An important conference summoned by the Air Ministry was opened
on Tuesday in London, with Lord Montagu of Beaulieu as chairman. Sir Frederick Sykes, in discussing the development of commercial air services, declared that they must receive State assistance in their infancy. If the British aircraft industry were to die out for want of orders and the skilled designers and workmen were scattered, the Air Force would suffer just as much as the Navy would lose by the decay of the Mercantile Marine. He admitted that the State could not afford to pay large subsidies, but State help of some kind was essential for the next few years. The conference, acting on the suggestion of Sir Frederick Sykes, recommended that all first-class mail matter should be sent by air-mail on selected routes of importance, as, for example, to Paris and Brussels.
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