§ Miss Burtonasked the Secretary of State for War why inquiry for the hire of a charter aircraft was not made before a decision was reached to halt the supply of newspapers to British Forces in the Suez Canal Zone last week.
§ Mr. HeadThe airlift each day of newspapers to the Canal Zone is only some 15 cwt., that is a small part of an aircraft's payload. Daily delivery is therefore dependent on there being each day a need for an outward flight carrying freight or troops. The traffic normally allows this, but interruptions, such as occurred last week when a considerable number of Service aircraft were needed at short notice for an operational task, have occurred from time to time. The change in programme last week would have resulted in a gap of three days but this was adjusted to reduce the gap to one day, A special charter could not have improved upon this arrangement.