The present isolation of England in terms of air from the rest of the Empire, and the geographical conditions already described, certainly render the national expansion of aviation, both external and internal, a difficult problem. It is clear that for this reason it must rather develop on an Imperial basis. The Dominions have already started valuable civil air work and have appointed Air Boards. Whatever the political settlement of Egypt may be, it is important that our air interests at this "hub" of Imperial aviation should be safeguarded. Air communication between the various portions of the Empire may prove of inestimable value in a future world war, and Dominion air forces may be able quickly to concentrate against enemy territory which is out of the range of aircraft operating from home. We have seen the value of aircraft operating from land bases for naval patrol, anti-submarine action, and direct attack on enemy shipping. With the increasing radius of action of seaplanes and other naval aircraft, the Army and Navy may be relieved of certain of their duties in coast defence and in protecting Imperial trade routes. For these reasons, aircraft bases are required throughout the Empire, and it is the commercial development of aviation which is the best means of ensuring their establishment. It will be for the Imperial authorities, while attending to local conditions and requirements, to co-ordinate as far as possible the air effort of the Empire, so that in peace communications may be developed and in the event of war its full power may rapidly be utilized on a co-operative basis. Civil aviation is not, however, merely a method of amplifying service air power. It has a vast potential value of its own. Communications shape human destinies. The evolution of our civilization bears strongly the marks of the systems which at various stages have made the intercourse of men and ideas possible. Its history is one of endeavour to extend the limits imposed upon human living and mobility in each of the great phases through which it has passed. There was the phase of the coracle and the roller-wheeled vehicle, stretching back into the roadless mists of unrecorded time; of roads which gradually linked the important areas of the Roman Empire; of inland and coastal waterways; of ocean traffic, and its huge advance with the discovery of steam-power, which brought England to the fore. With each phase the world shrinks smaller and the mists of the unknown recede. The development of human mobility is the greatest marvel of the present age. We can hardly realize that it was only the other day, as these things go--in 1819, just a hundred years before the same feat was accomplished by air-that the first sailing ship fitted with auxiliary steam (and not until 1828 that a real steamship) crossed the Atlantic.