Recent decisions show that the Government is now fully alive
to the necessity of freeing civil aviation from the dominance of military aviation, and of a more vigorous policy in conjunction with the Dominions for thedevelop- ment of commercial air routes within the Empire. The Air Council henceforward will be concerned exclusively with the military side. The Director of Civil Aviation will become Director-General, and will take decisions in conjunction with the Secretary of State and the Under- Secretary. Expenditure on civil flying will have to be judged independently of military expenditure, and on its merits. The hope must be that international agree- ments will admit of the enlargement of the civil vote through the reduction of the military. If we are to hold our own in competition with foreign countries, ground organization must be improved and regular services must be quickened. To no small extent the future cohesion of the Empire depends on the air— not on the Air Force, but on the efficiency of civil services.
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