May I say how glad I am to have this opportunity of speaking to you on a subject to which I, and others, have devoted so much time and thought. Not that any of us have ever begrudged this time or labour. Far from it. I myself, after twelve years as a student of aeronautics, cannot look back on any period when, even for a moment, I have wearied in my task. And indeed the more I study this subject the more convinced I am h*^w well worth while it is for us, now, to devote all the time we can to this question of commercial aeronautics. It is a subject which is something much more than purely commercial. It is not only national but also Imperial. It is something even more than both of these; it is a question which affects the development, happiness, and peace of the entire world. When, with the growing speed of aerial transport, we shall be able to dine in New York one evening and in London the next; when no part of the earth—surface, however remote, is more than a week's journey from London by air, then I think we may say that the coming of this aerial age will do more for the world than any other invention or discovery man has ever made.