3 JULY 1920, Page 11

The last point—the demonstration of routes—is, probably most flying men

of most experience will agree, one of the most important of the functions which civil flying will fulfil. The all- round best routes—routes which are free from fog and so forth— can be determined in no other way than by constant flight. The difference between the testing of routes by the R.A.F. as against experiment by commercial machines would practically amount to the difference between anaeroplane which is virtually self-supporting and one whose entire cost falls on the public. We sincerely hope that the recommendations of the majority of the Committee will bear fruit, and that for the Air Service we shall repeat the policy of the Tudors who built up a naval fighting supremacy on the basis of a mercantile fleet.