AIR MINISTRY'S WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 95, 21 April 1923, Page 12

AIR MINISTRY'S WORK.

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY FO» ONE COMPANY. Til?: BURXEY AIRSHIP SCHEME. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March Hi. The debate on the Air Estimates was dealt with quietly, but seriously within ihe lions.'. Sir Samuel Hoare is no speaker, but lie has a clear, steady manner of laying his matter before liis hearers. There are ill the House now a great many who knoYV about aviation, and therefore there was a really critical audience, and these were able to convince the House .of the importance of aviation, to clear their minds of the view the older services take that the living service is n mere auxiliary, and therefore subordinate to them. Briefly, the Air Ministry's statement . wns: Since the end of the war, when the ! French and we bad an approximately ei|ual number of war aeroplanes, both 1 countries have diminished these mini- , 1,,-rs. The French supply of '.COO service l machines has been diminished by about '< two-thirds—it is now, 1200: in the same period the British supply of 3300 I machines has been diminished by about I nine-tenths—it is now 371. But these I figures do not fully express the disparity between the air strengths of the two count lies. The nature of our Empire it-quires our air force to be much scattered, of the thirty-four service squadrons that we now maintain, eighteen tire in Egypt, on the Mediterranean, or in the Near East, and six in India. Of the ten remaining at home, five are allocated to naY-al and one to army work. Thus the numher of squadrons immediately available for home defence is live—one of them a squadron of I lighters and the other four of bombers. I France maintains at home thirty-two squadrons of fighters and thirty-two of Ijombers. At.the same time the French are engaged on an air programme which will give them in 1025 a supply of 2180 service machines. Our own Estimates provide for a total of 575 machines about Ihe same date. The disparity in machine strength is not adequately expressed by saying that in the air France is the stronger. It can only be expressed hy saying that no serious combat would be possible. What, then, should he done? Clearly we ought as a minimum have a reasonable strength in machines, a thorough system of training for air officers, and a good arrangement for a second line of olliccrs and men. whether on the Territorial model or on that of the Royal Naval Reserve. In the matter of civil aviation we are now in the position that three distinct schemes have been prepared and are being submitted to the Air Ministry in the event of the Cabinet agreeing to the formation of one big subsidised compauv to run air lines as suggested by the Committee on Air Transport Subsidies. It is understood that Mr. Holt Thomas and Sir Samuel Tnstone have both drawn up programmes, and that another is being put forward by an important group of companies, and possibly others. The Civil Aviation Department will he responsible for choosing betYveen the various proposals, and will have the right of nominating Iyvo directors. There are suggestions that the new company nuiy include airships in its programme, under some such scheme as t hat put forward by Commander Burney. There is nothing prohibiting this in the committee's report, and it is pointed out that the amount of capital called for far exceeds the probable needs of aeroplane services during the next three years. Anxiety is felt c/cerning the position of the existing air lines after the coming summer's operations. Tt is fully expected thai by that time each line "will have completed the mileage necessary for earning the maximum subsidy for this year —that they will in fact hasten to complete this mileage, and will then shut down altogether. This would seem to be the only possible course, for every day's work after the completion of the stipulated mileage would be carried on at a loss. By October, it is believed, a'l the lines will be faced by this alternative, so that unless the Air Ministry can find some solution there will be no British air lines to the Continent during next winter and until the new company is ready to begin work.