It is possible to arrive at a summary of the cost of the purchase and upkeep of a fleet of a hundred machines. First would come the expenditure of £100,000 upon the aeroplanes themselves, and incidentals; and then the Government would need to be ready to spend another £100,000 a year upon the upkeep of the corps. Such estimates as this go to reveal the inadequacy of the grant made by the British Government for the year 1911-12. As has been previously mentioned, the actual sum devoted to aeroplaning, dirigible ballooning, and the upkeep of the Air Battalion, has been £85,000. Owing to the costliness of airships, only a small portion of this sum has been devoted to aeroplanes. There is no chance—with such a grant as this—of mapping out an adequate programme for aeroplane work. OUR AERIAL PROGRAMME FOR 1912-13 While the greater portion of this book was already in the Press, and too late for classification or detailed comment, the Government’s programme in regard to Naval and Military Airmanship, for 1912-13, was duly announced. The appended summary of the official scheme is from the Memorandum, concerning the Army Estimates, issued by the Secretary of State for War:— "Sufficient experience has now been gained in military aviation to warrant advance on less tentative lines; and after careful consideration by the Committee of Imperial Defence, it has been decided to establish at once a joint Army and Navy School of Aviation at which officers of both services shall be taught to fly, before proceeding to the separate Army and Navy establishments at which they will be exercised in the more specialised requirements of their respective services. "A site for the school has been selected on Salisbury Plain, and the purchase of the necessary land will be completed at the beginning of April. Building, to plans which have been already prepared, will be pressed forward rapidly, and it is hoped at a very early date to have accommodation at the school for officers and men, instructors and mechanics, as well as the necessary sheds for aeroplanes and workshops for their repair and adjustment. Provision has also been made on an extended scale for purchase of aeroplanes and other necessary equipment for the school. "Officers of both services will be employed on the staff of the school, and its expenses (other than cost of land) will be shared between Army and Navy votes. "The Estimates further provide for continuing the experimental and other work of the Army aircraft factory, for further buildings required for airships, for an addition of personnel to Army establishments for aeroplane work, and for a considerable number of aeroplanes as a first instalment of the equipment of the Field Army. "The total provision for the above services made in these estimates compares with that made in 1911-12 as follows:—