The Air Force Bill, which was road a second time
on Tuesday in the House of Commons, will establish an Air Council, whose President will be a Secretary of State. The Air Council will exercise over the Air Force such authority as the Admiralty and the Army Council exercise over the naval and military forces. The officers and men of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Anti-Aircraft Service will be transferred to the Air Force, though any officer or man who objects to the transfer may revert to the Navy or Army. Other officers and men who desire it may be released by the Admiralty and Army Council, for the period of the war or for four years, for service In the Air Force, to which also now recruits may be posted. Major Baird, who moved the second reading, said that the Bill would " create an authority whose exclusive duty should be to study and deal with the general problem of war in the air," and would unite the two distinct naval and military Staffs, which have hitherto studied the problem apart from one another. The case for the Bill seems to us overwhelming.
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