delighted but I fear that NCL's task in an inflationary economy, with stagnant trade, is more difficult than ever.
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It is a matter of opinion whether NCL property sales should be reserved wholly to support that company. In any case, there is a limit to the time an ailing company can be kept afloat by selling its real estate.
Although the deficit financing arrangements under the Act were designed to cover five years of progress, and not to cover losses until they were eliminated, it was the hope that NCL would be within striking distance of viability when the subsidy ceased. With the benefit of hindsight — perhaps inflation should be blamed — it might have been more prudent for the NFC to have insisted on its full 160m of subsidy.
Because of the major repercussions that would follow the break-up of NCL the trade unions may be tempted to press for the balance of the 1968 subsidy ( f 17.3m) to be paid over. Compared with Concorde and the rest this sum is chickenfeed. No doubt this ploy, with many others, is now exercising the minds of those concerned in the NFC. NCL and the trade unions. — Ed]