ll grow to a height of eleven
feet in six months; and trees stumped two feet below the surface will
throw out suckers and replant themselves within a month after the rains
have started.... It is most important that rough drains should be
traced.... I have just started planting Doub grass. This grass gives an
ideal surface for landing, kills other grasses, and possesses deep
interlacing roots which will bind the entire surface of the aerodromes,
making it permanent and free from washaways and the formation of
sluits."

The demonstration flights, however, showed what could, rather than what
should, be done, and what we look for to-day is the inception of
practical undertakings, however small, in the various portions of the
Empire. The most important of these is the service contemplated between
Egypt and India; another instance is afforded by the West Indies, which
suffer from the lack of inter-island communications, both for mails and
passengers, and this could be partially rectified by an air service
employing seaplanes or amphibians for the Leeward and Windward Islands
and the Bahamas, and between the Bahamas and the American Continent,
where an American company is actually conducting a service. Another
project, given up owing to recent disturbances, was one for a
flying-boat service on the Nile. Services are also being considered from
Malta to Italy, Geraldton to Derby in Western Australia, Sydney to
Adelaide and Brisbane, and Melbourne to Hobart in Tasmania. Canadian
activity takes the form of work carried out by Government-owned civil
machines in connection with forest patrol, photographic survey,
exploration, anti-smuggling patrols, etc. It would be a great advantage
if railway and steamship companies seriously considered the value of
supplementing their services by air.

With regard to Government undertakings on the Imperial air routes, Malta
is being equipped with an aerodrome, and a line of wireless stations has
been established between Egypt and India, but the organization of this
route has been delayed owing to the recent disturbances in the Middle
East, and the financial outlay involved in ground organization. As I
have said, the air route on which we should first concentrate, over and
above the Continental services, is that between Egypt and India. Both
strategically and commercially it is the most important in the Imperial
system; it is a step towards Australia; it offers possibilities of the
greatest volu