"SMITHY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 249, 21 October 1933, Page 7

"SMITHY."

AUSTRALIA WONDERS. APATHY OF GOVERNMENT. SEVERE STRAIN OF FLIGHT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 17. The return of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith to Australia, has been the progress of a national hero, and he fully deserves it. The world at large by this time knows all about his wonderful feat, and I need not spend space in enlarging upon the records that he has broken and the obstacles that he has had to overcome. Of course, the people of his own country understand and appreciate his achievements more clearly than anyone else, and the thousands who watched his little 'plane—entirely overshadowed by the huge Southern Cross —winging its way over the harbour last Saturday, attended by a score of satellites, and the vast throng that greeted him when he arrived at the Mascot aerodrome, would gladly confer upon him the highest honours and the most lavish rewards that it is in their power to bestow. But for some inexplicable reason the aniazing feats of the greatest of all airmen have failed to stir the imagination of ,the officials and the politicians who control our destinies, and Kingsford Smith, now 36 years old, after flying for 17 years and covering over 100,000 miles on his wonderful voyages, is still, so far as the Government of Australia is concerned, unrecognised and unrewarded. Of course, this is not merely a question of gratitude. "Smithy" has done more than any other living man to put ■his country, as the phrase goes, "on the map." But even if this aspect of his career does not appeal to the Federal authorities they ought to realise that the services of the foremost living airman should be of great value to them either for the purpose of organising .commercial '-viatkva throughout Austra-

lia or to assist in drafting a scheme of national defence. But there is an even more serious side of the question on which public attention has been largely concentrated here since "Smithy's" arrival. , Revelations of His Diary. The publication of the airman's diary has revealed that Kingsford Smith is feeling very severely the terrible strain imposed upon his physical strength and his nervous system by these strenuous adventures. Passing Athens he was "still getting these nervous attacks"; nearing Bagdad, "nasty feeling, as if I was going to faint"; at Bagdad "could not sleep for nerves"; at Gwadar, and again at Jask, "terribly sick"; after Karachi "afraid to go up high in case of feeling suddenly faint"; at Sumbawa a recurrence of "that unpleasant sick feeling"; and on "the last day of the rush" the recorded resolve to "hang on somehow for another nine hours." In interviews given since his arrival "Smithy" has commented on all this in characteristically frank but courageous fashion, and he has enlarged upon the nervous strain which he always experiences over a long stretch of sea. All these omincus facts were emphasised by the "Sunday Sun" in a remarkably impressive appreciation of "Smithy's" public services and merits, which appeared the day after his arrival. It reminds the people and the Governments of Australia that Kingsford Smith, "the greatest airman who has ever gone skyward," has been compelled by the neglect of "those who sit in high places" to waste his energies and risk his life in "barnstorming" and "joyriding," while men who, whatever their special merits, cannot offer knowledge and experience so valuable as his in the service of their country, receive generous rewards. When the Government of New South Wales waited a business man to .reorganise its transport system, it gave him £3000 a year. The Commonwealth Director of Postal Services, who gets over £3000 a year, is trying to work up a postal service with Britain which will take our mails from London to Sydney in 13 days; and "Smithy" has brought us an English mail in less than eight days. The "Sunday Sun" reminds us that italy's leading aviator was made Air Minister 11 years ago; but "Smithy" still waits for an opportunity to show our Federal rulers what can 'be done with aeroplanes. J

" A Roman Gladiator." There is a more tragic side to the story—happily as yet unwritten. "It is brutal"—l quote the "Sunday Sun" again—"that his country should make of 'Smithy' a mere parallel to the Roman gladiator, "Moriturus te salutal.' He has played "with death across the oceans of the globe not once but ten times. Australia has gaped and cheered. Is there to be nothing but gaping and cheering, another gasp of wonder, another huzza of cheap praise, when the Immortal lands safely again—flight after flight," year after year? —until at last, in peril with every breath, a man in a dead faint spins and whirls down into the ocean that he has always dreaded and always defied." There is nothing melodramatic in this; and the appeal has evidently made a strong impression upon the public mind. There is . a movement on foot to urge Kingsford Smith's claims for public recognition upon the Federal authorities more energetically than ever before, and public feeling here will certainly not be satisfied till he is established in office as consultant air director or in some similar capacity—with a salary in some way proportionate to the value of the services that he above all other men is able, by virtue of his skill and experience and courage, to render to his country.