§ 35. Captain HAROLD BALFOURasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if he is aware that State subsidy payments for 1930–31 to Imperial Airways, Limited, on account of the Cairo-Karachi route, amount to approximately £1,800 per ton of passengers, freights, or mails transported, being equivalent to £180 per passenger carried, and that the passenger fare charged for this trip by the company is £58; and if he will bear this discrepancy in mind when the occasion arises for the review of the Government agreements with Imperial Airways, Limited?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for AIR (Sir Philip Sassoon)I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the reply I gave him on the 10th instant. To divide the number of passengers into the amount of the subsidy gives an altogether misleading result, since this service is not primarily a passenger service, but one for the carriage of mails, goods and passengers. Moreover, the present arrangements are for the initial years of the enterprise, and the subsidy is already fixed on a descending scale. All these factors will, however, be borne in mind when the agreements come to be reviewed.
§ Captain BALFOURDoes my hon. Friend deny the accuracy of the figures in the question, which he denied last week?
§ Sir P. SASSOONI apologise to my hon. and gallant Friend. The figures in the question are approximately correct, but, if I might say so, I think they are totally irrelevant.
§ 37. Captain BALFOURasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air, in view of the fact that the full terms of the original agreements with the British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation, Limited, and with Imperial Airways, Limited, in respect of European air services and air services between Egypt and India were published in detail, if he can state whether it is the intention of the Government to publish the full terms of the new subsidy agreements which supersede all these original agreements between the Air Ministry and Imperial Airways, Limited?
§ Sir P. SASSOONNo, Sir; all the essential points of the two later agreements with Imperial Airways were brought to the notice of the House in Command Papers 3143 of 1928 and 3696 of 1930, and it is not customary in such cases to incur the considerable expense of issuing these very lengthy documents in full as White Papers.
§ Captain BALFOURIn view of the fact that the information that we have in the publications which have been issued is only approximate, is it not relevant that we should have further details?
§ Sir P. SASSOONThere is no secrecy about the terms of the agreement, but the documents are long, and in these days of financial stringency my Noble Friend is anxious to avoid costly expenditure on printing.
§ Captain BALFOURMay we have a copy on the table of the Library?
§ Sir P. SASSOONIf hon. Members desire it, there is no reason at all why copies should not be put in the Library.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODAre we to understand that this is a case of the Government subsidising Imperial Airways, Limited? What representation has Parliament on Imperial Airways, Limited?
§ Sir P. SASSOONThere are two Government directors on the board.
§ 40. Captain BALFOURasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if the latest agreement with Imperial Airways of which the essential points were given in Command Paper 3696 contains any provision for the capital grant of £20,000 to the company as a contribution towards flying boats?
§ Sir P. SASSOONNo, Sir; the grant to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers was a special contribution to Imperial Airways, Limited, towards the first of the new flying boats on the trans-Mediterranean section of the England-India air route. It became necessary to arrange, for reasons not within the company's control, that the sea mileage should be extended and this involved an addition to the company's fleet not allowed for in the original terms of title agreement.
§ Captain BALFOURIs not this extra payment an extremely important and relevant fact to the taxpayers who have to find this extra money?
§ Mr. KIRKWOODThe question makes reference to a £20,000 grant. When do these two representatives of ours make a report to the House?