§ Mrs. TATEasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what were the direct air transport subsidy payments per machine mile for Great Britain, the United States, and Holland, respectively, in the year 1935?
§ Sir P. SASSOONThe figure in the case of Imperial Airways was approximately 2s. 2d. per aircraft mile. I regret that figures for the foreign countries specified are not yet available for the calendar year 1935; and in any case, since under the American system the entire subsidy is indirect, the comparison would he wholly misleading.
1075WIn the ease of the United States of America, I may say that according to my information the minimum payment per aircraft mile for large four-engined aircraft, operating under conditions similar to those of the British Empire services, is 8s. 3d. at par of exchange. It is, however, impossible to say how much of this payment was actual subsidy in.1935; this can only be measured in terms of the loss by the United States Post Office, which is only published some months in arrear. For the year ended June, 1935, however, the loss on external services was 78 per cent. of the total payment, on which basis the subsidy equivalent per aircraft mile would be approximately 6s. 5d. In the case of Holland, as I pointed out in my speech introducing Air Estimates, Dutch payments contain both direct and indirect elements of subsidy.