Mr. George Pickering, speaking at the joint linner of the Institutions of Civil and Mechani-al Engineers last night, raised an important controversial point when he questioned who cher the engineer, through his destructive capasity, had outweighed the engineer s ce: tructive work. During the past 25 years thr world, which has benefitted tremendously irom he efforts of the engine: r, has learnt to dread his genius, inventive power and handiwork when applica to the terrible forces of destruc tion accompanying the modern army. Inventions of a purely pacific nature have been transformed into fearful weapons of immolation, an. developed ideas and application have great; transcended original conceptions. Take the cas. of the aeroplane. Another generation migh well doubt whether the first puny effort of th Wright Brothers, who made the earliest flight': n a heavier-thai machine, has been a boor o humanity. While it has thrown off th hackles of travel in another sphere, has short ened distances and reduced time to a minimum here are millions of people throughout th world who shudder at its name and who seek the shelter of the deepest bowels of the earth on its approach. No greater coercive force has yet been discovered to equal the aeroplane a' he recent Europan crisis proved. How greater t will develop in another generation is beyond comprehension. Yet, in spite of the indictment which may be levelled against the engineer tht forces of peaceful progress have advanced faster than those of destruction, and however slack may be the present outlook the desir or survival is far stronger than the threat o! extinction. A paradoxical factor of war-time has been the release of creative forces whic! were practically dormant in peace-time. Bu or the Great War, the aeroplane, with its grea transportation possibilities, would have mad: little progress. It was the unrestricted scope of a period of intense effo-t which made the unreliable fabric structure the machine which: roars through the skies today, for good or for evil. After all, the engineer is not to blame: it is the man, the ambition, the purpose behind its use which dignifies or degrades his work. That is one thing the engineer cannot change.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.