THE FLYING MACHINE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9430, 2 January 1909, Page 4

THE FLYING MACHINE.

-- The efforts of the flying machine con- ' and the articles written about their work have all been tentative in the highest degree, but the close of 3906 has brought those inventors so jtear to the success they, aim at that Jhe year will probably be known to the historian aa that of the conquest of the JttT. The complete conquest has not #et been made, if we compare the flyIBg macnine with the ocean steamship, carrying, in its huge interior, the population of a small town, or the locomotive engine, dragging after it a train packed with busy people. Nor can we yfefc compare the aeroplane with the anotor-ear, which has been so much' in efrid&nce in and about ChristchurcH this week ' in the reliability trials, and is in equally tangible evidence every day, in apparent fulfilment of the Scriptural prophecy that "the, chariots shall rage in the streets." We cannot make these comparisons just yet, for the flying machine, though past , its infancy, is only in its adolescent stage. But the signs of the times point to the certainty that the day of adolescence wMI soon be past, and that the time is nfear when a 'marvellous development $£ the aeroplane wilt be witnessed. As yefcf of course, the flying maohine is in •■'the experimental stage, but its practical advance has been so marked as to itfake men stare in wide-eyed surprise, less, perhaps, at the success that has been achieved actually, than at the stupendous possibilities that lie before the inventor. The ordinary mind approaches these with something akin to timidity, as it realises their vastness. SPhe flying machine, in its evolution, must bring about a marked change in the current of human affairs. It is useless as yet to try to prophesy as to just what the effect of the machines .will be when experimentation has led to , perfection, but one can easily foresee that the relations of the peoples of the earth, and the nations, of the .world, cannot be the same when the air "conquest has been finally won as they were before the solving of the> great problem. Revolutionary is a word hardly strong enough to characterise the great invention. It will be more revolutionary in its effects than , the navigation which finds a path over the traokless ocean; than the art of printing, the great preserver and disseminator of knowledge and the mighty, bulwark of business and social life; or €han the discovery of gunpowder and the other explosives which are now the foundation and the coping-stone of the whole art of war. In looking in imagination at the picture presented one is struck with soine of the features that are prominent in it. The mariner had the shore to mark the boundary of his navigation, but the explorer of the air has no boundary to bar his movements. ■ The locomotive demands the laying of its unalterable iron way, it<i bridges, viaducts and tunnels, before it snorts away on its marvellous journey. Even the motor-car, which can h& taken' over extraordinary country, has still its limits, and meets obstacles in its way that it dare not face. To the air navigator no land boundary limits his voyaging, no rock or shoal threatens the safety of his bark. He requires no iron or other roadway, no army of excavators to pierce a mountain that he cannot climb. His possibilities are stupendous, and when he has achieved them we must look for marvellous changes. There -are those who see weight-carrying difficulties in the ■way, and who say that these are insurmountable, >tor bo • nearly so that the flying machine can never become a very dangerous engine in war. To lay this flattering unction to the soul is flqt'liv© iA A fool's paradise, for in. iliGfie

days science travels by leaps and bounds, and research works with the wings of. a swallow. Whijo 1908 saw the Wright brothers accomplish an unbroken flight of sixty miles, who shall cay that 1909 or its immediate follower will not only better that performance, but solve tne weight-carrying problem P When that has been done, then will commence the new art of war. This, however, is too large and momentous a subject to deal with casually. ,It is far more pleasing to speculate on the minor possibilities of aerial flight, 6uch as its effect on travel. The owner of a good motor-car enjoys his run of fifty miles as an after-lunch, outing to give him an. appetite for dinner; but the roads must be good: and many other things must be fitting. When the aeroplane has reached a stage of advancement equivalent, to that attained by the motor-car, Edwin will drop a post-card to Angelina saying that his "aero*' has just had a new propeller fixed after an accidental collision with a steeple, 'and that he means to spend Christmas Day in Auckland, leaving in the morning and being back in time for evening service. He would be glad df Angelina's company. One could speculate on the endless possibilities, of theyiew Age that is coming upon us, but enough has been said to indicate that a revolution has begun in 1908 that will go far to land us in what looks, in its present nebujoufcness, like an era of topsy-turveydoin, but which, when it comes to the bed-rock of hard fact, will resolve itself into an every-day means of transit, accepted as casually as the electric-tram service of the telephone.