strong Minister of Defence with no predilections towards either of the older services on the one hand, or towards the Air Service on the other. He must be able to exercise good judgment as to the best scope for each of the services in National and Imperial interests. He would need to decide by which arm each particular function would most suitably be performed, due regard being given to the fact that aerial warfare must always be the cheapest, hence partly the German activity in aviation research. The whole matter involves very big questions, whilst providing, inter alia, an excellent field for economy in the services generally, as well as in administration. Communication begets consolidation and co-operation, and the scattered nature of the British Commonwealth calls for the fullest and most efficient provision of communications. The development of Air Transport throughout the Empire would, for the purposes of InterImperial communication, repay its cost times out of number. Apart from its obvious diplomatic and strategic value, such development, through its assistance to trade, would far more than balance the expenditure, as has already been recognised by most of the other great Powers. The railway, the steamship, the telegraph, the telephone, and the motor-car have overcome distance. They have opened the interior of continents which a short time ago seemed inaccessible. They have brought nations within easy reach of one another. They have caused the rapid increase of the population of the modern world Without the railway and the steamship, the population of the United States would still be confined to the sea border, and Canada and Australia would have only a few hundred thousand inhabitants. Every new method of communication and of transport was derided-or, at least, under-estimated-at the beginning. When railway construction began, experienced business men solemnly calculated that they could not possibly continue to work at a profit, because the trifling number of passengers and quantity of goods requiring transport could be carried far more cheaply by coaches, waggons, and barges. At the time when motor-cars were few and very dear, it was generally believed that they could only be a toy of the idle rich. They were too expensive and unreliable to become a universal means of transport. The motor-bus is superseding the tramway. Horses are disappearing from the towns. In the United States there are 10,000,000 motor-cars-one for every two families. Millions of farmers and artisans there own motor-cars, and, in the opinion of Henry Ford and other Americans, the use of the motor-car has only begun. Aeroplanes and airships still meet with the same scepticism as the motor-car and the motor-cycle met with not so long ago. Aviation is supposed by many to be of little practical utility, except for military purposes. Travelling by aeroplane is at present neither very comfortable nor very safe,* and transport of goods by the same means is admittedly expensive; but those who view the future of flying with distrust have little imagination and faith. Flying machines are at present at much the same stage of development as was the motorcar when the driver was usually to be found underneath it on his back, trying to discover why it would not go. Although enormous progress has been made in the construction of flying machines, the advance hitherto effected will appear trifling a few years hence. It seems by no means unlikely that before long aviation will be greatly developed, and the use of flying machines as universal as that of motor-cars. already become much improved. plane is far less than it was, and the time may come when even people of modest means can afford one. The practical use of flying machines is rapidly increasing. The American forest control is carried on largely by air. American land-owners and large farmers are finding it advantageous to use aeroplanes in their work. Exploration of difficult country, map making, etc., can most easily be carried on from the air. Formerly, it took weeks, or months, to pass through relatively short stretches of virgin forest and swamps. Instead of travelling on foot, axe in hand, explorers now can go by air. Throughout the Empire there are vast tracts of land sparsely populated, with natural resources calling out Safety in the air has Aeroplanes already promise, however, to become more comfortable, and, though still a somewhat noisy instrument of travel, the noise experienced is hardly worse than that met with on many a bad railway journey. for development. Communication of all sorts should form an important factor for turning these vast tracts to the best possible account. But until aviation generally becomes cheaper and more comfortable, the use of flying machines will be mainly confined to carrying mails and such valuable goods as occupy little space. The aeroplane will, however, be turned to constantly increasing account for the purposes of State Diplomacy and for business interviews in distant countries, on account of the vast superiority of personal communications over those afforded by telegraphy or telephony." A personal interview is, in fact, the only satisfactory way of arriving at a conclusion in many instances, and time is often a highly essential element. Economic prosperity depends largely upon communications. It is most important for business men to be in close and easy contact with their customers far away. We can best realise the supreme value of easy and rapid communication by imagining the breakdown of cables and of wireless telegraphy, or by imagining that, through a strike, our domestic telegraphs and telephones, or mails, should stop working. In certain cases, the telegraph