A Matter for Decision

WE have not in these days, unfortunately, space to publish the 36th Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture read before the Royal Aeronautical Society at the end of last month by MR GOUGE, but it provides so much food for thought that we have decided to deal editorially with some of the reflections it has engendered. It starts with a review of the lessons that have been learnt as a result of experience from all forms of transport and contains in the first figure a line which shows that two fundamental points are common to sea, road and rail transport as well as air. These are that the speed of the vehicle dictates the frequency of the service and the density of traffic the size of the vehicle—with the subsidiary historical fact, according to MR GOUGE, that experience in all forms of transport has led to the employment of the largest possible vehicle and that the largest unit has invariably proved the more efficient.