SPEED MANIA.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19957, 18 June 1930, Page 13

SPEED MANIA.

TO TH2 SDITOSf OF/ tHS PBBSff. i Biri-rLovers of: the' ..English , Lafcft Country will; echo' the regret-which voice in to-day' s Peebs, : apropos of lie regrettable . motor-boating J fatality.' on Windermere, i that .Natoe'sv. loVely. arid peaceful,- Lakeland.sanctuary is menaced iby tho 'vandal's desecrating touch. of- Wordsworth'ai\d" Canon Eiawrisley 1. >How ; must. ye. jsrieve for .this • further unhajlowed . invasion of .the Mupes' r string LSurely. these speed trials, if. quite inevitable,,coidd be, restricted in their venue,; and*'prevented from exploiting, for commercial. ends the; charm off a .countryside' sacred to beauty's worship.' \ \ '■ _ But this brings me to,the main issue of your editpriial,which. I am. sure, must , reflect the, considered judgment of . many of. your readers on "thewhole question of; speeding. The tragio and deplorable ending to. '• Sir Henry Segrave's dazzling ~ career- will evoke profound 1 sympiathy for. his family,- but the tragedy can scarcely, be'-.reckoned among • life's unexpected' happenings, Many of those whdm. the newspapers have familiarised. -withthe - .late Sir Henry's? daring- exploits on ■ land andwater must . have ■ expected, that. sooner or later . would" come » the f final * : crash. That it has come soon rather than late. cannot ,but intensify .the growing feeling in 1 the,community that this lust, for speeding is ' a' diangerous 1 form ot mania. ; Itris ( a,.-mania which-,at its present' alarming rate v of | development call'for sthe, attention'of the alienist, or at least _the ; neurologist f alone ' with other disorders threatening -the 1 mental• and nervoiiis stability ofthe race.-. • .' . : -■ '•■■■, 1 ■■■■ "Who in his . sober senses . would claim that :it, is, vital to our economic political, and.social progress, or to our communal happiness.' that we should tear along our-highways and waterways an though, pursued by fiends P Of what possible ultimate .benefit .can it prove to trade, or to society's welfare generally, that men should court death in the attempt to cover , the ground at upwards, of. 230 miles f per hour, or skim the waves, at more' than 100 ? It is not 'depreciating: the human, courage, endurance, -and love of-ad-venture, which' have in the past ex* tended...the. bounds-, of .knowledge and: achievement.; to suggest - that "is now time •to call a . halt' in v this ' insane march of • record-breaking which, pears to be the. principal • motive of : the present orgy of; speeding.—Yours, etc., * CUI BONO. June 16th, 1930.