Things, however, are turning out much better than might have been expected. The two departments of the Government which formerly concerned themselves with aviation, the General Staff and the Board of Communications, have relinquished their participation in favour of a new Department of Aeronautics which has been formed under the direct control of the Premier, thereby eliminating, on paper at least, the military element and giving the new department a civil charaeter. Under the new regime definite plans have been formulated for the establishment of a regular aerial service between Peking and Shang hai, to come into operation in May or June of the present year. These plans have been prepared under the advice of Group Captain Holt, a highly experienced aviation officer seconded from the British Royal Air Force, and barring outside interference there is every reason to expect their due execution.
In order to follow developments to the present point it is necessary to refer to the aviation agreements entered into during the last two years by the Chinese Government. The first was the Handley Page which involved! the provision of six of the splendid machines constructed by that company.—This agreement gave the manufacturer the prior right to furnish further aviation material to China, and on that account was criticized as involving a@ monopoly. Soon afterwards, however, the Vickers-Viny flew the Atlantic, and the next thing was that the Chinese Government entered into another contract. this time with Vickers, for the supply of no fidwer than 100 aeroplanes of the' last named type.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.