The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1909. TO FLY OR NOT TO FLY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12392, 13 December 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1909. TO FLY OR NOT TO FLY.

In the opinion of Lord Roberts, Britain cannot afford to be behindhand in the ■building of airships and aeroplanes. No sax;o mail will question the wisdom of that opinion. "Forewarned is forearmed" no less in commerce than in war. Apart from the fighting power of thu airship, yet to be developed, the veteran soldier is evidently impressed with the possibilities of flying machines for the purpose of communication. He sees that while telegraphic cables may be cut and wireless messages may be tampered with, reliable intelligence may nevertheless speedily be borne on the wings of the wind by aeroplane. Unquestionably, from the point of view of national defence, it behoves Great Britain to keep pace with-her rivals in the race for the conquest of the air. But there has arisen an anonymous prophet who warns i:s that the world will pay a he.iV3' prica for. this conquest. Nature, he declares, did not intend that man should fly: " Man was meant to walk. And that is the first and the greatest of all reasons why we should not fly, and that is why flight will bring,a curse on humanity's head. Man has always paid, and always will pay, a heavy price for every offence against his nature. His clement is the earth. He defies Nature; he goes to sea —then is he seasick. Nature meant him to eat simple foods and drink water or milk. Defying his great mother, he feasts on plum-pud- j ding and drinks strong liquors, and we j know tlio penalty. Ho was not meant to smoke tobacco, and the smoker's retribution is .certain; his eyesight suffers, in time he loses his power to smell and j taste. The most adaptable animal in j the world 3 yet he cannot climb very high in the air without suffering the dreadful agonies "of mountain sickness, j The next great reason why we should i not fly is that one flying man has the power to be a general nuisance. The flying man is a danger to himself and, to all over whom he flies. A few flying ; men, who are the first really to conquer.

tho air, or have learnt how to fly faster. or higher, or'with greater lifting power than others, will hold the happiness of all the people of the world in the hollow of their hands. Men/who would dominate! have always had their chance in the past, in the fields of commerce or war.! But what have been the opportunities of Alexanders, Napoleons, or "Vanderbilts to dominate their fellows compared j to the chance of the flying man ? ' These two counts —that flying is unnatural, and gives the flier ah unfair advantage over his fellows—are all the reasons that need be sought for or declared against; flight. Properly understood, they aie enough to bring the conclusion that a universal law against flight should be proclaimed and enforced, and every fhTing machine pulverised." Here, surely,: we have a pessimist of the first water, [ a perfect exponent of retrogression who dreams forward to the time when we shall get wisdom and understanding, and live quietly, simply, slowly, beautifully, and contentedly on the earth whereon we were born —neither flying, nor taking trains, nor driving in motor cars, nor doing aught but living the simple life in all its primitive perfection. It is not pleasant to contemplate the unspeakable horrors of aerial warfare, or to think of the hideous possibility of crime that will follow flight, i 'The conquest of the air will, of course, bring with it its dangers, its inconveniences, its responsibilities. But like' ovevy other great invention it will give to man great and incalculable advan-l tages. Clearly the cheery, hopeful optimism of another writer, John Armstrong, is preferable to the pessimistic forebodings of the anonymous prophet: " Trade-ways by land and sea may he beset as mercilessly as the passes of a! Highland glen of old by the clansmen J of a blackmailing chief tan. But the aii* cannot be cornered nor exit off, hence aerial transport is likely to be of incalculable advantage to man. To me it seems that its early-coming sphere will not long lie in the direction I have endeavoured to pourtray. For, when the motor-engine of tho future shall have been subjected to the influence of augmented improvement, when absolute trustworthines?,. unfailing! regularity,' and much increased power within n, given compass shall have been achieved i we shall witness a marvellous change. | In due season everywhere man will drivo tho enrs of the air—this one freighted with merchandise, that with passengers —traversing long distances with a, swiftness and a certainty im- ■ dreamt of to-day. This when the motorengine shall have grown to combat the | air in all its vagaries as the liner spurns tho waves. .Then. I say, many among tho present generation shall see the j utmost realisation of 'furious fancy,' j and flying will have been added to those j achievements already become 'familiar j iir our niQuths as household words.' " j