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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0312.PDF
FLIGHT MARCH 4TH, 1948 COMMONS DEBATE Committee to Examine Ordering Procedure .-Questions on Efficiency of Present Organization and on Corporations' Balance Sheets LITTLE that was new was revealed in the debate on civilaviation in the House of Commons on Thursday, Febru-ary 26th. There were two announcements, one by Mr. G. R. Strauss, Minister of Supply, and another by Mr. G. S.Lindgren, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The former stated, after criticism had come fromMr. Lennox-Boy d of the system for ordering aircraft, that in order to make sure whether the present system was good andto find out whether improvements could be made the Govern- ment intended to consult certain business and administrativepeople. The names of those whose advice would be sought were Mr. Hanbury-Williams, chairman of Courtauld's, SirRowland Smith, managing director of Ford's, and Mr. George Wansbrough, chairman of Reyrolle, who was a member of theTudor Committee of Inquiry. Until the Government had the advice o£ those gentlemen, Mr. Strauss said, it would be wrongto state the Government's view on the ordering procedure. Mr. Lindgren later announced that the Minister of CivilAviation had decided that, in the circumstances of the dis- appearance of Star Tiger, the British South American AirwaysTudor IV, on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda on January 30th, a formal court investigation would be more reassuringto the public. Lord Macmillan, a former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, had accepted an invitation to hold the formal courtof investigation. Foreign Examples In opening the debate Mr. Lennox-Boyd said that a discus-sion on civil aviation was urgent and he proceeded to name a number of incidents which had added to the national disquie-tude. Resignations and dismissals in the Corporations and de- partments had taken place, and recently published reports hadgiven a gloomy picture. He drew attention to the losses of the Corporation and to the success of Continental operatorssuch as K.L.M. and Sabena, both of which had succeeded as private enterprises with a government interest. The Opposi- »tion did not believe, he said, that State-owned monopolies would work and they were under obligation to restore thewide measure of freedom in the air when the chance came. Speaking of aircraft forthe Corporations, Mr. Lennox-Boyd said it had been suggested that the Corpora-tions should ask the manufacturers in this country to make American aircraft underlicence. He suggested that the time in- volved in sucli a process would gain usnothing. We ought to be in a position to provide'equal and' superior aircraft withinthe same period of time. He also asked for information on the Canadian offer forleasing DC-4M aircraft built in Montreal by Canadair. We must not lose sight ofthe fact, he said, that the aircraft industry mattered vr-ry much to this country in peace and in war, and the Government%^ . •through their home monopolies really had complete coirtrGl of" the activities of the British industry. Mr. JLenijox-Bpyd paidtribute to the exports of the aircraft industry/" Jfe also asked about the Brabazon I, the Saunders-Roe 'flying boat theTudor I, the Hermes and the Bristol M.R.E. * Even if the Corporations were given the aircraft they needed,they would still be called upon to do uneconomic and uncom- mercial things, he suggested, and it would be ungenerous toattack them ior expenses incurred for tasks imposed on them which were not commercial. He suggested that the routesMown should be divided into commercial and political routes in order that criticism could be levelled at commercial routes andthey could then be judged by the ordinary yard-stick of in- dustry. In conclusion, Mr. Lennox-Boyd said that therewould be no real solution until there was a change in policy. He was referring to an earlier statement that the Oppositionbelieved in freedom in the air and the right of some independent body to licence operators, including government operators, ifthey could make out a case that they could run a line pro- ficiently and safely, Mr. Strauss said that the Ministry would be able to takea number of major decisions within a very short time and we Wans- brdugh. | would then know more firmly what aircraft could be flown infive years' time. Among the aircraft that were being developed there would be one, and they hoped more, that would be equalto those flown in any other part of the world. In defence of the heavy losses incurred by B.O.A.C., Mr. Strauss referredto the maintenance of uneconomic bases and it was unavoid- able in the future that B.O.A.C. would be forced to operate_ia book loss. B.E.A. had suffered, he said, from the effi the travel ban, and B.S.A.A., whereas when they started opt. .v-tions had almost a monopoly and were able to show a profit, would probably be unable to show the same monetary resultssince they had undertaken new routes over which there was considerable competition Mr. Strauss suggested that thenationalized airlines were not inefficient. A. Cdre. Harvey considered that since the debate hingedmostly upon the ordering of aircraft the House should have been told more about it. He thought that B.E.A. should notbe called upon to bear the loss of /26,ooo on cancelled priority seats. In view of the hire of Lancastrians and Yorks byB.S.A.A., he suggested that that Corporation's profit of £32,000 could not be accepted. He further sug-gested that action against A.V-M. Bennett should have been taken last Novemberwhen an aircraft landed at Bermuda with less than 100 gall, of fuel. A. Cdre.Harvey considered further that the boards of the Corporations should be reviewed,and mentioned by name Lord Burghley and Lord Rothschild as not being quali-fied for such appointments. He had, how- ever, every confidence in Mr. WhitneyStraight. Mr. Ivor Thomas paid tribute to theachievements of B.S.A.A. and said that there> was a good spirit in the Corporation.Sir^ Rowland Smutu^ He gave ctonparative figures of the earning ' -»- " ability in" the tliree Corporations.There weie se\ei,il appeals for financial aid for the flying clubs, particularly Jrom Sir W. Smiles, and S/L. Kinghorn.Sir B. Neven Spence thought that it was disgraceful that three of the pioneers on Scottish aviation, Messrs. Cumming, Bar-clay and Fresson, had been declared redundant by B.E.A.C. Mr. Ward was surprised that the Minister of Supply did notknow whether the Canadair was being considered or not by anybody. He suggested that a commission similar to PresidentTruman's commission in America should be set up. Mr. Lindgren had very little time to reply to the manyquestions, but expressed his appreciation of the general tenor of the debate and the helpfulness which everyone had shown inregard to the furtherance of civil aviation in this country. I; was wrong, he said, to compare the size of the Air Ministry^section in pre-war days with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to-day. There were at that time only two State-owned air-fields : Heston and Croydon; the rest were small and owned by "municipalities or private flyers, and also in those days navi-gational aids were poor and aircraft were small. Since the war, development in aircraft and aids had necessitated anenormous increase in manpower. The Parliamentary Secre- tary said that money had been lost in civil aviation as the resultof the deliberate policy of the Government to fly British. In comparing K.L.M. with B.O.A.C. he said that the Dutch com-pany operated services on the basis of paying for services de- veloped by others, and no organization was maintained alongtheir trunk routes. He assured the House that there was no intention of amalgamating the Corporations into one. Theyhad been formed with the intention of creating a healthy spirit of rivalry and, although it had led in certain sectionsto overstaffing and duplication, there had always been co- operation at the top. He said that there would be no rebateof fuel tax for the Corporations. Referring to a question from A. Cdre. Harvey on the late ordering of the Ambassador, Mr.Lindgren emphasized that the Corporations could not be ex- pected to develop every aircraft which came on the market.Their aim as operators Mas to get as limited a range of types of aircraft into operation as possible. Mr. LindET^ri wound upthe debate by paying tribute to the staffs of the three Corporations.
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