A Mighty Endeavor (24 page)

“With us, the situation is completely different. The Daventry Message clearly transfers authority and legitimate government away from London and places it in the hands of the Dominions and Colonies under the authority of their Governor-General. That is our interpretation of it, at least. Therefore, the ownership of the British aircraft goes with the legitimacy of the government and that means they are ours. How we divide them up between us is theoretically up to us, although I would suggest the Americans might have something to say about that.

“However, there is another complicating factor. The aircraft have not been delivered or paid for in full. Technically, both the British and French governments are in default on their payments for those aircraft and their actual owner is remains the companies that built them Primarily, that is Curtiss with the Model 75 and Model 81 fighters, Douglas with the DB-7 light bombers and Lockheed with the Hudson patrol aircraft. Not to mention Consolidated with the Catalina flying boats and the LB-30 long-range bombers. If any one of those companies went to war with us today, they’d win.

“Finally, there is the question of the interest on the funds held in escrow. Who does that belong to?”

“There needs to be a conference.” Lord Linlithgow shook his head. “These things need to be resolved face-to-face. The question is where? Whoever hosts that conference will be in a good position to claim leadership of the Commonwealth, pro-tem at least.”

“We’d better make sure it is either us or on neutral ground then. The Canadians and Australians will be locking horns over just that issue and the last thing we want is either of them lording it over us.”

Pembroke Dock, Wales, United Kingdom

“With respect, Sir, these aren’t our aircraft.”

Squadron Leader Joseph Alleyne looked at the line of twelve Sunderland Mark I flying boats. They were brand new, pristine and shining. A year earlier, Number 10 Squadron’s Sunderlands had looked just like that, but a year of hard service patrolling around Great Britain had taken the gloss off their paint and the smell of newness from their cabin.

“They are now. Ruling from the Air Ministry. The Australian Government paid for a squadron of brand new Sunderlands, not a squadron that have already seen extensive service. So, you are to swap your used aircraft for an equivalent number of new-manufacture Sunderlands intended for 95 Squadron and then leave the country before anybody says otherwise. There’ll be some passengers coming down for you to take with you.”

Air Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill frowned mightily at the young Australian officer. In his opinion, the Commonwealth forces left much to be desired where conventional standards of discipline were concerned. On the other hand, if it hadn’t been for their streak of rebelliousness, the whole Empire might have caved in when Halifax pulled the blanket out.

“Where do we go? What do we do?” Alleyne was bewildered and felt frighteningly lost. Suddenly, he remembered an event long ago, when a lost dog had attached itself to him and followed him home. The look in the dog’s eyes all those years ago had been an eerie foreshadowing of how Alleyne felt at this moment. Lonely, dazed, disorientated, abandoned and vulnerable. When they had reached home, he’d seen a hopeless, forlorn look in the animal’s eyes; the expectation that he would, once again, be chased away. That was what Alleyne had expected his mother to do. But she took one look at the poor hound, took him in and fed him. Alleyne also remembered how the expression in the dog’s eyes had changed to joy at the realization he was, at long last, somebody’s dog again.
Will we be that lucky? Or will we end up wandering lost and homeless?

“Away from here, as soon as possible. We have telegraphed the Australian Government, telling them that you and your aircraft have been ordered to leave Great Britain with immediate effect. If you receive no orders to the contrary, I would suggest you head for Gibraltar first, refuel there and then make your way to Alexandria. You can find a home there, for a while at least. General Wavell has repudiated the Armistice Agreement in view of Italian attacks on Egypt and the Sudan.

“As for what you do, you will have to consult your Government on that. As far as we are concerned, they have gone their own way.”

“Refuel, sir?”

“These aircraft are still technically assigned to 95 Squadron. All their paperwork refers to 95 Squadron. When you arrive in Gibraltar, you will be, as far as anybody knows, 95 Squadron. Any fuel you requisition will be charged to 95 Squadron. By the time the real 95 Squadron gets here, which will be 48 hours after we get word from Gibraltar that they have apparently arrived there, you should be well clear.”

