§ 6.59 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT BRENTFORD had given Notice that he would ask His Majesty's Government whether owing to the fact that both civil flying clubs and private owners had their aircraft requisitioned during the war they could be given preferential treatment with regard to replacements;
§ Whether His Majesty's Government is prepared to pay some form of financial compensation to the civil flying clubs which were closed down by the Government in 1939;
§ Whether enough petrol will be allocated for the use of these flying clubs to allow them to function in their normal pre-war manner and, also, whether petrol for this use may be subject to a rebate from taxation;
§ Whether more careful consideration could be given to gliding and the gliding movement in general as a training ground for potential pilots; and whether the subsidy granted by His Majesty's Government prior to this last war might be re-granted.
§ The noble Viscount said: My Lords, I put down the question which stands in my name to-day because the noble Lord, Lord Winster, informed us that both civil flying and flying by gliding clubs would be permitted as from January r, 1946. Since then we have heard no more, but he promised us a statement at some date fairly soon, and I hope this question will give him the opportunity of making it. With your Lordships' permission, I am going to deal with the last portion of the question first. Gliding has for a number of years been recognized as one of the finest training grounds for pilots, and, as a matter of fact, I believe a great deal more attention was paid to it on the Continent of Europe and in America than in this country. But, before the war, the Government did give a small subsidy, a 138 very small one, indeed—it was £5,000 I think—for the aid of the then gliding clubs, and it was given to the Gliding Association. I am hoping that we shall hear this evening that that subsidy will be reintroduced by His-Majesty's Government, and also that they will be prepared to hand over quite a considerable amount of now redundant equipment from the war-time balloon barrages, which would be, I might say, almost essential, but certainly most helpful. I refer to equipment such as winches which are no longer required but which I believe are very useful to gliding clubs.
§ Another part of my question deals with the matter of compensation for civil flying clubs which were closed down in 1939. I have now come to understand that there was an actual sum of £25,000 handed over by the then Government for distribution amongst these flying clubs, and that was to be taken at the time as full and final compensation. This was, of course, a very small sum, and did not really meet the claims of the clubs in many ways. I believe it was given out by the then Government, however, to be final, and. naturally I cannot press for any further financial compensation. At the present moment, however, there arc a great many machines of the trainer type—smaller machines—which are on the charge of both the Royal Air Force and the Fleet. Air Ann, which I believe arc redundant to the needs of those Services but which. are very necessary for flying clubs. I suggest that a. certain number of those machines should be handed over to these clubs. The machines would, of course, be used to form the nucleus for the fleets of training machines that these clubs will, I hope, require in quite a short time.
§ The last time that I addressed your Lordships' House on this subject, I suggested that probably the time had not really come to ask that a subsidy should be granted to these clubs. Having heard the last two speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Winster, however, I have come to the conclusion that a subsidy and assistance in the matter of training machines already mentioned are really matters of necessity, to promote the efficient flying of these clubs. If His Majesty's Government can find enough money, as we have been already informed on more than one occasion, to finance not only the B.O.A.C. but also a couple of other international 139 Airways Corporations, I am quite certain that they are in a position to finance the restarting of all these clubs. Another most important point is that of the provision of petrol, because finance alone is not the slightest bit of good without petrol. I do hope His Majesty's Government are going to grant enough fuel for these clubs to restart their activities on exactly the same scale as when they ceased their operations in 1939.
§ There is one other point. Your Lordships are always hearing about the awful bogy of unemployment and its attendant evils. When these clubs are operating at full pressure they will absorb quite a large number of people generally, apart from flying personnel — instructors, ground staff, mechanics, club servants, canteen servants and so on. And there is an entirely different side to this matter, which concerns the whole country to-day, and that is the question of export. Before the last war there was a very healthy trade growing up in the export of light aeroplanes. That export trade naturally died down to nothing during the war, and it must once again be reintroduced. It has to be fostered and brought to maturity. The flying clubs are really the shop window of the whole of the light aeroplane export trade. That window has to be brilliantly illuminated, and His Majesty's Government are really the only people who can provide the wherewithal for its illumination. Nobody from South America, China, or India, is going to buy our light aeroplanes just on the word of some super-optimistic salesman who says: "They are good light aeroplanes." We have got to show them, and the flying clubs are the places where those machines are on show. The races that used to be organized by these clubs, and I hope will be organized again, are the exhibition grounds where the high standard of British manufacturers is on show. They show what we can and do produce.
§ I have another point about petrol. These clubs are, quite naturally, going through very great difficulties, but some of those difficulties will be greatly eased if the Government will see their way to promote what is really a form of overseas trade by alleviating some of the burdens on it. I suggest that that can be done by a very substantial rebate of the petrol tax. It is a very great advantage to both sides of your Lordships' House that this nation's 140 shop window should be really well filled, and it is to the benefit of the whole mass of the people of this country who are represented by His Majesty's Government that the items for sale in that window should be sent overseas as soon as possible. I am not going to detain your Lordships any longer, although I could have said a lot more. That is the gist of what I wished to point out to you, in addition to what is stated in my questions. I beg to ask the questions standing in my name.
§ 7.9 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION (LORD WINSTER)My Lords, the noble Lord has put four questions to me, but in the course of his remarks he has raised several matters which are outside the scope of those questions and which I must be excused from answering to-night. As regards the questions, I may say that my right honourable friend the Minister of Supply and Aircraft Production is now offering for open sale by competitive tender a limited number of light aircraft which have been declared surplus to military requirements. Further surplus light aircraft, although still in small quantities in relation to the total demand for club, business and private purposes, will become available later, and the question whether preference in their allocation should be given to the pre-war civil light aeroplane clubs is at present under consideration.
There will be no financial compensation to flying clubs whose activities ceased on the outbreak of war. Payments were made to the civil flying clubs in regard to flying training which was interrupted at the outbreak of war. In addition, a settlement was negotiated with the General Council of Associated Light Aeroplane Clubs whereby ex gratia payments were made to the clubs in respect of approved outstanding liabilities which could not be met from realizable assets.
It will be necessary to introduce a system of petrol rationing for civil aircraft when the present emergency restrictions on civil flying are removed. The amount of petrol that can be made available for civil flying activities is at present under examination by my right honourable friend the Minister of Fuel and Power. It is not intended that petrol made available for this purpose should be subject to a rebate from taxation.
141 The British Gliding Association have put forward proposals for the development of gliding which are being considered by my Department and the Air Ministry. I hope it will shortly be possible to make a comprehensive statement on the policy of His Majesty's Government towards gliding in this country.