long enough, but if a flight of 24 hours or even 12 hours is to be attempted, the wind may be blowing very briskly when we return, and an ordinary wind will not only prevent the housing of Count Zeppelin’s balloon, but will be extremely liable to reduce it to a complete wreck in a few minutes.[4] [4] Shortly after this was written, the Zeppelin machine was completely demolished by a gust of wind. I am still strongly of the opinion that the ultimate mastery of the air must be accomplished by machines heavier than the air. APPENDIX I. MAJOR BADEN-POWELL’S DEMAND. (_From our own Correspondent._) BERLIN, Friday. Germany’s fleet of “air cruisers,” or dirigible airships, will, it is proudly announced to-day, presently number six:-- Count Zeppelin’s III., rigid type. Count Zeppelin’s IV., rigid type, which has done a twelve-hour flight and will be taken over by the Government, with No. III., for £100,000, after a twenty-four-hour test. Major Gross’s Army airship, half rigid. Motor Airship Study Society’s old airship, non-rigid. Major von Parseval’s non-rigid ship building for the above society. New airship, of which details are kept secret, nearly ready at the works of the Siemens-Schuckert Electric Company. The first announcement of the last-named airship was given in _The Daily Mail_ several months ago. The company has engaged a celebrated military aeronaut, Captain von Krogh, as commander of the vessel. The Study Society’s new non-rigid ship will be sold to the War Office as soon as she has completed her trial trips. The Army will then possess three dirigibles, each representing one of the three opposed types of construction--rigid, half-rigid, and non-rigid--with a view to arriving at a conclusion on their merits. * * * * * “Only a year or so ago, our authorities were talking of aerial navigation in its relation to war as ‘an interesting and instructive study.’ Now we must reckon it as the gravest problem of the moment. The cleverest aeronauts in England should be called upon at once to design an airship, not only as efficient as that of Count Zeppelin’s, but possessed of even greater speed. (His average was said to be about 34 miles an hour.) In speed will lie the supremacy of the air when it comes to actual warfare. Of two opposing airships, the faster will be able to outmanœuvre its adversary and hold it at its mercy.”--_Daily Mail_, July 11, 1908. COMMAND OF THE AIR. GERMANY AS THE AERIAL POWER. TEUTONIC VISION. A LANDING OF 350,000 MEN. Herr Rudolph Martin, author of books on war in the air and “Is a World-War Imminent?” points out how England is losing her insular character by the development of airships and aeroplanes.