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it may do so, and we recommend that the Air Secretary should cease to be a member of the Board of Directors of Tasman Empire Airways, Limited. Relationship with Prime Minister's Department 17. At this point it is necessary to refer to the functions and responsibilities of the Prime Minister's Department and its relationship with the Air Department and the Director of Civil Aviation. We observe that this department has in the past taken the lead in a number of matters concerning civil aviation, particularly those having a bearing on international relationships and arrangements with other Governments of the Commonwealth, to an extent greater than is usual in other Governments with which we are familiar. The Prime Minister's Department must exercise its proper responsibility for co-ordinating, and when necessary handling,, international negotiations, but it is important to realise that civil aviation policy involves practical and technical problems and is reflected in the organisation of civil aviation. Policy must be related to practical possibilities and its effect on the New Zealand organisation for the development and operation of air transport and other aviation activities. There is some evidence that the Air Department and the Director of Civil Aviation have not exercised their full responsibility in this regard. No doubt this has arisen from the weakness of the civil aviation organisation in its embryonic stage. While recognising that important policy issues must sometimes originate from the head of the Government, in civil aviation as in other matters, we wish to emphasise that the Air Department and the Director of Civil Aviation should be associated with the consideration of these policy issues at the earliest stage, and should take the responsibility for advising Government on their practical effects before the policy is determined. Crown Law Office 18. We observe that there has not invariably been adequate consultation with the legal officers of Government in the framing of statutory regulations or directions or other pronouncements purporting to have legal effect. In view of what is said in Part II of this Report [vide Chapter 8, paragraph 113), we recommend that the responsibility of the Crown Law Office should be more fully exercised in framing the law governing civil aviation. Relationship with other technical departments—Meteorology and Works 19. Before dealing with the detailed organisation of the Civil Aviation Directorate it is necessary to refer to other departments or branches of departments which perform services for civil aviation, and