BRITISH AIR TRANSIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 311, 31 December 1923, Page 5

BRITISH AIR TRANSIT.

IMPERIAL UNDERSTANDING. THE AGREEMENT ISSUED. MEN, GEAR, CASH BRITISH. tßy Cable.—l'ress Association.—Copyright.! (Iteceived 10.30 a.iv.) LONDON, December 30. An agreement between the British Government and the Imperial Air Transport Company, Limited, for the purpose of operating an aerial transport service to Europe is now issued. The company comprises the HandleyPage, the lnstone, tile Daimler and British Marine Air .Navigation Companies, with a capital of £1,000,000. The company will be entirely British. The Government is entitled to nominate two directors. The agreement will operate next April, and until the company has repaid the subsidies it receives under the agreement it shall maintain an efficient air service from London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Southampton, the Channel Isles, and other approved places. A minimum of one hundred thousand miles must be completed annually in the first four years and a million miles in the subsequent year. The Government subsidy for the first four years will be £137,000 each year, thereafter to be gradually reduced to £32,000 in the tenth year. All construction necessary for the air service, all engines and accessories, will be British. Only pilots enrolled in the Air Force Reserve or the Auxilliary Air Force will be employed. Technical and administrative personnel will be British. All aeroplanes, aircraft and the bases of the company will be at the disposal of the Government in a national emergency. — (Reuter.)