Civil Aviation The debate on the money resolution for the
Air Navigation Bill, involving a subsidy of £1,500,000 for • fifteen years, chiefly to Imperial Airways, gave Sir Philip Sassoon the opportunity, to make an excellent defence of the Government's civil aviation policy. He effectively refuted charges that the subsidy could give rise to excess profits or lead to an uneconomic monopoly. and he showed that it was not a heavy cost, as compared with subsidies paid in other countries, for a schedule which would include services of 2i days to India, 21 days to East Africa, 41 days to South Africa and 6 or 7 to Australia. He also announced that a British-South America service, for which five different groups were competing, was under consideration. His speech indeed almost convinced even the Opposition. It is indeed only on grounds of principle and not of detail that the .Bill, given the Air Ministry's assurances, can be criticised. For civil aviation is, or will become, so vital to the Empire's safety and progress that the case for making it a Government service is at least arguable. Even if a :subsidy to private companies is preferred, it still seems advisable that, a subsidy being necessary and justifiable, it should carry with it some degree of Govern- ment control, which would ease in the future a transition to nationalisation.
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