AIRPLANES FOR RUSSIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 641, 18 April 1929, Page 9

AIRPLANES FOR RUSSIA

NEGOTIATIONS WITH BRITISH MANUFACTURERS NO-RESTRiCTION POLICY Br4l<s7» Official Wireless RUGBY, Tuesday. The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. G. Locker-Lampson, stated in the House of Commons to-day that he understood negotiations had taken place between the Soviet and a British aircraft company with a view to supplying Russia with a considerable number of airplanes. No licence was required to export airplanes from Britain. If, however, airplanes were fitted with any armament, such as machine-guns or ma-chine-gun mountings, a licence would be required before that armament could be exported. No application for a licence to export such material to the Soviet had been received recently. It was not the policy of the British Government to impose restrictions upon the export of civil aircraft to foreign countries. Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, President of the Board of Trade, said imports from Russia to Britain in the last 12 months amounted in round figures to £21,500,000. Exports from Britain to Russia amounted to £2,700,000, and re-exports to £2,054,000.