MISS JOHNSON'S STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20597, 23 June 1930, Page 6

MISS JOHNSON'S STORY.

.VIEWS ON MARRIAGE, [FLYING MORE IMPORTANT* A HUSBAND A HINDRANCE. *MY JOB IS AVIATION." ,/ (Copyright.) No. X. Mia3 Johnson says she has no time to think about marriage—aviation being so much more important. Her views on husbands; from the point of view of an airwoman, are quite frankly stated. Plying, she says, gives one a true perspective of many things, including marriage. Her job is aviation. I have been asked several times what X think of marriage. Tlio answer at once is—that I don't. How can I ? How can any girl who has had all the things to attend to that I havo possibly give it . a moment's consideration ? Ono would think, from the letters that I have received and the remarks that I have heard, that I flew to Australia with one object—to pick a husband. I can assure you that I had no such thought. I flew hero to help aviation and the Empire. Can you tell me fioriously how a husband can enter into that .scheme of things ? In the first place, my flight was solo. iNo dual control, thank you. . . I ask you to imagine me flying with a husband on board. Why, it was much more important to have an extra petrol tank in the space he. would have occupied. 'And you can always get a fresh supply of petrol. It is not nearly so easy to dump your husband. Perhaps there are many persons who wish it were. Fortunately, I am not among their number. Objections to a Husband. When you are flying solo you are the Piaster of your fate and the captain of your soul—and your aeroplane. A husband in the air might want to take a hand in an emergency —men are apt to be impetuous. Then, when I had thought that the correct thing was to put 'old Jason's nose hard down, he might decide that the best thing would be to loop the loop. I have heard of husbands like that. The result would be disastrous, and I think the flight in those circumstances would probably have ended somewhere over the English Channel. And think how he would have been in the way. . . At Karachi, if we got as far as that—he would most likely have come whining that his big toe was sticking out of his sock, and asking me to get to work with darning wool. Or ho might have contracted a cold, and wanted to havo his chest rubbed with olive oil—or perhaps some of the precious lubricating oil from Jason's engine. ,/ What a Man Would Do. He would have held up the flight each morning while he shaved, »*nd the propeller would be roaring its impatience, und I would be roaring, too, while he sought sticking plaster to put over a cut on his chin. He would want to light a cigarette ;while we were half way across the Timor $ea —and so blow us both into Eternity. Ho would make a nuisance of himself, i wherever ho lauded, by looking for the nearest hotel, instead of giving a hand ,with filling up tho petrol tanks and overhauling tho engine. Certainly, I admire those of your Australian men that I have seen. But I repeat that I caine here with no intention of marrying any of them. People have ,asked me how many proposals I have ' had. lam not telling—but I .wonder how many proposals any girl, who has done something a little bit out of the ordinary receives ? A Proper Perspective. You see, a girl who flies gets, I think, a wider outlook on things. Sho sees so much inoro at a glance than those on earth. She has a proper perspective —she can sec just beyond the farthest hills. So men, for all their attempts at romance, appear perhaps in something moro resembling their natural colours. We see them, not so much as romantic figures, as encumbrances in the way of uny girl who has set her heart and soul on doing something worth while. lam yet to see how a husband can help. Perhaps some day I shall. That day has not yet appeared oil my horizon. So I do/ not think at all about marriage seriously. lam sorry to disannoint you if you would have it otherwise. But there it is. Let Bernard Shaw and IT. G. Wells theorise on the subject as much as they like. That is their job. Mino is aviation.