Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/1119

Rh and those who consider that Nationalization or public ownership leads to wasteful and bureaucratic methods and the disappear- ance of enterprise. This via media lies in the direction of the State or municipality owning an undertaking, but leasing it to a com- pany under a concession for a fixed term of years, on a profit- sharing basis. The State or municipality, as representing the community, has control or a deciding voice in matters of principle, conditions of labour, etc., whilst the concessionaire company has the customary incentive to commercial efficiency. At the end of the concession the State or municipality is free to take over a complete service that has been organized on a commercial basis, or to grant a fresh concession. This system is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world, and appears prefer- able to the composite bodies, composed of municipalities and joint-stock companies, hitherto favoured in England.

Nationalization of Industries. Detailed nationalization schemes for three separate industries in Great Britain had already been published by 192 1, covering mines, railways and land respectively. That for mines was prepared in 1919 on behalf of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, that for railways was prepared on behalf of the Railway Nationalization Society, and that for land was based upon an original draft made by the present writer for the Land Nationalization Society. The three schemes approxi- mate more nearly to one another than might have been antici- pated, having regard to the difference between the three services of coal mining, railway transport, and land ownership. Each provides for administration by a national council, appointed as to part by the Government and part by the workers engaged in the industry, with a Cabinet Minister at the head.

The miners' nationalization scheme (which covers coal and ironstone, shale, fire clay and limestone, but excludes sandstone, granite, slate, chalk, building clay, gravel and sand) provides for a National Mining Council consisting of a President and '20 members, 10 of whom are to be appointed by the Government, and 10 by the Miners' Federation.

The railway scheme provides for a National Transport Council consisting of the Minister for Transport, 3 persons nominated respectively by the Minister for Transport, the Board of Trade and the Treasury, and 3 representatives of the railway workers selected by the Transport Ministry from a panel of not less than 12 persons nominated annually for that purpose by the several committees of the 20 principal trade unions of which the member- ship is drawn wholly or in great part from persons engaged in the services of transport. This more complex method of provid- ing for representatives of the workers in a nationalized transport system is due to the fact that, whilst practically all the workers in and about coal-mines are members of units making up the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, workers on the railways alone, apart from other branches of transport, are spread over a large number of trade unions. It will be further noticed that while the miners' scheme imposes upon the Minister for Mines ten members of the council definitely selected by the Miners' Federation, the railway scheme gives the Transport Minister some latitude of choice, by giving him powers of selection from a panel. This scheme not merely overcomes the difficulty of having to deal with a number of trade unions, but also enables the Minister to select as colleagues those on the panel with whom he considers he can best work, or who seem the most suitable.

In the case of land ownership a totally distinct matter from the working of the land there is no large body of workers which may justly claim representation on the management, and here representation of the various sectional interests has been aimed at by providing that the National Land Council should consist of the Minister for Lands; three members appointed by him, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Food respectively; one appointed by the Minister for Lands from a panel of not less than three persons nominated for the purpose by representatives of Farmers' Unions and Chambers of Agriculture; one appointed by the Minister from a panel of not less than three persons nominated by Associations of Smallholders and Allotment hold- ers; and one appointed by the Minister from a panel of not less than three persons nominated by Agricultural Labourers' Unions.

In all three schemes provision is made for local or district councils, to which the National Council may delegate such powers as it thinks fit. The constitution of these district councils is analogous to that of the national councils, the proportion of wor- kers' representation being the same, and in the case of the mines, provision is made also for the formation of councils for the separate pits. Members of all the councils are to receive such remuneration as the National Council, with the consent of the Treasury, may determine. The miners' scheme allows for the formation of a council to represent the interests of consumers, but such council has no executive powers and is purely advisory. In the case of the transport and land schemes no such pro- vision is made, it being assumed that the members of the council nominated by the Government do, ipso facto, represent the general community, which in this case constitutes the consumer.

Another nationalization scheme for the coal industry was sketched by Mr. Justice Sankey, the Chairman of the Coal Industries Commission, 1919. This scheme provides for national ownership and, like the miners' scheme, aims at avoiding too bureaucratic a management by handing over the administration to district councils. While, however, the miners' scheme makes the National Mining Council of which the Minister of Mines is a member, the supreme authority, the Sankey scheme leaves the Minister of Mines in supreme control, with the obligation to consult the. standing committee of the Mining Council on certain questions. Whereas the composition of the joint bodies in the miners' scheme is dual, representation being divided between the Government and the miners, in the Sankey scheme, it is tripartite, one-third representing the workers, one-third the consumers and one-third the technical and commercial side of the industry; the Government is not represented at all on this body, but, as stated, the Minister of Mines is not obliged to carry out recommendations of the National Mining Council, although that body is to meet regularly " for the purpose of superintending the operation of District Mining Councils."

All three schemes provide for compensation to the owners for the properties to be nationalized, and for payment to be made in Government stock bearing the rate of interest current at the time on that existing Government stock which most nearly approximates in length of time and conditions to the stock contemplated under the scheme. That is to say, if British Government 5% War Loan is quoted at a price at which it yields 55%, the stock issued in payment of the properties taken by the State is to be on the basis of s| % at par, it being immaterial from this point of view, whether in payment of a property worth 100, the owner receives 100 of s% stock or 110 of 5% stock. In deciding the amount to be paid for each property acquired, there arises the thorny question of the basis of value and compensation. The miners' scheme provides for the appointment of ten commissioners for this special purpose, three of them to be nominated by the Miners' Federation and three of them by the owners' organization, the Mining Association. If a majority of commissioners cannot agree as to the purchase price of any property, the chairman (appointed by the Government) shall have power to determine the value. A coal-mine is to be valued on the average actual annual number of tons actually raised during the five years prior to August 4 1914, due regard being paid to the actual gross and net profits during that period and to the amount set aside for depreciation, renewals or development, to the probable life of the mine, and to the condition in which it is. Where a mine has not been fully developed, the amount which would be raised under full development without any increase of capital expenditure is to be taken as the average annual number of tons. The scheme, however, fixes a maximum purchase price, viz.:

Per ton

s. d.

When 100,000 tons or less have been raised per annum on the average during such five preceding years, a capital sum equal to one such year's output at. . . 12 O

When more than 100,000 tons have been raised per annum on the average during such five preceding years, a capital sum equal to one such year's output at. . . .100