The Advisory Committee on Civil Aviation has just issued its
report to the Air Ministry. It recommends that direct assistance be given to civil flying on " approved routes" up to a maximum of £250,000. Payment is to be made on the return for each period of three months in which a company can show that, on a minimum of, say, forty-five days, flights have been com- pleted in both directions by aircraft of British manufacture and with British engines and within an agreed maximum number of hours. The approved routes are to be London to Paris and extensions therefrom, London to Brussels and extension s therefrom, also an approved route from England to Scan- dinavia, where some form of flying boat or " amphibian machine can be employed. Air-Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard, Chief of the Air Staff, however, presents e. minority report. He asserts that in normal years the service demand for machines will suffice to maintain a healthy manufacturing industry, and that it would be preferable to. allot the money to design and research by placing more orders for experimental machines with certain approved companies. Civil aviation, with indirect assistance, has, he holds, not yet had time to prove its value, nor has the need for economy been sufficiently considered, for, he asserts, " no present urgency exists to help civil aviation in order to provide a reserve for Imperial Defence.
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