27
basis suggested in the scheme for the normal working of
the services.
5, The Company have quoted terms which would enable
subsidy payments to be kept within modest limits, whilst
the mail payments should be such as to preclude any
serious rise in postage rates. The mail payments to be
made by each participating Government to the United
Kingdom Post Office would take the form of an annual fixed
sun for the whole period to cover all ordinary first class
external mail of Empire origin and destination, all air
mail of Empire origin and foreign destination, and also
air mail of foreign origin offered for conveyance by the
services. The mail payments have been assessed on the
basis of the net yield in this country of a postage rate of 210. per oz. and on the assumptions that all the
Empire Governments concerned would participate and that
all their first class Empire mail along the routes covered
by the air services would without exception be sent by
air. The net postal cost could be met either by raising
postage rates to a level immediately remunerative or by
fixing them on a lower level with prospects of the service becoming self-supporting with the growth of traffic. Although the United Kingdom Government would be accepting
direct liability for the bulk of the subsidy entailed by
the scheme the latter course would be adopted by the
United Kingdon Post Office which would bear the immediate
additional loss involved in the carriage of mails at the
lower