AIR RACING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23004, 6 October 1936, Page 8

AIR RACING

It has been sententiously advanced that speed is the essence of modern civilisation Probably that accounts for a good deal that is perturbing in modern civilisation. Man has been devoting much attention and energy to the question of how fast mechanism can propel him on land or in the air with a reasonable chance of his survival He can never hope to emulate the performance of a hiah-velocity projectile shot out of a gun. yet in the projectile manner he is doing tolerably well in his chase after new records Not infrequently, of course, he pays the penalty, but the philosophy of the racing motorist or airman seems to

be that life without risk is scarcely worth the living. Aspirants for fresh speed honours and records are never lacking. Part of their encouragement they find in the prizes that aire offered. Concerning the spirit in which wealthy individuals or organisations offer attractive monetary rewards for the winning of long-distance air flights it seems enough to say that if the intention is defensible the procedure is to be deprecated. For an invitation to aviators to compete in a longdistance air race is an invitation to them to risk their lives, and efforts to glorify it as a generous and publicspirited gesture must fail in such circumstances to be convincing. The air race from London to Johannesburg has ended on a note very different from that upon which it started. It will be remembered principally for its tragedies and its trail of wreckage, on account of which the banquet and presentation of prizes arranged for at Johannesburg have been cancelled. Mr Schlesinger, the donor of £IO,OOO in prizes, is probably now a sadder but a. wiser man. The great Melbourne Centenary Air Race was marred by tragedy. It is unnecessary to look for other illustrations in point. Can it be said that anything that has been demonstrated by such competitive flights has been worth the lives that have been lost through their promotion or could not have been demonstrated equally well in some other way? Men will continue to face hazards in a spirit of adventure, and we admire their courage and applaud their success. But that they should be deliberately tempted to risk their lives to provide a spectacle is another matter. Too many valuable lives have been already wasted under such impulse to futile achievement. It is to be hoped that a proposal mooted by a Napier organisation for the promotion of an air race across the Tasman Sea for a prize of £SOOO will be dropped into the oblivion of which it seems worthy. If the motive behind the idea has anything to do with the putting of Napier on the map some other form of public-spirited local enterprise, less spectacular perhaps but more judicious in conception, should be sought for.