§ 32. Rear-Admiral SUETERasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he is yet in a position to state when the White Paper on the subject of the new agreement with Imperial Airways, Limited, will be laid; whether the new agreement will contain any provision designed to secure technical progress in the design of civil aircraft; and by what date it is hoped to inaugurate the weekly service between England and India?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for AIR (Sir Samuel Hoare)In view of the widespread desire that the House shall be given early particulars of the new Agreement with Imperial Airways, Limited, I have arranged to lay forthwith a White Paper summarising its main features, since the full formal Agreement will take a considerable time to conclude. This will be available for hon. Members on Thursday. As regards the second part of the question, a feature of the new Agreement will be provision for an obsolescence rate of 25 per cent. per annum, which is expressly designed to enable the company to equip itself with the most up-to-date types of aircraft as new designs become available during the currency of the Agreement. As regards the last part, assuming it is possible to obviate, the Persian difficulty and no other political obstacles arise, I hope that the service will be inaugurated on or about 1st April next, which is the date envisaged in the new Agreement.