HC Deb 26 July 1951 vol 491 cc611-2
Mr. G. P. Stevens

I have the honour this afternoon to present a Petition for the restoration of the Airmet weather broadcasting service. This Petition is signed by probably the smallest number of Petitioners of any Petition ever to be presented to the House, for the total number of Petitioners is only eight. But the petitioners are learned and expert societies, who found that the Airmet service was of immense value, not only in the production of food, but in the preservation of life.

The petitioners are aware of the difficulties of congested wavebands, but they believe—and they speak with considerable knowledge—that by some re-arrangement the immediate introduction of 100 per cent. accurate weather forecasts is possible, and certainly will be possible when the selected system is that of frequency modulation.

The Petition is signed by the senior officers of the Royal Meteorological Society, the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the National Farmers' Union, the Air League of the British Empire, the British Air Line Pilots' Association, the British Gliding Association, the Institute of Navigation, and the Geographical Association.

The Petition shows that these humble petitioners regret the loss of the Airmet broadcasting service, which provided up-to-the-minute information about the weather and was of great economic and educational value.

The Petition concludes: Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the said Airmet broadcasting service should be restored in full at the earliest opportunity and that it should be improved to meet the special requirements of all those whose daily lives are intimately affected by the weather. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. To lie upon the Table.