16 SEPTEMBER 1916, Page 3

Yet public opinion must still press the Government to make

our position better and stronger. When peace came the air service must be the last to be reduced, for we were n3 longer an island. Of our two thousand miles of coastline, at least one thousand would have to be defended, and if we had twenty thousand aeroplanes the cost would not be more than £15,000,000. In fine, we had reached a position when the Air Board should be given control at least of the supply side, and there should be a United Air Service for this country. Lord Montagu's contributions to this controversy are always helpful, because his ardour is not clouded by personal animosity-and his assertions are not vitiated by wild exaggeration or wilful inaccuracy.