Those of us who have been following MacLaren's progress each
day with such anxiety, and who have * If readers are anxious to pursue the subject and study the evidence more in detail, they should consult R. Goldschmidt, Mechanism and Physiology of Sex Determination, London, 1923 (Methuen); or a brief review by the present writer in Medical Science Abstracts and Reviews, May, 1924 shared with him his feelings of disappointment caused by a Succession of misfortunes, mechanical and otherwise, cannot withhold our admiration for the thorough-going manner in which the American flight was organized. Why is it when a great national undertaking" of this kind is undertaken in Great Britain we leave it to private enterprise while the State looks supinely on ? HOW different is the attitude of the American Government to enterprises undertaken by its citizens. The United States Government leaves nothing to chance, and when its gallant airmen in their three machines fly northward-ho they possess the confidence-inspiring knowledge that dotted along their course are a number of vessels of the United States Navy. How different has been the experi- ence of MacLaren as regards official assistance ! His flight through the Kurile Islands was largely made possible thanks to the help of the Japanese naval authori- ties, and he was only enabled to leave Akyab in Burma by reason of American assistance. The Canadian Government has done its share by placing at his disposal the converted mine-sweeper Thiepval ' in the North Pacific. Surely the least the British Government might do, when MacLaren embarks on his final flight across the Atlantic, is to have a few British war vessels at hand to speed him on his way. At the moment of writing MacLaren is still stormbound in Kamchatka.
Previous page
