800.796/10–344: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 3—3:55 p.m.]
8271. ReEmbs 8267, October 3, 2 p.m. It has just been decided to postpone the debate on civil aviation in the House of Lords scheduled for October 5 to October 12. It is understood that the Government after further considering the demand for a definition of policy which Lord Londonderry was to make on October 5, and after learning from him that he, as spokesman for aviation groups, would not be satisfied with the partial measures mentioned in the Embassy’s 8267, requested that the debate be postponed 2 weeks during which time every effort would be made to come to a decision on civil aviation policy. Lord Londonderry agreed to this, but on the basis of 1 week’s postponement.
It is possible that within the next week the Government may discontinue its present stopgap plan of announcing the appointment of an Under Secretary of State for Civil Aviation and make a definite decision in favor of either a separate Ministry for Civil Aviation or, in [Page 551] any case, removing it from the Air Ministry. It is also possible that during the next week the various factions will be able to agree upon a definite statement concerning the repeal of the BOAC act and the abandonment of the chosen instrument.