is no longer the quickest or best method of rapid communication; in various instances it is being gradually superseded by the telephone and the aeroplane. After all, a long letter carried by aeroplane can be delivered over certain distances almost as quickly as a telegram, while a four-page aeroplane letter costs less than a short telegram. Mail-carrying by air is particularly valuable over long distances, owing to the high speed of all aircraft compared with that of seagoing vessels. Small towns and villages in the interior of sparsely populated countries have hitherto been almost out of touch with the world because of the great expenses associated with a regular mail delivery. By the air-way, mails can be rapidly and cheaply delivered and fetched from almost anywhere. The time is passing when colonists complain * Inter-Imperial Communication by Cable, Wireless, and Air. Address by the author to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. See also his 'Telegraphy, Aeronautics and War' (Constable). + Incidentally, too, an aeroplane can travel now at more than double the speed of the fastest railway train. that they have to ride thirty miles to the nearest Post Office, and the aeroplane will become a potent factor in the settlement of the empty spaces of the Empire. In the oversea trade, communication by cable and wireless is of the greatest possible value for short messages, inquiries, orders, etc.; but the great bulk of oversea communications of a business nature goes by mail. Letters in long-distance traffic are distressingly slow. Postal communications between New York and London often take ten days; between London and India three or four weeks; between London and Australia five weeks or more. The line of transmission can be shortened to one-third and less by the development of the air-ways. The superlative value-aye, the absolute necessity-of an official air-mail is obvious. The air-post is bound to be developed with energy by the more enterprising nations. In this matter it would be fatal to English business if we allowed ourselves to be overtaken by other countries. If, for instance, Germany should have an efficient air-mail, while this country was still relying on the ordinary mail, British business letters, price-lists, catalogues, and samples would reach customers in the oversea countries many days, or even weeks, after the receipt of the corresponding German communications. A vast amount of business would inevitably be transferred from England to Germany. Not so long ago the motor-car was the rich man's toy. A few manufacturers employing small staffs, turned out a few luxury cars. Men generally believed that the motor-car was quite unimportant to trade and industry. The American motor-car business has become one of the most important industries of that great country. It absorbs millions of tons of steel every year, it uses 40 per cent. of the plate glass and 22 per cent. of the aluminium produced in the United States, besides consuming about two-thirds of the world's rubber output. It gives work to about three million people and has created numerous millionaires. The motor-car industry is, in fact, almost the most important industry of the United States. The time may come when the production of flying machines will be as important as that of motor-cars. At present, the United States produce nearly 90 per cent. of the world's motor-cars. Unless for development. Communication of all sorts should form an important factor for turning these vast tracts to the best possible account. But until aviation generally becomes cheaper and more comfortable, the use of flying machines will be mainly confined to carrying mails and such valuable goods as occupy little space. The aeroplane will, however, be turned to constantly increasing account for the purposes of State Diplomacy and for business interviews in distant countries, on account of the vast superiority of personal communications over those afforded by telegraphy or telephony.* A personal interview is, in fact, the only satisfactory way of arriving at a conclusion in many instances, and time is often a highly essential element. Economic prosperity depends largely upon communications. It is most important for business men to be in close and easy contact with their customers far away. We can best realise the supreme value of easy and rapid communication by imagining the breakdown of cables and of wireless telegraphy, or by imagining that, through a strike, our domestic telegraphs and telephones, or mails, should stop working. In certain cases, the telegraph is no longer the quickest or best method of rapid communication; in various instances it is being gradually superseded by the telephone and the aeroplane. After all, a long letter carried by aeroplane can be delivered over certain distances almost as quickly as a telegram, while a four-page aeroplane letter costs less than a short telegram. Mail-carrying by air is particularly valuable over long distances, owing to the high speed of all aircraft compared with that of seagoing vessels.† Small towns and villages in the interior of sparsely populated countries have hitherto been almost out of touch with the world because of the great expenses associated with a regular mail delivery. By the air-way, mails can be rapidly and cheaply delivered and fetched from almost anywhere. The time is passing when colonists complain * Inter-Imperial Communication by Cable, Wireless, and Air. Address by the author to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. See also his 'Telegraphy, Aeronautics and War' (Constable). + Incidentally, too, an aeroplane can travel now at more than double the speed of the fastest railway train. |