European air fares may be raised . airlines start special talks in Paris to-day . by our air correspondent . air fares in Europe may be increased - possibly by amounts between 2 and 5 per cent - from April 1 as a result of a special private meeting of European airlines which opens in Paris this morning . the meeting has been called to discuss the need for the increases by the international air transport association - the world &apos;s airline parliament - in response to urgent requests from a number of European airlines who have become alarmed at continually rising costs , in particular the U.K ministry of aviation &apos;s decision to raise landing fees at its airports by about one-third from April 1 . all the European carriers , including British European airways , will attend , and most of the long-haul operators , including British overseas airways corporation , who are not directly involved but who fly over parts of Europe , will be sending observers . it is thought likely that at the meeting B.E.A will fight any proposal to raise fares , especially at such short notice . the airline has booked many hundreds of thousands of passengers on the basis of existing or planned fares levels already agreed , and it is likely to argue that the administrative problems involved in raising fares now would be enormous , besides cutting across B.E.A. &apos;s entire philosophy of getting fares down and keeping them down . it is understood that the prime movers behind this virtually emergency session of the I.A.T.A are several of the smaller European carriers , who have in the past been strong opponents of fares-cutting airlines , such as B.E.A . traffic talks . ending fares freeze . the problem of these smaller airlines is not difficult to gauge . substantial cuts in European air fares were agreed , after long and even bitter argument , at the I.A.T.A traffic conference in Honolulu in the autumn of 1959 , to become effective from April 1 , 1960 . at the 1960 annual traffic conference , held in Cannes last autumn , these earlier cuts were confirmed , and a few further special European reductions were also agreed , to become effective from April 1 , this year . the Cannes conference also took the unprecedented decision however , of declaring what amounted to fares freeze for a period of two years , agreeing that there would be no further traffic conference until the autumn of 1962 , when fares would be fixed for the traffic year starting April 1 , 1963 . landing fees up . effect on costs . the effect of this would have been to keep European air fares at their existing levels right up to the spring of 1963 , in the face of rising costs and steadily expanding capacity as more and more jets joined the airlines &apos; fleets . in the event , these rising costs have already overtaken the airlines . in particular , a good deal of concern has been caused in European air transport by the decision of the ministry of aviation to raise landing fees at the U.K airports it controls by about one-third from April 1 . a Comet 4B , for example , will now have to pay a basic rate of about &amp;pound;59 to land at London Airport if the flight originates within Europe , and a full rate of &amp;pound;115 if the flight originates at a point beyond Europe . the existing fees are about &amp;pound;44 basic and &amp;pound;84 full . for a Viscount , the basic rate goes up from about &amp;pound;17 to &amp;pound;23 , and the full rate from about &amp;pound;30 to &amp;pound;41 . the effect will be to put up B.E.A. &apos;s landing fees for U.K domestic flights alone by &amp;pound;440,000 in a full year , and by probably as much again on its landing fees for international flights . B.E.A has already been forced to counter this by raising many of its domestic tourist fares by 3 1/2 per cent from April 1 , cancelling out part of the cuts in those fares it proposed to make from that date . foreign airlines . openly critical . every foreign airline flying to the U.K is in the same position . they are openly critical about the higher landing fees , and it is understood that the ministry &apos;s decision will be cited by many at the Paris meeting as one of the principal reasons why air fares in Europe must rise - and rise from the same date that the higher landing fees become effective . in order to protect its bookings position - and its avowed long-term aim of slashing fares - B.E.A will probably try to resist the strong efforts that will be made in Paris to raise fares , but it may well be obliged to concede something . one possibility is that it may win a respite , with fares being raised by small amounts at a date later in the summer or in the autumn . whatever the outcome , it is already clear that the Paris meeting will be difficult , and perhaps even stormy . &amp;pound;12 m order for boiler consortium . by our industrial correspondent . the first boiler contract for the recently formed consortium of John Brown land boilers and Foster Wheeler was announced yesterday by the central electricity generating board . shared contracts . the consortium , which was formed last month , is to supply four 350,000 kilowatt boilers , at a cost of over &amp;pound;12 m , to the Tilbury B power station . the steam condensers are to be supplied by Richardsons Westgarth ( Hartlepool ) . there is considerable over-capacity in the boiler industry , and it has become the C.E.G.B. &apos;s practice to spread the large contracts between two manufacturers . thus the boiler order for the new west Burton power station in Nottinghamshire was shared between Simon-Carves and international combustion , and , as reported last week , a further &amp;pound;20 m order was awarded to Babcock and Wilcox and Yarrow and company . the new Tilbury contract will represent a much-needed addition of new work for the two companies concerned . Lord Aberconway , chairman of John Brown , said last year that the 1959 boiler order for the Bankside power station was the only order received by the company from a British generating authority for more than four years . service dates . the first two turbo-alternators are due for commissioning in 1965 and the remaining