The design and construction of light hulls and floats suitable for flying boats and seaplanes is a very highly specialised branch of shipbuilding. This being the case, all matters pertaining to same Should be in the hands of naval architects. At a recent lecture before this Society, Commander Hunsaker, of the United States Navy, stated that British aircraft designers followed the naval architect's methods more than in any other country; he thought this was natural as he gave us the credit of being the first maritime power of the world. This may be perfectly true with regard to airships, but I cannot endorse his opinion that the majority of flying boats built in this country show the impress of the trained hand of a naval architect. I do not imply that the American boats are superior to ours, as for instance, a large American boat with twin engines built in the United States, which we used for the North Sea patrol, was by no means typical of good boat-building ; there were no less than four consecutive planks butted—not even scarfed—on the same timber, which had a siding of 5/8in., the line of butts being in line with the step where the boat was naturally weakest.