Major-General Sykes has replaced Major-General Trenchard as Chief of the
Air Staff. It was stated in the House on Monday that Major-General Trenchard, who was appointed in January last, " took a view as to the powers and duties of the Chief of the Air Staff " which Lord Rothermere, the Air Minister, could not accept. In a letter published in Monday's papers Lord Rothermere admitted that the Royal Air Force suffered from a cumbrous system. It was true and deplorable that the number of Staff officers on the- home organization of the Air Service was nearly as great as the number of active airmen on the fighting fronts. Many of therie most excellent officers were " engaged in filling up unnecessary forms and carrying out circumlocutory methods of conducting business." The Hotel Cecil, an unsuitable building, was largely to blame. It would perhaps be unfair to expect that the difficulties attendant on the amalgamation of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps could have been overcome so soon, but Lord Rothermere's letter confirms the general belief that there is a great waste of man-power in his Department.
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