THE debate upon post-war air transport in the House of Lords on March11 disclosed several points of a technical nature. Viscount Cranborne said that it is the Government's wish to allot spheres of influence by international collaboration, and to avoid the cut-throat competition between air lines that have made it necessary in the past to grant subsidies in order to keep the services running in a manner worthy of the nation. The question of obtaining experience in air transport with the most modern aircraft, engines, and equipment is to be dealt with by the creation of an Air Transport Command within the R.A.F. This command will deal primarily with transport of materials and men, and its needs will bring parts of the industry into that sphere of design and production. Thus at the end of the War an organization should be in existence that can be changed over to civil air transport with the minimum of dislocation. It has since been announced that Air Chief Marshal Sir F. W. Bowhill, at present commanding officer of the R.A.F. Ferry Command, is to be in charge of this new section. Attention was also directed to the fact that a well-developed air transport service would be a valuable auxiliary to an invasion force operating on the European continent. Other suggestions were that a Ministry of Air Transport should be created immediately, to make plans for the future based on its present-day experience, and that the shipping companies might be asked to run air services, auxiliary to their ships, allotting each item of traffic to that class of transport most suited to its requirements.