Captain BALFOURasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air the reasons for the advance of money on account of the 71W £10 Government grant for A [...] yet to be earned by National Flying services, Limited; the security obtained by the Ministry against this advance; and whether the Ministry have received any undertaking as to the repayment of this money by the company
§ Mr. MONTAGUEAs regards the first part of the question, the advance, at interest, was made in order to assist the company while they were arranging to obtain the further capital which the result of the initial year's trading showed to be necessary. As regards the second and third parts, the company agreed to recovery being made by the Air Ministry through the withholding of payments in respect of licence grants as earned, and further undertook to give to the Air Ministry a floating charge on all its assets to the extent of the loan outstanding, such charge to rank immediately behind that already given to the debenture holders. The company, having now obtained further capital, have decided to repay the advance in full, and the cheque sent for this purpose has been received by the Air Ministry.