COSTLY AIR MAILS

Northern Advocate, 27 October 1932, Page 3

COSTLY AIR MAILS

AUSTRALIAN EXPENDITURE

‘‘Our air mail Costs us £20,000 • * ton; that is taken from the official figures of the Civil Aviation Department,’' said Major H. T. Shaw at u meeting of the Air Convention Committee, which was hold in Melbourne recently. “It costs £IOO,OOO a year to' carry five tons. Since the inception 51 tons 2cwt has been carried, and... the money spent has, been approximC ately £1,000,000,” The secretary, Flight-Lieutenant W. R. Garrett, remarked that on certain lines in Queensland the cost was now £7 a lb. Each time a passenger put his foot in an aeroplane there was a cost of £lO to the taxpayer. On the air mail between Adelaide and Perth the fare was the same as by train, be- , cause £61,000 was paid in subsidy. The chairman, Captain E. G. Roberts: The operating expenses of the company are more than paid by the subsidy. The public does not bdtlP er about it, so it just goes oh. The secretary said that no one-in the department had actual experience of commercial aviation. Mileage of the air routes compared with population was quoted, instead of the number of aircraft in operation and the number of pilots and engineers in employment.

Major Shaw: For the £1,000,000 spent they have given us 61 28 pilots and 30 mechanics. Other members expressed the opinion that control of civil aviation should never have been vested in the Defence Department; that this was like putting mail ships under control of the Navy. A Department of Transport was needed.