Major Baird's statement on the Air Board Vote on Thursday,
week was frank and satisfactory. The present Air Board was undoubtedly another step in the direction of an Air Ministry. All the members worked together in the closest harmony and co-opera- tion, and the whole of the R.N.A.S.—so far as it was concerned with heavier-than-air machines—the R.F.C., and the Service of the Controller of Aeronautical Supplies were now housed under one roof. The Air Board covered the branch of the air arm common to both Services, and there was no question of any competition between the Army and Navy in regard to manufacture. Describing the function of the Technical Department, he pointed out that while standard- izing the machines used by the Army and Navy was aimed at, there was no attempt to standardize machines on a large scale, a method which would only result in getting a large number of machines which would be out of date when they were finished. Taking the monthly average output for last year at the arbitrary figure of eight, the output for January and February of this year was sixteen, the anticipated output for the next three months was nineteen, and he hoped that by the end of the year that figure would be doubled.
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