TOPICS OF THE TIMES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4652, 2 February 1935, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Imperial Air Lines.

“Obviously, in any scheme for the development of our Imperial air communications, we have to act in the closest co-operation with the Dominions' and colonies, and the time is not yet ripe for me to make any detailed statement of the plans which are naturally in • our minds. I will therefore confine myself to saying that they Were drawn up long before the Melbourne race, and that they allow for a seven-day schedule between this country and Austi’alia. That is nearly half the schedule with which the service is to open. I need hardly say that we are aiming at similar accelerations to the other great Dominions such as South Africa and to the colonies. We aim at faster aircraft; we aim at greater frequency; we aim at greater comfort, the importance of which we fully recognise. Last, but by no means least, we aim, with the assistance of the Post Office, at a further development of air mail traffic.”—The Marquess of Londonderry, Secretary of State for Air.

Control of Armaments.

“We have the most complete and stringent system of control of the export of arms of any country in the world. No consignment of armaments can leave this country without a license to export it. The British exporter has to establish to the satisfaction of the appropriate department the real destination of his goods, and we give no license except for export to Governments. We refuse the benefit of our export credit system to the export of munitions of war, and so far as know w<e are the only country in the world that does it. We never subsidise a private firm for producing arms. We never allow our diplomatic or consular officer abroad to act as travellers or canvassers for armament firms.” —Sir John Simon.