The Interim Report of the _Committee on the Administration and
Command of the Royal Flying Corps was issued on Tuesday night. With the exception of one general observation at the end en the expansion and greater efficiency of the Flying Service, the Report is exclusively concerned with the charge of criminal negligence brought by Mr. Pemberton Billing, M.P., against the administration and higher command. All the fifteen cases selected by Mr. Billing for investigation have been dealt with by the Com- mittee seriatim, and in no single instance "has any direct evidence been given in support of any allegation of negligence." In two cases the machines were of a different type from that stated by Mr. Billing, in three cases the Committee find that the accident was due to error of judgment on the part of the pilot, and in several others the Committee pronounce the suggestions as to the cause of the accident to be unfounded. They therefore hold that "to base upon these accidents charges of criminal negligence or murder is an abuse of language and entirely unjustifiable." They think it right, however, to say that Mr. Billing made other criticisms and suggestions of a wholly different character, some of which deserve, and will receive, careful consideration.
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