BRITISH AIR POWER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18335, 27 February 1923, Page 7

BRITISH AIR POWER.

INFERIORITY TO FRANCE. CIVIL SUBSIDY SCHEME. PRIVATE SUPPORT CERTAIN. By Telegraph— Association Copyright. (Received 9.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON, Feb. 26. Regarding the report of the committee on civil air transport subsidies, the Daily Chronicle states that if the Treasury approves the proposed grant of £1,000,000 to be spread over 10 years toward a £2,000,000 scheme for the development of British airways, the rest of the money can be found immediately. Large • financial interests in London • are convinced of the necessity, of , improving British air facilities. Apart from her military strength, France has a fleet of 300 commercial aeroplanes, many large twin-engined craft which could be rapidly converted into troop transports or bombers. Britain has only 20 aeroplane expresses. The French, moreover, are training a great reserve of mechanics and pilots. FAILURE OF PRESENT SYSTEM.. FRENCH POLICY CONTRASTED. The partial failure of the British system of civil air service subsidies was discussed in a recent article in the London Observer by Major C. C. Turner. In spite of the subsidy paid .by the Government to the British air line that flies between London and Paris, he wrote, goods and passengers are frequently transferred from the British to a French air transport company. It must, therefore, be admitted that subsidies have to a large extent failed of their object. There are two reasons for this: One is that French subsidies are far more generous, enabling French firms to make a profit where the English would make a loss; the other is the British policy ;of catering chiefly for passengers, although passengers are a fluctuating arid largely foreign business. The present writer has all along urged that the best policy would be to reverse the order, and if that had been consistently followed, in the design of aircraft and (at all stages of the work, with a view to providing special facilities for mails and goods, the revenue per lb. carried would be greater and, as a consequence. every £1 in subsidy would be moi'e effective. From the first the French Government realised the importance of commercial lines, not from the direct military point of view, but as maintaining an essential national industry; and they resolved to establish that industry. The alternative would have been to spend a great deal of money on purely military aviation, and at the present stage it was considered that the money available would get a better return if spent on commercial flying. Thus France spends approximately £1,000,000 on subsidies in the current year, and probably gets better value for its money than by the same outlay ; on militant air services. - /' . A certain change of attitude is discernible in French Government circles and .in the French aviation industry, and it is probable that the basis of the subsidies will ere long be altered. By the present system the amount of subsidies goes up with increase of traffic; obviously there must be a limit. It is proposed, then, to introduce a system of State contracts with private firms, these holding themselves re sponsible for certain services. It is also suggested that there may be a guaranteedinterest arrangement. The sums allocated' for aviation subsidies in the present year by various Governments, converted into sterling at par, are as follows:— . ' \ . ' £ ; Algiers • . . . . 40,000 Belgium . . . . 120,000 Ozecho-Slovakia . . 80,000 France . .. ... 1.300,000 Britain .. ... 200,000 Holland .. .. 30,000 51 Switzerland ".. . . 6,000. V J