has no powerful neighbours and the adjoining States are so backward in aviation that there is not even a present need of legislation to govern international air traffic. We, on the other hand, cannot allow the start of international navigation until a proper code of aerial laws has been formulated and solemnly agreed by ourselves and our neighbouring States. Therefore, it would be unwise and foolish to say that anyone is in fault because we have not the same services in operation as America is fortunate in possessing, but, at the same time, is it not equally foolish to assert without inquiry that we actually lead in both civil and military aviation? The probability is that, after the whole of the facts have been examined and compared, we actually do lead, potentially at least. • <$> Resettlement of R.A.F. Personnel THERE are many officers and men of the R.A.F. who are demobilised or are about to be demobilised. In order to assist those who are undecided or are seeking advice as to their prospects in civil life, the Editor has ar ranged for an expert, with wide experience of service, indus- The moment it is possible to remove the ban on civilian flying we do not doubt that we shall leave America well behind in the number and importance of our services, but we think it is well that we should avoid the outlook of smug satisfaction which is too characteristic of British officialdom. We were told before the War that we could sleep quietly in our beds, since the Navy was ready down to the utter most detail for anything that might befall, and the country accepted the word of Ministers and believed that it was ready. Lord Jellicoe has now told us that the Navy was a long way from ready, thanks to the cheeseparing policy of successive Governments, and that our want of preparedness might easily have caused irreparable disaster to the Empire and its Allies. The lesson seems to us to be that we should not accept too readily these ex parte assertions of political heads of departments unless they are verified to the full by chapter and verse of the bases of the statement. • • * We have before us a letter from an High Prices organisation calling itself the Peoples' Unemnlov- ^a*r ^y League, whose aim is reform ment by peaceable and constitutional methods, which contains a great deal of common-sense and is remarkable for its grip of the present situation in the Labour World. It points out—as we ourselves have done on many occasions—that one of the main root causes of existing trouble is the Excess Profits Tax, the Budget estimate forwhich is the enormous one of £300,000,000. By forcing up prices, the letter argues, this tax is a primary cause of dear living, discontent; un employment and unrest. Point is given to the argument by the quotation of certain facts disclosed at the recent annual general meeting of Bovril, Limited, one of the very few concerns which has not gone in for profiteering during the war. The Chair man, it appears, pointed out to the meeting that no increase in the price of their commodity had been made during the War, and that in order to earn an additional one per cent, dividend, free of income-tax (£7>500) °n their deferred shares, they would have had to increase their selling price by £53,571, of which £46,071 would have gone in Excess Profits and In come Taxes! There is only one term that can be applied to the flagrant profiteering of the Government disclosed by these startling figures—It is a damnable scandal. Why is the Government not honest about it, and why does it not confess that it is the profiteer which merci lessly squeezes the people to bleed them for taxation purposes ? As it is, all the odium for profiteering falls on the shoulders of the traders. It may be perfectly true that a large amount of the odium referred to is properly due to those who have made huge fortunes out of the necessities of the people, but it seems scarcely fair that the Government, which is the most wickedly shameless of them all, should escape not only without condemnation, but with actual applause for the success of its policy of raising money. trial and educational conditions, to give advice to those who may solicit it through the medium of this Journal. Applications, which must be in writing, should be marked Resettlement, and addressed to the Editor, FLIGHT, 36, Great Queen Street, Kingsway, W.C. 2. They will be dealt with in these columns, as far as possible, in'rotation. 36b
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