Alleyne had a hard job stopping himself laughing. This was a deception worthy of anything he and his men had pulled off over the years. “Very good, Sir. Gibraltar and then Alexandria it is.”

“Good man. One other thing. Three G-class Empire flying boats will be going along with you. As far as anybody is concerned, they are route testing for the resumption of Imperial Airways flying boat services. When do you plan to leave?”

“Tomorrow morning, Sir. At dawn.”

“They’ll be here. Look after them, Squadron Leader.”

Cabinet Room, Government House, Calcutta, India

“The next item on the agenda is raising monies needed for the operation of the Government and investment in our national infrastructure.” Lord Linlithgow looked around the room. “I need hardly add that this is a most pressing problem and one that is critical for our success as an independent nation.”

“If I might make a proposal to the Cabinet, I believe that it might go some small way towards addressing this grave problem, while also righting an injustice that afflicts so many of our fellow countrymen.” Nehru spoke gravely; his eyes flickered around the Cabinet. With the departure of Sir Richard Cardew, the most outspoken opposition to the presence of the Indian Congress Party in Cabinet had gone, but there were other, less overt opponents. “I refer, of course to the activities of money-lenders in every small village and town across India. Their depredations bring poverty and hunger wherever they go. They drain away the life-blood of our farmers and keep them in perpetual debt bondage. They are an evil that we must remove from our midst.”

“Surely you overstate the harm these people do?” George Edward Parkes was responsible for agriculture in the Indian Central Legislative Assembly. In Nehru’s eyes, the very fact that he could say that showed how out-of-touch he was with the sector of the economy he was supposed to oversee.

“I think not,” Nehru was speaking slowly and carefully. This was, after all, his first substantive contribution to a Cabinet meeting. “In the farming villages, the money lenders advance the cost of the seed to the farmers. They take payment of that loan in the form of a share of the crops grown from that seed. That share is never less than half and is often two-thirds or three-quarters of the total crop.

“What is left is barely enough to keep the farmers and their families alive through the rest of the year until the next crop comes in. They are unable to save money or seed for their next crop. So, once again, they must return to the money lenders. And where do the money lenders get the seed they sell to the farmers with the funds they so expensively loan? Why, from the share of the crop that they took the year before! These men do nothing but live off the labors of others. It is time we ended their activities, once and for all.”

“Up to three-quarters, you say?” Parkes was shaken by the revelation. “That does sound excessive. Damned excessive, if you ask me. But how will doing something about this raise money for the Government?”

“The key to the power of the money-lenders is that they have a grip on the seed for the next year’s crop and can charge what they will for it. In a nutshell, they lend money and then take it straight back as payment for the seed. Now, few of those money-lenders pay the proper tax on their incomes. If we inspect their declared earnings, we will find that they only allow for interest rates of perhaps ten percent instead of several hundred.

“So, before the next planting, we audit those money-lenders and confiscate their supplies of seed in lieu of payment on back-taxes owed. We distribute that seed, free of charges, to the farmers explaining to them that this is a once-only compensation for prior over-payment. Come the harvest season, the share of the crop that would once have been taken by the money-lenders is now theirs. Some, they will store as seed for the next harvest. The rest they will sell and turn into money. Ahh, my friends, but what will they do with that money? They will wish to save it, but where?”

“A bank, of course.” To Parkes, that was an obvious answer, but it was one that again showed he understood little of the living conditions of the Indian country dwellers.

“There are no banks outside the big cities.” Nehru astonished himself by how patient he could be. “But there is one thing that is in every village. A post office. I propose we set up a system of post office savings accounts. They will be suited to the small investor and will pay a small but reliable rate of interest. After all, the money-lenders are, I am ashamed to say, Indians. But, when an Indian wishes to make a solemn oath, he will say ‘I give you the word of an Englishman.’ A savings account backed by the word of the English will be considered as safe as gold. The farmers will save their money in the post offices, where it will earn interest. While it is there, we can use it for our own purposes, paying off any withdrawals with monies deposited by others.”

