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were not carefully planned and maintained in balance. The advantages of co-ordination of different forms of transport can in present conditions, we believe, be equally achieved by interdepartmental co-ordination, if necessary assisted by standing committees. The co-ordination of air with surface transport would represent a comparatively minor part of the activities of the Civil Aviation Directorate or of the corresponding departments controlling surface transport, while the need for coordination between the Air Force and civil aviation is a constant day-to-day problem. Status of the Civil Aviation Directorate—relationship to Air Department 5. There appears to be no other department of State in the present structure of Government with which civil aviation has a peculiar affinity, and it is our recommendation that it should remain the responsibility of the Air Department. At the same time, it appears desirable that the Civil Aviation Branch should have a more independent existence and a greater measure of autonomy than it has at present. The Civil Aviation Act, 1948 (section 11), establishes the post of Director of Civil Aviation, the holder of which " shall be an officer of the Air Department." The Act prescribes that he " shall have such special duties and functions as may be conferred on him by regulations under this Act." The Civil Aviation Branch is a branch of the Air Department. We are unable to trace that the duties and functions of the Director of Civil Aviation have been clearly laid down, even in broad general terms, and the regulations made under the Act in fact confer powers on the Minister and not on the Director of Civil Aviation. Apart from the desirability or otherwise of defining the duties and responsibilities of the Director of Civil Aviation, the deduction is that the Director of Civil Aviation has at present no separate existence and no separate responsibilities from those of the Air Department. The Air Secretary is established in a position with reference to civil aviation which is different entirely from that he occupies in relation to the Air Force. While it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Air Secretary is the head of the Department administering civil aviation, he is certainly not the head of the Air Force. The Air Force Act, 1937, prescribes (sections 11 and 12) that the Air Secretary, who shall be a member of the Air Board, " shall have such duties and functions in relation to the Air Force as the Board may from time to time determine, or as may be from time to time prescribed." The Board is " charged with the administration of the Air Force." By virtue of section 4of the Air Department Act, 1937, the powers of the Air Secretary in relation to the Air Force are specifically restricted to those conferred on him pursuant to the Air Force Act, 1937. It is clear that the Air Secretary in relation to the Air Force has certain administrative responsibilities and constitutes a necessary link in the co-ordinating machinery of Government. In