260 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 



nection v;ith tomb sighting and navigational instruments. Wireless telephone 

 and directional wireless were introduced. A reliable turn indicator and im- 

 proved compass made accurate navigation through clouds possible. Armoured 

 aeroplanes were constructed ; special machines were also designed for carrying 

 37 mm. quick-firing guns for use at the Front and ag-ainst submaa'ines ; these 

 guns fired a I5 lb. high explosive shell. 



The increased efficiency of the anti-aircraft artillery and the high rate of 

 climb of the defending machines put a check on daylight aeroplane raids, while 

 at night and in mist both searchlights and guns could be trained on the enemy 

 even if invisible by means of sound directors. A screen of kite-balloons sup- 

 porting nets formed part of th? night defences of London, and justified its 

 existence by the moral effect produced on the enemy pilots. 



The use of airships near the fighting zone or within reach of enemy aeroplanes 

 was impossible owing to the inflammable nature of the gas they contained, and 

 in spite of all precautions the loss in kite-balloons was serious. The proposal to 

 replace the hydrogen by helium came from a member of the Board of Invention 

 and Research, and in 1915 experiments were started with a view to the ultimate 

 production of several million cubic feet per month. The boldness of the idea 

 is best emphasised by the fact that at that time it took weeks to obtain the few 

 cubic inches of gas required for the preliminary permeability tests. Progress 

 w-as accelerated when i^merica came into the war, and at the time of the 

 armistice a supply of 350,000 cubic feet per week was ensured. 



The above outline of engineering activities during the war is both incomplete 

 and imperfect. It may, however, sei've to emphasise and illustrate the two 

 features vrhich characterised the period and made victory possible. 



The first is : Large production, obtained by organisation, standardisation, 

 and co-operation. 



The second is : Rapid progi'ess resulting from the stimulus to research and 

 invention and the immediate application of the result,- obtained. 



The required organisation did not arise as a natural development of the pre- 

 war industrial activity : it was called into being by dire necessity and applied 

 with grim determination. Before the war the British nation ■was anti-militarist, 

 non-scientific, and strongly individualistic. To achieve victory the nation 

 accepted universal conscription, and submitted to the mixture of Socialism and 

 tyranny which necessity dictated. Under extreme pressure, scientific knowledge, 

 technical skill, industrial ability, military and naval experience welded into a 

 homogeneous and efficient organisation. 



It is easy to disparage the effort or to point to defects, large or small, which 

 tarnish the record, but the fact remains that, whereas in 1914 we were inferior to 

 the enemy in every military asset except moral courage, in 1918 victory came as 

 the result of masteiy in practically all the thousand factors on which modern 

 warfare depends. 



The organisation involved the direct control of food, every essential raw 

 material, shipping, and transport; further, under the cloak of various euphem- 

 isms, it involved the indirect control of all available capital and labour. The 

 capitalist was granted the privilege of receiving and paying the interest on the 

 money required. High wages and the Military Conscription Act ensured an 

 axlequate supply of labour in the factories. And these things came to pass, not 

 by tyrannical order of an all-powerful Government, but by the force of a great 

 idea working within the nation. 



//. — Industrial and Economic Recoimti iicfion. 



The peace declaration is the opening of a new act in the world's greatest 

 drama, and the events of the next few years will decide the fate of many 

 generations. The future is always the logical sequence of the past ; it is the 

 present which gives direction to the forces which are acting in virtue of the 

 ideals which are operative. The world is emerging from a furnace, and the 

 rigid constitution of civilisation, for a moment plastic, will harden in the 

 mould we form. It is, therefore, the duty of each one of us to attempt to 

 understand the transfoiimation which is going on, and influence it in the right 

 direction. 



