Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14042, 28 October 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

There is one- point in the IJheims aviation displays ,says a leading London paper, which cannot be regarded with entire satisfaction by any patriotic Englishman. Frenchmen, * Americans, Italians— : all play a great part iji these new Olympic games. But Great Britain makes a very poor show. In the inventions of the nineteenth century—the railway and the Steamship—this* country took the leading place. In the twentieth century we seem willing to follow in the tracks of others. We have not led either with the motor-ear or with the flying machine. "When others have given us the lead, we have followed. We still produce, but we do not invent. Why is this? Is it that we are becoming an older, steadier nation, less prone to new things 'i Is it that a trading country puts too low a value on ideas 'i Is it that wo have become too comfortable arid contented? Or is 't that there is something radically wrong with our schools and "Universities I"Whatever be the cause, it is a serious .matter. Wo shall not do well to be content with-the second or third place, whether in invention or production. We must bestir ourselves, and help to conquer the air if we wish to retain our place among-the nations of the earth.