All parties are anxious to support British civil aviation, but
Sir Kingsley Wood's Airways Bill, introduced on Mon- day, came in for a good deal of criticism. Sir Hugh Seely, for the Liberals, objected to its smell of nationalisation, while Mr. Lees-Smith, for the Socialists, thought the capitalists were making a good thing out of it. The House was rather disturbed by the revelation that Imperial Air- ways had notified their shareholders of the Government't deal before any official announcement had been made. But Sir George Shuster's twenty-minute speech defending the Bill could hardly have been bettered, and the Opposition deserved his reminder that capitalist interests must not necessarily be soaked in order to bring Socialism into effect. Mr. Bracken has lately surprised the House with a number of vigorously eloquent speeches. He is obviously happiest in attack. He was shocked to the core by the measure, neither Socialism nor Capitalism, a curious, crazy experi- ment, for which he blamed the Liberal and Socialist refugees in the Government. The last five speeches before the wind- up were all from Conservatives. Captain Balfour, an ex-director of British Airways, very pleasantly gave the im- pression of feeling thoroughly at home.
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