A TRIUMPH FOR YOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1933, Page 6

A TRIUMPH FOR YOUTH.

Flights and flying have been so prominently before the public of Taranaki recently that the success of Mr. E. F. Harvie yesterday in flying from the North Cape to the Bluff in one day will doubtless be viewed with more equanimity than if it had been accomplished a month or two ago. Nevertheless the feat deserves the warm commendation of everyone interested in aviation and its development. More than that, it is a glowing tribute to the youth of to-day. No dare-devil escapade this, no taking chances and trusting for the best, no such incentive as popular adulation born of publicity. The physical strain of such a journey must have been heavy, and as a triumph of endurance and skill Mr. Harvie’s success is of considerable merit. More praiseworthy, however, was the excellence of the pilot’s detailed organisation prior to the flight. Every normal contingency seems to have been provided for, and everything worked out to a definite schedule. Perhaps in this matter Mr. Harvie took a leaf out of the book of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, with whom he was associated on the last tour of the Southern Cross. The fact remains that this young pilot, aged only 21, and his girl passenger quietly slipped away from Kaitaia in the 2 a.m. moonlight of yesterday, circled the North Cape lighthouse, and in 16 hours 10 minutes landed at the most southerly point of the South Island after covering a distance greater than that from Australia to New Zealand. One might well ask what is the use of such a flight. Mr. Harvie partly answered the question in his statements in the Daily News yesterday and this morning. The accomplishment of an ambition is its own reward, but it might be added in this particular case that youth has expressed the spirit of the age in a manner for which its critics can have no criticism. It is pleasing to know that the achievement has been made by a Taranaki boy, and that another compliment has been paid to the skill and trustworthiness of the tuition given by Flying-Officer lan Keith under the auspices of the Western Federated Flying Club.