EMPIRE AND THE AIR.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13172, 3 February 1936, Page 2

EMPIRE AND THE AIR.

ATLANTIC MAIL SERVICE. CO-OPERATION WITH AMERICA. A new Air Navigation Bill, shortly to be introduced in the House of Commons, will authorise long-term subsidy agreements with air transport companies. Subsidies not ex'ceeding £1,500,000 a year up to 1953 are intended, and these are to provide for the multiplied and accelerated Empire air services already announced, and will undoubtedly cover certain preliminary requirements of the preparations fror aft Atlantic service (writes the air cdr respondent of the London Observer). It is significant also that the United States Post Office is about to ask Congress for funds for the inauguration of an Atlantic air mail. >1 n 'Great Britain in the current financial year £353,000 was set aside for subsidies, and in addition Colonial Governments contributed £120,000. But the present scheme cemes to an end in 1939, and obviously it is necessary to provide for the Empire services, and, above all, for continuity. There are three governing factors: (1) At present the air services cannot be self-supporting. The British services have reached a more economical stage than those qi any other country, but intended developments cannot be undertaken without assistance (2) Post Office mail contracts will justify them, and at the same time help to make them possible; but revenue will not balance total expenditure for many years to come. (3) The Governments which assist must exercise some sort of control and supervision. The Air Ministry is represented on the Board of Imperial Airways, and there are certain safeguarding clauses in the agreements. THE MAIL CONTRACTS. It must inevitably follow that mails and other contracts, and also facilities, will be given to those operating companies which are assisted by the Governments concerned, and it is therefore obvious that independent operators would start under a handicap, unless it should be possible for one of them to come into the field with a regular and reliable service before the Stateassisted company was able to ge£ to work. Official discussions., in which British Post Office and Air Ministry representatives have been meeting Canadian authorities, have now passed on to Washington, and it is clear that British and American cooperation is being considered. This, indeed, was recently foreshadowed by the ehaiiman of Imperial Airways. Thirty-nine air liners and flyingboats are being built for the Empire, routes, but an Atlantic service would call for new design, and this is already on the way. In this respect the British may well have an advantage over the Americans, for it should be possible to improve somewhat on American designs in time for such a service. With the best possible aircraft it remains necessary to build up operational organisation, train personnel, and settle international roles.

Routes have not yet been settled. There are serious difficulties in the way of a route via Greenland and Iceland. The Azores and Bermuda giv© a longer route but the Azores do not offer a very good halting station. It may be that a port in Newfoundland and the fine side, and a calling place on the south-west of Ireland on the other, will be chosen. It was perhaps inevitable there should be talk of flying-boats with “dancing floors,’’ but it passes comprehension why dancing floors should bo considered before ways and means for a service or any kind have been found. This reminds one of a similar fatuous boast with regard to Britain’s ill-fated airships. That some sort of experimental Atlantic service flight may take place next year is possible, but that a regular service will follow within the next fwo years is by no means uncertain.