two in 1966 . the generators , as reported earlier this week , are being supplied by general electric at a cost of &amp;pound;8 m . chain of shoe shops for co-operatives . from our own correspondent . Manchester , March 22 . the co-operatives are to set up a country-wide chain of shoe stores known as society footwear . if the new organisation is a success , it is likely to spread to other trades , including radio , and electrical goods . fifty-six co-operative retail societies have already indicated their readiness to join the English and Scottish wholesale societies in the new venture which follows the independent commission &apos;s recommendation in 1958 that the Co-ops should establish chains of specialist shops . some of the largest retail societies are among those joining . they include the London society , the royal Arsenal , the south suburban , Birmingham , Liverpool and Plymouth , Newcastle-on-Tyne and the co-operative retail service , a big amalgamation of societies . each retail society will invest &amp;pound;5,000 for every shoe shop it plans to open . this will give the chain an initial capital of over &amp;pound;500,000 - half provided by the retail societies and half by the C.W.S and S.C.W.S . the shops will not stock only C.W.S shoes . we realise that the customer wants a range of choice , said a spokesman in Manchester to-day . existing co-operative shoe shops will not be affected . we shall start shops in places where there is the trade available and where the societies have not been able to develop so far . Mr R Southern , chairman of the C.W.S board &apos;s retail trading committee and one of four directors nominated by the wholesale societies to act as a caretaker board in the early stages , said to-day : behind the new organisation will be the vast financial and technical resources of the C.W.S and the S.C.W.S . our shops will be as attractive and modern as any in the country . it is not yet known how many shops the new chain is likely to have , but the immediate target will probably be in the region of 100 . France to cut some customs duties 5 % on April 1 . from our own correspondent . Paris , March 22 . new tariff cuts of 5 per cent , to come into force on April 1 , were approved by the French council of Ministers to-day . reductions apply specifically to the six countries of the common market but , in some circumstances , they will also affect imports from outside . it is understood , however , that British and American cars will not benefit from the reductions . the full details of the reductions will not be known until the decree appears in the official journal to-morrow or even a day after . in anticipation . it was stated that the decision was taken in anticipation of the 10 per cent reduction within the common market which takes place automatically at the end of the year . it was indicated at the same time that the cuts would apply to all countries providing that the resulting duties did not fall below the common external tariff of the six . one of the immediate results will be to nullify the effects of the recent revaluation of the D-Mark on the prices of German exports in the French market . it is not quite clear exactly how the reductions are to be applied . in the past few weeks there has been a prolonged discussion between ministries as to whether the cuts should apply uniformly across the board or should vary with different products . it is , however , reported that the tariff on textiles and cars imported from the common market are to be reduced by 10 per cent . checking prices . the ministry of finance said that the reductions now approved were designed to check the upward trend in prices . this is one more indication of the French government &apos;s determination to sweep away protective habits of mind . Dr Heller sees signs of U.S recovery . from our U.S correspondent . New York , March 22 . the widespread belief that the recession may have reached its turning point was endorsed to-day by President Kennedy &apos;s chief economic adviser , Dr Walter Heller . Dr Heller said that with signs pointing to a bottoming-out of the recession the odds are not very strongly in favour of a temporary tax cut to stimulate business . aid for workless . the chairman of the council of economic advisers made his remarks as Congress was preparing to send the first of Mr Kennedy &apos;s anti-recession bills to the White House for signature . the bill , providing $990 m ( &amp;pound;353,570,000 ) in additional aid for unemployed who have exhausted their benefits , followed on the heels of the feed grains bill passed earlier in the day - after two months in office President Kennedy has now seen his first major proposals enacted into law . so far his programme has survived its progress through Congress relatively unscathed , but the most contentious matters have still to come up for consideration . the chances of some of the latter may suffer through a pick-up in business conditions which , Dr Heller said to-day , might be relatively early . but he emphasised that only a relatively slow return to full employment could be expected . the administration is striving to persuade Congress that a turn-round in business does not obviate the need for such measures as pension liberalisation - scheduled for April 1 by the President but so far given no attention by Congress - and a rise in the minimum wage , which comes up for House debate this week . the sluggishness of the congressional pace is partly explained by conservative opposition to much of the President &apos;s programme . but another reason is that Congress is simply not geared to cope with the flood of proposals that has poured from the White House on a scale only matched under President Roosevelt . an irregular turn in equities . Grattan warehouses &apos; profits up 12 % . by lex . industrial equities developed an irregular turn yesterday . early marking down on the view that the rise had been a little fast failed to bring out much stock . price movements were finally mixed with a slight bias to a lower level . breweries came back further . volume was substantial again and the undertone still firm . 