FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0579.PDF
APRIL 7TH, 1949 FLIGHT 399 EMPIRE-BUILDERS Ministry of Civil Aviation to Cost More Than £22 M Million THE Civil Estimates fQ^ 1949-50, issued last week,reveal that although the cost of the Ministry ofCivil Aviation is expected to show a decrease of nearly £3! million, the taxpayer will have to find more than £22$ million for the Department. The main subheads under which this large sum is to be spent are tabulated below, but a more detailed examination of some of them is rewarding. Beginning at the top—of the Ministry as well as of the table—one finds that a real effort has been made to economize in the matter of personnel. The total number to be employed will fall from 8,588 last year to 8,550! In the Ministry itself, headquarters staff is being reduced from 1,786 to 1,720. It is hoped that these drastic reductions will not seriously affect the efficiency of the Ministry. A close examination of subhead A reveals that savings have been effected at headquarters by doing without the following : one Controller of Technical and Operational Ser- vices ; one Controller of Aerodromes; six Assistant Directors; one Temporary Administrative Officer II; 20 Staff Pilots; ten Staff Navigators; 62 Assistant Signals Officers; two Aerodrome Advisors; and one Supervising Draughtsman. At outstations they will have to get along without: One Commandant (Fire School) ; 43 Assistant Signals Officers ; and two Temporary Assistants. It seems a little odd that it should take a total of 8,550 people, most of them on the ground, to keep three (shortly two) Corporations operating at a heavy loss in the air. "Clerical, typing, etc., staffs" appear to account for some very large sums. At headquarters there are 805 of them, and their salaries amount to £239,573. At out- stations the number is 789 and the salaries £218,110. Senior Salaries ... : .--.. Further delving into the details of headquarters staff reveals that there are six Under-Secretaries drawing £2,000 each; 16 Assistant Secretaries who between them cost £23,652 ; six Directors absorb £9,155 and 12 Deputy Direc- tors £16,045. The number of representatives overseas has been doubled and they seem to be fairly well paid, as 14 of them account for £33,308. Looking down the table, it is interesting to find that, in subhead E, a sum of £253,000 has been set aside to defray the expense of aircraft employed on departmental duties. At first one assumes that this expense must be an oper- ational one, as purchase of official communications air- craft does not figure in these estimates. (Last year that item accounted for £436,000.) But under subhead L the operation and maintenance of official communications air- craft require £135,000. There is a very large drop in subhead F, payments for research, development and production. Last year this accounted for £10,314,000, whereas this year's figure is £4,636,500. Presumably the bulk of this sum is in the form of progress payments and so forth in connection with the Brabazon and the Princess flying boats. Subhead G accounts for very large sums, although those to be voted for 1949-50 are, generally speaking, but a fraction of the total estimated costs of the work. During this next financial year, airports are expected to require the following amounts: Belfast (Nutts Corner), £40,000; Blackbushe, £2,500; Bovingdon, £124,000; Croydon, £33,000; Edinburgh (Turnhouse), £16,000; Hurn £35,000; Kirkwall (Hatston), £47,000; Liverpool (Speke), £7,000; London Airport, £3,205,000; Manchester (Ringway), £104,000; Northolt, £115,000; Prestwick, £113,000; Ren- frew, £208,000; Scilly Isles, £8,500; Southampton Water Marine Base, £5,000; Stansted, £30,000*; Stornoway, £7.000. To these must be added £1,500,000 for purchase D 7 of lands and buildings, and other items which bring the total expenditure under this subhead up to £7,772,000. Grants to meet any excess of expenditure over revenue for the three Corporations are: B.O.A.C., £3,500,000; B.E.A.C., £1,700,000; B.S.A.A.C., £250,000; associates of the three Corporations, £10,000. In subhead L there appears a sum of £100,000 for the Air Registration Board. This independent body is doing excellent work on airworthiness and in other directions, and in addition to its other problems it has had to A.—Salaries, etc B.—Travelling and Incidental expenses C.—Air Transport Advisory Council D.—Non-technical supplies and Transportation E.—Equipment, stores and an- cillary services F.—Civil Aircraft and associ- ated equipment G.—Works, buildings and lands H.—Ground services for Com- monwealth and other routes : grants and other expenses J.—Meteorological services ... K.I.—Grants to British Over- seas Airways Corporation... K.2.—Grants to British Euro- pean Airways Corporation K.3.—Grants to British SouthAmerican Airways Corpor- ation KA.—Grants to associates of the three Corporations L.—Various aviation services : grants and other expenses M.—Catering services N.—Miscellaneous expenses Gross total £ Deduct l Z.—Appropriations in aid ... Net total ... ...£ I949-S9 £ 3,563,084 200,000 3(500 385.000 1,678,000 4,636,500 7,772,000 2.000,000 299,500 3.500,000 1,700,000 250,000 100,000 321,800 61,000 242,000 26,712,384 4,158.300 22,554,084 Net decrease IM&49 £ 3.757.S83 200,000 10,000 322,000 2,389,000 10,314,000 4,892,000 2,700,000 418.300 5,250,000 2,000,000 400,000 50,000 295,400 73,000 207,000 33,278,283 6,963,500 26,314,783 Increase £ 63,000 2,880,000 50,000 26,400 . 35,000 3,054,400 2,805,200 5,859,600 Decrease £ 194,499 6,500 711,000 5,677,500 700,000 118,800 1,750,000 300,000 150,000 — 12,000 — 9,620,299 — 9,620,299 £3,760,699 struggle with financial difficulties. It is to be hoped that the latter will be somewhat reduced by this grant. The cost of the items listed in the subheads is reduced by appropriations in aid, which are expected to total £4,158,300. Sale and lease of aircraft are expected to bring in £2,203,700; rents another £600,000; and housing and landing fees £650,000. A.I.D. PARTY AT CHRISTCHURCH A LTHOUGH organized by the area Aircraft Inspection -ti Department, the recent dinner and dance at Christ- church was, in effect, a pleasant and useful opportunity for Hampshire and Isle of Wight aviation personalities to get to- gether. Airspeed and Saunders-Roe visitors, of course, pre- dominated, but people arrived for this relatively informal little party from the most surprising places. With Mr. E. W. Jolliffej(Principal Inspection Officer of the South-Western Area A.I.Dj in the chair, the speakers included Mr. A. Townsley, a director of Airspeed, and Mr. Robert Perfect, of Saunders-Roe. Both were amusing and pointed as usual, replying for the visitors and proposing the toast of the A.I.D. respectively. The Royal Air Force was represented by W/C. Gutteridge. Speakers' subjects ranged from the Air Lift to the recent air-refuelled flight by the U.S.A.F. Boeing B-50; the lattei subject was particularly appropriate in view of the presence of Sir Alan Cobham.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