“That’s called a Ponzi scheme. I rather think it is illegal.” Sir Eric Haohoa was impressed by the idea. The money coming into those post office accounts would not be any great sum individually, but there would be millions of such accounts and cumulatively they would provide a healthy income.

“In the final analysis, is not every government a Ponzi scheme?” Nehru looked around the cabinet room with a broad smile on his face.”

“Yes, but it’s not considered good form to say so too loudly.” Lord Linlithgow sounded amused. “This scheme does sound as if it would solve some of our problems. I move that the Treasury and Post Office form a joint committee to adopt and enact Pandit’s suggestion. Any objections?

“Very well. So moved.”

Dining Room, The City of London Club, Old Broad Street, London, United Kingdom

“The smoked trout please, followed by the breast of pigeon.” Sir Edward Bridges put down the menu and looked over at his host. Reading the elaborate menu had been a formality for him; the trout and pigeon were his established favorites here.

Sir Desmond Glasebrooke was hard put to make his decision. Eventually, he ordered the potted shrimps and applewood smoked venison. The wine waiter had brought the first of their bottles and poured for them. Then, they were discretely left on their own.

“Edward, old chap, how are things going in Downing Street?” Sir Desmond gave a strong impression of a walrus that had just learned of the death of a much-loved relative.

Bridges shook his head sadly. “Very difficult, I fear, Desmond. The truth is, I don’t think that the Prime Minister quite understands how everything fits together. He really isn’t one of us, you know.”

Glasebrooke shook his head sadly. “Between us, Edward, the chaps in the City aren’t terribly happy with the current course of events. I might even go as far to say the chaps are perturbed.”

Bridges put down his fork. “As bad as that? They’re not concerned, are they?”

Seconds ticked by while Glasebrooke thought very carefully before answering. “No, not concerned. Not yet. If things don’t settle down soon, though, they might reach that point. A major row like this within the Commonwealth, well, it makes the chaps unhappy. Some of them are beginning to think that the current administration may well be just a little bit unsound.”

“My word.” Bridges was shocked. “I had no idea things had reached that point. The dispute with the Dom/Col isn’t that serious. It’s more a matter of insensitivity at this end and trampled toes on theirs.”

“I’m sorry, Edward, but I really must beg permission to differ on that point. This whole affair might have started that way, but it has gone beyond that point. The situation with Dom/Col is getting serious. Are you aware that they are beginning to move their financial reserves out of London? And that the Australian Division that was heading for Britain has been diverted to the Middle East?”

“That is serious.” Bridges hesitated himself, concealing the uncertainty about what he could say by carefully anointing a piece of smoked trout with roasted lemon jelly. “We knew about the South African Division going to Kenya, of course. That was no great worry; the IGS might have diverted them there anyway. The Italians have advanced at least fifty miles into Kenya and the presence of the South Africans there will stabilize that situation. The P.M. is more worried about the Canadian Division. Technically, they are still at war with Germany and he thinks they could bring down the armistice. He is considering ordering them home. And that would be another breach with the Commonwealth. One that would be much harder for all the parties involved to accept. But, if Dom/Col are moving their funds out of the City, it would be very serious.”

“What is happening with the armies really doesn’t worry the chaps too much.” Glasebrooke waved his fork around dismissively. “The financial thing is perturbing them much more. Ever since the turn of the century, the hard core of Britain’s wealth has been in global finance and investment. We own, or have serious interests in, sewers, water, electrical, telegraph, telephone, rail, shipping, warehousing, banks and retail companies all across the world. The chaps really don’t think that is too much affected by where a division goes or what happens to a squadron of flying boats. The split in the Commonwealth is quite different; quite different. If this goes on, the Prime Minister will be handing all our investments abroad to our competition on a plate.”