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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0074.PDF
FEBRUARY 8, 1923 AT WADDON ON CONFERENCE DAY: From left to right: Mr. OUey and Mr. Wilcoxson, two of the Croydon pilots, Mr. Scott- Hansen, of the Norwegian Legation, and Major .Grant, of the A.D.C. Representatives of two British Air Lines : Mr. E. Cogni, manager of Handley Page Transport, and Mr. Instone, of the Instone Air Line. •' Personally," Sir Samuel continued, " I regard the huge expenditure of the world upon soldiers and ships, and armies and fleets, and air squadrons as an intolerable burden upon trade and industry, and indeed as an outrage upon Christian civilisation. But until there is a new spirit in the world, and until we have got out of this atmosphere of wars and rumours of wars, we cannot afford to let our air defences fall below the Empire's needs. This is not the time for me to discuss the very urgent question of what our air defences ought'to be. Permit me only to say that at the present moment they are very low as compared with other great powers, and there does not seem to me to be the least possi- bility at the moment of any reduction. This being so, it is inevitable that whether we like it or not the greater part of the national expenditure upon air must, for the present, go to our military commitments of home and Imperial defence." The Secretary of State for Air did not, however, wish to leave the question at this point, as it would then be said that he had no policy, and that neither this nor any other Air Conference was any good. If he gave that impression he would be misrepresenting his position. He was, he said, trying to develop a consistent civil aviation policy, and for weeks past he had been studying various schemes for setting it in the way of organic development. Sir Samuel Hoare assured his audience that he fully realised the importance of research, and that although progress was hampered by financial difficulties he was only too anxious to see further development. Concerning the aircraft industry Sir Samuel said :— " The aircraft industry is a small industry in point of numbers, but it is a vital industry, and contains brains and hands that if they were once lost might never be recovered. I have visited one or two aircraft works, and I hope to visit several more, and I own that I have been struck by the very high standard of inventive ingenuity and technical craftsman- Ship that I saw there. It would be a calamity not only to civil aviation, but to all aviation, if the British 'aircraft industry came to an end. My first act as Secretary of State for Air was to obtain the permission of the Government to go oh with the Home Defence development scheme, and I hope that this expansion will not only strengthen our air defence, but also give a stimulus to the industry. Let my first ministerial act be regarded as symptomatic of the fact that I should regard the disappearance of the British aircraft industry as a national calamity." On the question of air lines in operation or suggested, Sir Samuel said that he was anxious to base his policy "on two foundations, the first of which was that a sufficiently Jong period of contract should be granted operating companies so as to enable them to sink capital and develop their routes. Then, he said, there should be as little interference as possible on the part of the Government. He also expressed the view that no subsidy system should be arranged in such a way that it would hamper the very useful work being done, whether by air-taxi journeys or by certain small unaided enterprises Sir Samuel was very anxious to see a start made with an Imperial air route, but the decision did not, he said, rest entirely with him, and was a matter for the Cabinet and for the Dominions as well. In this connection Sir Samuel referred to the useful work being done by the Cairo- Baghdad air mail service, pointing out that 28 per cent, of the mail to Baghdad is carried by air. The journeys were, he stated, made with remarkable regularity, and the saving in time was two days as against 21 to 23 from Cairo to Baghdad. When Sir Percy Cox had to attend a Cabinet meeting in London he was able to arrive in 9 days instead of 27 to 30 days. Sir Samuel concluded by stating that it seemed to him that what was chiefly wanted was an instructed public opinion. We did not want air questions discussed in an atmosphere that jumped from extreme pessimism to extreme optimism, but what we did want was to get down from head- lines and wild promises to an atmosphere of quiet and instructed discussion and development. In the afternoon Sir Henry Maybury presided at the Conference ; on Wednesday morning the Duke of Sutherland, Under-Secretary for Air, was Chairman, Sir William Joynson- Hicks, M.P., occupying that position at the afternoon Session. The first day was devoted entirely to the reading of the papers, the discussions being relegated to the second day. Among those who received invitations to attend the Conference were :•— Lord Desborough, Sir Charles Bright, Brig.-Gen. Sir Capel Holden, Maj.-Gen. Sir H. M. Ruck, Lord Edward Gleichen, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Jackson, Sir Alan Anderson, Sir Samuel Instone, Mr. Haridlcy Page, Sir Henry White Smith, Sir Edward Manville, Mr. A. Sturge, Mr. W. A. Bulkeley Evans, Capt. P. D. Acland, Mr. John Lord, Mr. T. O. M. Sopwith, Mr. A. J. Rowledge, Maj. F. A. Bumpus, Brig.-Gen. W. B. Caddell, Capt. G. de Havilland, Col. Barrett Lennard, Rear-Admiral C. T. M. Fuller, Brig.-Gen. F. H. Williamson, Col. A. M. Moens, Maj.-Gen. J. T. Burnett-Stuart* Lord Gorell, Lord Londonderry, Lord Morris, Lord Nunburn- holme, Lord Peel, Lord Riddell, Lord Sydenham, Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, Maj.-Gen. Seely, Maj.-Gen. E. D. Swinton and Mr. Holt Thomas. There were also present representatives of many aero- nautical, scientific, engineering and industrial societies. Members of Parliament, and representatives of the DominioHS, of Government Departments and of Municipalities. 74
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