The Air Ministry, in granting me permission to deliver this lecture, have asked me to make it clear that “ the statements made are based entirely on my own knowledge and the opinions expressed in no way reflect the official views.” I should like to acknowledge the courtesy of the Air Ministry in giving me permission, and to say that I should be surprised if some of my opinions were in accord with the official view.

Towards the end of the war, although submarines were still doing a considerable amount of damage to shipping, the Navy was rapidly getting their measure.

Submarines were being sunk faster than the enemy could build ; their submarine service had been made so hazardous that it was increasingly difficult for the enemy to man their submarines and maintain the morals of the crews during attempted operations.

This result was not achieved by any one arm of the Navy, nor by any particular invention, but was effected by the intensive use and close co-ordination of praqtically all the resources which the Navy could command.

All methods of transport must be judged by their cost of operation and the revenue they produce, and the comparison, therefore, of the cost of ton-miles provides a useful but not the only basis from which conclusions can be drawn as to the efficiency and utility of such services. Vehicle, train, ship, or air miles and their cost must also be considered as well as ton-miles, and above all the factors of speed and the completeness of the service from the point of view of the user must be taken into account.

We have seen during the last few years attempts made to bolster up certain methods of transport on the ground that they are beneficial as a whole to the community, to special trades, or to the welfare of particular places or classes. But sooner or later the practice of subsidising any kind of transport out of taxes or rates, or out of the proceeds of other allied concerns, will have to be recognised as unsound, though there are exceptional cases where one service is naturally complementary to another kind of service, and in the end the methods of transport that will survive will be those that can stand upon their own bases.