SACRIFICED TO SPEED

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18047, 16 June 1930, Page 6

SACRIFICED TO SPEED

By the death of Sir Henry Segrave Britain has lost One of her bravest sons, needlessly sacrificed at the altar of speed. A man, young in years, of undoubted courage, and one with a brilliant record of success in the sphere of life he had chosen, he died perhaps as he may have wished in life—at his self-appointed task. The sorrow felt at his loss is universal, for naturally a man of Sir Henry’s calibre held the respect and admiration of the world, however much one doubted the utility of his accomplishments , to the advance of the world. Of what use is this mania for speed on land and by small boats on water? Automobile speed records may be established only to be broken a few days later, but the speed of the car on the road is not increased in like proportion. Records are confined to special tracks, and therefore do not affect the community except in providing a thrill for the satisfaction of some types of human desires. Commercially it is hard to conceive what good they accomplish. They certainly provide an advertisement for somebody’s engine, somebody else’s tyres, another firm’s petrol, and so on, but lone cannot help thinking that good sound ordinary service is an infinitely better advertisement, affecting as it dees every owner. Speed on water comes more or less under the same category. Speed at sea is restrained by the costs involved to produce it. Atlantic liners can be built to do 50 knots, but they are not built for the mere fact that the cost of their construction and running would be absolutely prohibitive. Consequently the highest utility speed obtainable commensurate with expenses is the 28 knots of the Europa and Bremen, and even this is not averaged. Above a certain speed each knot costs double the fuel consumption. Speed in the air is, of course, quite a different matter, but through his untimely death Sir Henry forfeited his chance of fulfilling his ambition —that of holding the records for land, , water, and air. His previous experience of flying was cut short when he was so grievously wounded in the service of his country. Whatever one may think,, there remains the fact that by the death of Sir Henry Segrave not alone Britain, but the world has lost a man it could' ill-afford to lose. Suffering fiendish nain in the last two minutes of life granted to him he summoned his indomitable will power sufficiently to gasp out, “By how much have I beaten the record?” A gallant knight he went to his death with the courage that exemplified his life.