N.Z. TRUTH The National Paper

NZ Truth, Issue 1226, 30 May 1929, Page 6

N.Z. TRUTH The National Paper

■THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1929. The Price Is Too High ♦ , r pBE world is paying a terrible price for its breath-taking adventures. This is strongly, mirrored m the development of aeronautics, accompanied by an appalling incidence of tragedy and human wastage, and regarded by some as the inevitable demands of pioneering, and by the more rational-minded as unnecessary and deplorable. If, m the desire for achievement, m the craving for .national^, supremacy as airmen, British youths must cheerfully accept the hazards which run parallel with the spirit of enterprise, we should at least have the reasonable assurance that bolclness of spirit shall not be mistaken for wildness of aim. Flashing before the public day by day, night after night, m the newspapers, come the narratives of aviators commencing or progressing on world tours by aeroplane — many of them pointless, ineffective wanderings. There should be invoked the co-operation of every nation forming the confederacy of civilisation, calling upon parliaments to prohibit by legislation ill-prepared and badly-advised long-distance flights. Some flights, such as the trans-Pacific and the trans-Tasman, for which the heroic Kingsford Smith and Ulm are rightly famous, were justified m the cause of aviation progress, and legitimate pioneering m any sphere of endeavor, no matter how risky, should be encouraged rather than discouraged. But there are some flying ventures which can ortly be classed as suicidal. An ordinary citizen who attempts to commit suicide is punished by the law. An aviator who sets out on an ill-prepared or impossible venture should be regarded as a potential suicide and restrained by law. Foolhardy though some of these ventures are, nevertheless, with few exceptions; the participants are men of the best calibre, and their loss is a heavy one, not only to their relatives, but also to the community.