two of our difficulties automatically disappear. Sheds will only
be necessary as repair depots and will not be extensively
required, all intermediate stopping places being provided with
masts and necessary arrangements for taking in gas, etc. At
these intermediate stations the number of men employed will be
comparatively speaking few. At the depots or repair stations the
number must, of course, be considerably increased, but the
provision of an enormous handling party will not be necessary. At
present large numbers of men are only required to take a large
airship in or out of a shed when the wind is blowing in a
direction across the shed; when these conditions prevail the
airship will, unless compelled by accident or other unforeseen
circumstances, remain moored out in the open until the direction
of the wind has changed.

Mechanical traction will also help effectually in handling
airships on the ground, and the difficulty of taking them in and
out of sheds has always been unduly magnified. The provision of
track rails and travellers to which the guys of the ship can be
attached, as is the practice in Germany, will tend to eliminate
the source of trouble.

We must now consider the effect that weather will have on the big
airship. In the past it has been a great handicap owing to the
short hours of endurance, with the resulting probability of the
ship having to land before the wind dropped and being wrecked in
consequence. Bad weather will not endanger the big airship in
flight, and its endurance will be such that, should it encounter
bad weather, it will be able to wait for a lull to land.
Meteorological forecasts have now reached a high state of