§ 3. Major POLEasked the Secretary of State for India if he will give particulars as to the amount and nature of the financial assistance given by the Government of India with the object of developing civil aviation in India?
§ Mr. BENNUp to March of this year the Government of India had expended about £240,000 on civil aviation. Of this, £30,000 was a contribution to the Imperial airship scheme, and the rest was mainly spent on ground organisation. A further sum of about £180,000 has been provided in the current year's estimates, which includes about £26,000 as a contribution to the cost of the proposed Karachi-Delhi service. About £28,000 will have been contributed to light aeroplane clubs during the two years ending next March. I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT a statement containing further details.
Earl WINTERTONCan the right hon. Gentleman say when it is anticipated that the Karachi-Bombay service will be in operation?
§ Following is the statement referred to:
575§ The expenditure of the Government of India on civil aviation (excluding the cost of provision of wireless and meteorological facilities) during the last five years is as follows:
| £ | |
| 1925–6 | 9,150 |
| 1926–7 | 97,970 |
| 1927–8 | 76,250 |
| 1928–9 (Revised Estimate) | 39,300 |
| 1929–30 (Budget Estimate) | 178,050 |
| £400,720 |
§ The figures for 1929–30 include a sum of £26,250 as subsidy for the operation of internal air services.*
§ The figures for 1928–29 and 1929–30 together include a sum of £24,127 representing the assistance given by the Government of India to four light aeroplane clubs in India. This assistance is in the form of the supply to each club of two D.H. Moth aeroplanes and a spare engine, an annual maintenance grant of £1,500, a grant of £675 towards the provision of a hangar, and a bonus of Rs.150 (approximately £11) per pilot for a limited number of pilots trained by the clubs.
§ The clubs are under the control and supervision of the Aero Club of India and Burma, which, in return for the services it renders in this connection, has received from Government grants of £2,250 in each of the two financial years 1928–9 and 1929–30.
§ A scheme for training Indians in civil aviation by means of Government scholarships in this country, estimated to cost £15,900 over a period of seven years, is also in operation.
§ The total estimated expenditure of the Government of India on civil aviation during the four years 1929–30 to 1932–33 (subject to the approval of the Legislative Assembly) is £1,125,000 (including meteorological and wireless facilities).
§ Of this sum, £375,000 represents the estimated cost of subsidies for the operation of trans-India air services.
§ *Six months' subsidy for the Karachi-Delhi extension of the London-India Air Mail service.