An Air Police Force ?
Mr. Eden made an important, though guarded, state- ment on an international air police in the course of the Disarmament Conference discussions. It is true that he went no further than to agree that the proposal must be thoroughly examined—in particular the question of whether the force should be international or composed of national .detachments—but he added the sound dictum that the necessity of securing the- world from air warfare was more important than ensuring the full commercial development of civil aviation. It is of the essence of the French plan that abolition of military aviation should be accompanied by both the inter- nationalization of civil aviation and the creation of a comparatively small international air police force. So far as personnel is concerned the idea of a completely international force, recruited by voluntary enlistment, is attractive, and the various obvious difficulties as to where the force should-be stationed and how its materiel should be provided are by no means insurmountable. It is satisfactory to find that the British Government has, at any rate, an open mind on the whole question. * * * *
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