Road, Rail and Air The announcement that the four railway
companies in this country have combined with Imperial Airways to form a new company for the development of internal air services may with profit be read in the light of the balance- sheet figures of the only railway air service that has so far existed, that run by the Great Western Railway between Birmingham, Cardiff and Plymouth. The gross receipts for last summer were £1,664, and the expenditure 18,191. No doubt the results may be better this year if the service is resumed, but a record of expenses amounting to five times the receipts is hardly encouraging. The fact is that in a small country where the journeys arc mostly relatively short, where the train service is un- rivalled and where flying is expensive, the air-habit takes time to acquire. But the railways are, no doubt, wise to arm themselves in advance against the kind of indepen- dent competition which grew up on the roads. L► France the different air companies were compulsorily amalgamated by the late Air Minister M. Pierre Cot, and now the question of the co-ordination of road, rail and air services is under discussion. That is still necessary here.
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