In the case of the railway nationalization scheme, the purchase price is to be a sum equal to the mean between the highest and lowest officially quoted price of each stock during the first 12 of the 1 8 months preceding the introduction of the bill, the idea of a buffer of six months being to prevent prices being forced up on the basis of stock quotations being made known.
In a Railway Nationalization bill issued in 1921 by two of the trade unions representing the railway workers, and sponsored by the Labour party, the price to be paid differs from that con- templated in the Railway Nationalization Society's scheme, on which the Labour party bill was largely based, in that the mean quotation of each stock during the year 1913 shall be taken as the basis, but shall be " subject to a reduction relative to the amount by which securities generally have depreciated in value in consequence of the war." This agrees with the policy under which the three Government Committees appointed to report upon State control of the Drink Trade unanimously recom- mended state purchase on the following basis:
" The profits to be so capitalized must be pre-war profits, and the effect of war conditions on profits whether favourable or the reverse, must be excluded."
The draft railway nationalization bill referred to suggests that this reduction on the 1913 stock exchange value should be in the neighbourhood of 30%, even that being less than the fall that has occurred on other investment stocks of the same descrip- tion.
The land nationalization scheme puts forward two alternative bases for purchase, viz.:
(a) Twenty times the rateable value of the property as existing at Dec. 31 1918, and, whore no rateable value exists, the value put upon the property by the land valuation of 1910; or
(6) The value put upon the property by the valuation of 1910, and in any cases where such valuation shall not have been com- pleted, it shall be valued on precisely analogous lines so as to make the value the same as if it had been fixed under the 1910 valuation.
In the case of the land being let on lease, the compensation is to be divided between the landowner and the leaseholder in proportions determined by an ad hoc tribunal.
The Government stocks to be issued in payment of the proper- ties nationah'zed are all redeemable at par in the case of the railway and land schemes by means of a sinking fund of -5%, sufficient to redeem the entire loan within approximately 50 years, while in the case of the miners' scheme, no statutory sinking fund is provided, but net profits are to be applied to that purpose. Each scheme provides for the drawing up of separate accounts, showing fully the results of the year's operations, to be submitted annually to Parliament and there discussed.
Management. There is no doubt that the principal problem in connection with Nationalization or Public Ownership lies in the direction of efficient management. The traditions of British Government Departments, which have been concerned primarily with the administration of legislative enactments and not with the management of trading concerns, is not conducive to efficiency as the business man understands it. This, however, applies more to national than to local government officials, the latter being in closer contact with the people for whom they act, and being more accustomed to act in an executive capacity. Mr. Justice Sankey in his Coal Industry Commission Report (Cmd 210), dated June 20 1919, wrote:
" The Civil Servant has not been trained to run an industry, but the war has demonstrated the potentiality of the existence of a new class of men (whether already in the service of the State or not) who are just as keen to serve the State as they are to serve a private employer and who have been shown to possess the qualities of courage in taking initiative necessary for the running of an industry.
Hitherto, State management of industries has on balance failed to prove itself free from serious short-comings, but these short- comings are largely due to the neglect of the State to train those who are to be called on for knowledge and ability in management.
The experience of the last few years has, however, shown that it is not really difficult for the British nation to provide a class of administrative officers who combine the strongest sense of public duty with the greatest energy and capacity for initiative. Those who have this kind of training appear to be capable in a high degree of assuming responsibility and also of getting on with the men whom they have to direct."
The need for a wider training and the creation of a new type of Government official to carry on publicly owned undertakings is now fully realized, and the newer universities and such in- stitutions as the London School of Economics are turning out men and women suitably equipped in a technical sense to carry on such services as will be taken over by the community. More- over, as each service is taken over, so is the existing staff who, themselves, naturally carry on to a great extent the traditions of the service whilst under ordinary commercial management.
In conclusion, it may be said that the immediate future trend of Nationalization or Public Ownership would appear to be in the direction of internal services of public utility or health, rather than industries calling for trading abroad, and while all prophecy is dangerous, a survey of world tendencies leads to the conclusion that those industries which will gradually come to be publicly owned, be it nationally or municipally, will be found among the following: transport, insurance, banking, coal and oil, electricity and power generally, housing, liquor trade, tobacco. Where such a service or industry has a large foreign trade, e.g. coal, it may well be that the State will grant a concession to a company to carry on that particular department of the industry on a profit- sharing basis. Of the continued growth of the principle of public ownership there can be little doubt.
AUTHORITIES. The three nationalization bills for Mines, Rail- ways and Land are printed in extenso in The Case for Nationalisa- tion, by A. Emil Davies (Allen & Unwin, 1920). See also the same author's The State in Business, 2nd edition (Bell, 1920), and the Nationalisation of Railways (Black, 1908), the Problem of National- isation by Lord Haldane (Allen & Unwin, 1921), Land National- isation The Key to Social Reconstruction, by A. Emil Davies and Dorothy Evans (Parsons, 1921), Municipal Ownership, by Carl D. Thompson (B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1917). Nationalisation of Industries: a Criticism, by Lord Emmott (Unwin, 1920), Where and Why Public Ownership has Failed, by Yves Guyot (Macmillan, 1914), The Nationalisation Peril, by G. E. Raine (Butterworth, 1920). (A. E. D.)
NAVAL HISTORY OF THE WAR. The tornado of war which broke upon the world in 1914 found the British navy at its post and ready for action. A review of all the seaworthy vessels of the fleet had taken the place of the customary annual manoeuvres, and by July 23 the ships had already begun to disperse. By the 26th the whole outlook had grown dark. The German Emperor was hastening back to Berlin, and Admiralty orders were sent by the First Sea Lord (Adml. Prince Louis of Battenberg[1]) to Adml. Sir George Callaghan to remain with his First Fleet at Portland, and to the ships of the Second Fleet to be ready near their crews at their home ports. Squadrons abroad were warned of the political tension, and on the 27th the commander-in-chief Mediterranean was told to concentrate at Malta. On the 28th Austria issued her declaration of war, and orders went out at 5 P.M. for the First Fleet to leave for its war base at Scapa Flow. It sailed at 7 A.M. on the 29th.
The British fleet at the time consisted of the Homfe Fleet and the squadrons on the various stations abroad (Mediterranean, East Indies, China, Australia, Cape, N. America and West Indies and S.E. coast of America), but the bulk of it was to be found in the Home Fleet. This fleet was divided into three categories in three successive stages of efficiency. The First Fleet (to be designated the Grand Fleet) comprised all the newest ships fully manned, and in permanent commission. The Second Fleet consisted of older but still efficient battleships and cruisers with nucleus crews amounting to two-fifths of their complement aboard. Last of all came the Third Fleet, a rather motley collection of obsolescent but serviceable ships in the basins of our naval ports with only a small " care and maintenance " party aboard. The constitution of these fleets is summarized in Table A, and it will be seen that practically the whole of the " dreadnought " strength of the fleet was concentrated in Home Waters.
Tables A and B shown in terms of units were the two forces
- ↑ Later created Marquess of Milford Haven (d. 1921). This last service to Great Britain by one who had always been a fine naval officer was never forgotten, although he retired soon after rather than allow his German origin to compromise his position.
