WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 266, 30 July 1918, Page 6

WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY

NATIONAL EXPENDITURE IN BRITAIN The Select Committee on British National Expenditure recently issued its third report of the present session. Liko its predecessors (says the "Morning Post") it reveals many instances of wasteful expenditure; but with ono exception they are not so glaring as those which were previously disclosed. Tnis exception relates to the work on the now abandoned school at' aerial gunnery at Loch Doon. in South Ayrshire, a subject which has alreudy been brought to the notice of Parliament by Lord Balfour of Burleigh. So far as can be ascertained more than .£500,000 has been spent on this project, and the final paragraph of this part of tlie report is as follows.— Loch Doon and the country around it will soon return to the solitude nnd silence frojn which they were roused by the introduction of thousands of men, employed over a period (if lifteon months, at a coat of hundreds, of thousands of pounds of public money, on an enterprise which was misconceived from the beginning, and which, even if once begun, ought never to hare been continued. Its namo will be remembered as Iho scene of one of the most striking instances of wasted expenditure that records can show. History of the Project, It was in tho summer of 1916 that the War Office resolved to establish tho school, the principal feature of which was to be the uso of moving targets running on rails. In January of this year the Air Council derided that the place was unsuitable an! ordered its abandonment; but a certain proportion of the expenditure will b» recoverable by the use of materials elsewhere nnd by the disposal of some of the buildings. In the second year of the War foe urgent necessity of tlio proper training of airmen was seen to be most essential; and Loch Doon was selected as it seemed to afford most of -the conditions present in a school which had been established by tlie French Government. The committee after explaining, the geographical features of the Loch and its neighbourhood, state: The only possible site for an aerodrome, and indeed, the only place on the shores of the lake where an aeroplane could land without'the probability or even the ccrtainty of crashing, was the peat bog on the western side, the committee report. It v.*as sin essential part of thf scheme to.drain this bog m order to make it serviceable as an aerodrome. The Director of Fortifications and \\ orfcs, Maior-Generftl Sir George Scott-Jloncriott. wrote a minnto describing this as 'a very risky measure to attempt, and added: "This is a most serious matter, and 7 certainly think the scheme ought to bo deferred until it is definitely ascertained whether 110 other alternative is possible, The Chief Engineer of the Scottish Command, however, reported favourably on the practicability of draining the area, and .estimated tnat the work could be done within three months from the tune the labour and materials arrived on the Sir David Henderson had declared that Loch Doon "fulfils all our requirements, and if the engineering dim- .' culties are not insuperable 1 should like it proceeded with at one/'; and Briga-dier-General W. S. Brancker wrote that the site "could not be bettered." Colonel \V. MacAdam, of the Directorate of Fortifications and Works, thought tho conditions "rather questionable," b.ut m September, 1916, the work was begun by the Air Board. Three"thousand men were employed, about one-half being.German prisoners; roads were made, iv temporary railway was laid, as well as lines of 'standard gauge up and down the hills; the bog was drained; an electric power sttaion constructed and installed; tho level of the water raised; hangars and a seaplane shed built; water and sewage works installed; and a second aerodrome decided on at Boston. The ft.F.C. asked for the construction <f another railway, which would involve tunnelling through 1150 ft. of hard rock. Strong Criticism.

In October, 1917, a committee of tho Institute of Civil Engineers wns asked to report on tho works, and in January, 1918, tho Air Ministry having been formed, Major Baird and Sir John Hunter visited the placo. On their report the Air-Council unanimously decided to abandon the enterprise. The Select Comliiitk'o set out the considerations which led to this resolve, and the arguments that were urged against that course. They state that the weight of evidence leads to the conclusion that "Loch Doon ought never to have been chosen. By the summer of 1017 iti should have been quite clear that the climate was unsuitable, that the conditions of air fighting were already changing so quickly that the targets might, he. out of date before they could be completed, and that the aerodrome would not be fit to use until the following summer, if at all. At that, time the whole situation ought to have been reviewed, and the authorities should then iiave acknowledged the mistake that had been made, and have stopped the work. Had this been done a great part of Ihe waste of money which has-occur-red would have been obviated. We coneider that the fuilure to do this was oven less excusable than the original ror in the selection of the site." The report, adds: "The actual work was well carried out. but: practically no limit was placed to the expenditure."