the Home Defence Air Force is £1,130,000 as compared with £1,280,000 in 1925; if the original programme of expansion had been adhered to these services would have shown a large increase. So far as major new works at Home Stations are concerned the provision is confined very largely to the amount necessary to meet liabilities already incurred. New services account for £122,500 only out of a total provision of £1,579,100 for major new works at Home Stations. In respect of Egypt provision is taken for the continuation of approved services and for certain urgent new services in accordance with the policy of gradual replacement of makeshift temporary accommodation by more satisfactory semi-permanent buildings. The provision for works services in Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq shows a reduction of £79,300 as compared with 1925. As in the Estimate for the present year, and in accord with the view recently expressed by the Public Accounts Committee, a lump sum deduction has been superimposed on the gross total of the Vote, in order to discount the delays which frequently affect Works expenditure under contract. Civil Aviation. The provision for expenditure in connection with Civil Aviation shown under Vote 8 covers as in former years the maintenance of the Airport of London at Croydon and the Aerodrome at Lympne, ancillary services (other than meteorology) on the regular air routes, operational experiments and the supply of technical equipment for these purposes. The amount of the subsidy payment to Imperial Airways Ltd. in respect of their European services is unchanged, but the terms of the Agreement dated 15th May, 1924, have been modified by a supplemental Agreement dated 18th December, 1925, and published as a white paper (Cmd. 2574), to provide for the conversion of the minimum mileage requirement of 1,000,000 miles per annum into an annual " equated "horse-power mileage requirement of 425,000,000 horse-power miles. With a view to the eventual establishment of a weekly civil air transport service between Egypt and India an Agreement has also been entered into with Imperial Airways Ltd. for the operation of a regular fortnightly air service with three-engined machines between Egypt and Basrah via Baghdad and between Basrah and Karachi. The maximum annual subsidy payable to the Company under this Agreement is £93,600. The service should be commenced not later than 1st January, 1927. This Agreement will also be published shortly as a white paper. Provision has been made for payment of £30,000 for the subsidy likely to accrue up to 31st March, 1927, and also for a capital expenditure of £31,500 for the establishment of the necessary ground organisation and ancillary services for this air route, A sum is again included for the financial assistance of a limited number of light aeroplane clubs, five of which have been approved under the terms of the Air Ministry scheme and have commenced operations during the past year: the headquarters of these clubs are in London, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle on-Tyne and Manchester. It is expected that a sixth club will be approved in due course. The enlargement and improvement of the Airport of London at Croydon has been long in contemplation, and its need was emphasised by the Colefax Report (Cmd. 2351); but it has been delayed by causes over which the Air Ministry had no control. Now that the requisite powers have been conferred by the Air Ministry (Croydon Aerodrome Extension) Act of last session the work is being pressed on with. A sum amounting in all to £164,000 (largely reprovision of money voted in previous years) is provided for this purpose in the coming year. The increase of £105,000 on the Vote as a whole is attributable to the proposed expenditure at Croydon and on the EgyptIndia commercial air service, but the total cost of the latter should be offset by a more than corresponding saving on other Votes. Meteorology. The provision for meteorology in these Estimates remains practically unchanged. This does not imply any stagnation, either on the side of scientific investigation or on that of practical application; but in order to avoid an increase of expenditure the provision for routine services has had to be very strictly scrutinised. On the purely scientific side, valuable work is being done on such subjects as atmospheric electricity, terrestrial magnetism and seismology, especially at the Kew and Eskdalemuir Observatories. It is fully recognised that the practical application of any science cannot be divorced from the study of the pure science itself. In addition to the general forecasts which are broadcast daily as part of their ordinary programme, the British Broadcasting Company commenced during the year to issue twice daily from their high-power station at Daventry a special weather bulletin for farmers and sailors. This development of wireless telephony enables meteorology to be applied directly to the practical problems of agriculture, industry and navigation in a way which was not dreamt of before the advent of wireless. To meet the ever increasing demands made by aviation, both service and civil, for prompt and accurate weather reports at all hours of the day and night, it has been found necessary to reorganise the forecast service at headquarters. It is now possible for an aviator, in any part of the country and at any time, to obtain within a few minutes a report on the weather conditions along any air route and a forecast of the probable changes in the course of his journey. Air Ministry. Vote 10 (Air Ministry) shows an increase of £10,000. This is less than the total amount of increments of pay under approved scales, without which the Vote would have shewn some reduction on last year's figures. Such additions to the staff as have been found necessary (principally for Technical Development and Equipment and for common services) have been more than set off by economies, especially in the Works and Buildings Directorate, where they have been made possible by the retardation of the building programme. AIR MINISTRY, 17 February, 1926. SAMUEL HOARE. Printed under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office AIR SERVICES. APPROPRIATION ACCOUNT, 1924-25. APPROPRIATION ACCOUNT of the SUMS granted by PARLIAMENT for AIR SERVICES for the Year ended 31 March 1925, together with the REPORT of the COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL thereon, and upon the STORE ACCOUNTS of the AIR SERVICES. ALSO STATEMENT of the SURPLUSES and DEFICITS upon the GRANTS for AIR SERVICES for the Year ended 31 March 1925, showing all cases in which the Air Ministry has obtained the sanction of the Treasury to expenditure not provided for in the grants for that year, together with copies of representations made to the Treasury by that Ministry; also the Balance Sheet showing the ledger balances on 30 September 1925, the date on which the Account of Receipt and Expenditure for the Year 1924-25 was closed. 44. (Presented pursuant to Acts 29 & 30 Vict. c. 39, and Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 15 March 1926 LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W.1; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; or 120, George Street, Edinburgh; or through any Bookseller. 1926. Price 2s. 01. net. |