HC Deb 22 December 1954 vol 535 c287W
Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallett

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what action was taken by the British High Commissioner for Austria to support the request by the Austrian Government to the Allied Council for authority to buy helicopters and light aircraft for rescue work; and the result.

Mr. Turton

The British High Commissioner, together with his French and American colleagues, recommended that the Austrian Government should be allowed, on humanitarian grounds, to acquire these aircraft to enable them to deal with any repetition of the disasters which had ocurred in Alpine regions in previous winters. The Austrian request was, I regret to say, vetoed by the Soviet High Commissioner.