asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what is the total remuneration paid to the Government directors on the board of Imperial Airways, Limited?

The remuneration of the Government Directors on the board of Imperial Airways, Limited, is not payable from public funds. It is included in the total sum of £12,000 allocated by the Company for the remuneration of the Board of Directors as a whole.

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether he will state the number of deaths in the Royal Air Force this year; and whether he can give the causes of such fatal accidents as far as they are ascertainable?

The number of deaths caused by service flying accidents this year up to 29th October last was 127 (including Auxiliary Air Force, Royal Air Force Reserve, Army and Navy personnel) in 77 accidents. As regards the second part of the question, it would not be desirable to attempt to summarise in statistical form the varying causes to which they should be severally attributed.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the certainty that at the end of the present hostilities in the Far East China will need financial assistance to enable her to recuperate, British influence will be used, if China should so desire, to ensure that such financial assistance is international in character and not to the advantage of any particular nation?

His Majesty's Government continue to attach the greatest importance to the principle that financial assistance to China should not be a matter for international rivalry but should at all times be the subject of frank consultation between the interested Powers, including, of course, China herself.

asked the Minister of Transport whether the contract has been placed for the widening and strengthening of the Menai suspension bridge; and when it is proposed to commence this work?

The contract has not yet been placed, but it is hoped to do so at an early date.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will state the results to date of the cheap air-mail service to East Africa; whether the number of letters sent has met the cost; and whether the air mail has always been able to carry without delay the letters making use of this service?

During the period from the inauguration of the Empire Air Mail Scheme on the route to East and South Africa until the 30th of October an average of about 5½ tons of mails for African destinations was despatched by air from this country each week, of which rather over a ton was for East Africa. With regard to the second part of the question, the estimated initial loss entailed by the adoption of the flat postage rate of per half ounce under the Empire Air Mail Scheme taken as a whole is, as explained in the White Paper (Cmd. 5414), of the order of £200,000 a year; and the traffic offering during the short period of operation of the African section of the Scheme gives no ground for supposing that the estimate of initial loss on the complete Scheme will be wide of the mark. In reply to the third part of the question, 39 out of the first 48 flights to East Africa arrived at Kisumu on the due date, and on only one of the nine remaining flights did the delay exceed one day.