A Minus Sign In The Sky

NZ Truth, Issue 1190, 20 September 1928, Page 6

A Minus Sign In The Sky

TN ecstatically acclaiming Kingsford Smith, Ulm and the other two of a glorious quartette, New Zealand has thrown its hat m the air m a healthful abandon of sheer national pride. That's all to the good, for New Zealanders are, if anything, too undemonstrative, too phlegmatic —too slow to thrill to the grand theme of their own great country. But the flight leaves a trail of deepest import behind it to the thoughtful man m the street. There is much more m it than a great human achievement— ;than a breaking-point endurance test of nerve, sinew, eye and heart. What Is to stop a swarm of hostile aircraft making a smoking ruin of our principal cities- m a few minutes? Echo answers what, and yet w« roll over m our sleep again! i In certain quarters we are given credit for tacklihg otir air problem and realizing the menace of our isolation. It is credit thoroughly undeserved. Nationally, we're dead on the subject, or, rather, have never been alive. • ' If New Zealand has an air defence at all, It's a satire that would be a scream - ingf farce if it were not so serious. Not the least of the heroism demand- | ed by such ventures as Kingsford Smith's is that calm courage that stares out ridicule, lethargic and stupid officialdom, and all. other discouragements of vegetable minds. Let us then capitalize the moral of the trans-Tasman flight. We can be sure the possibilities have not been lost on steely eyes that ever gaze across Pacific seas to this fair land.