UNCLE SAM "PUTS IT OVER" AGAIN

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UNCLE SAM “PUTS IT OVER” AGAIN

MISS AMERICA X. VICTORIOUS IN THE RACE FOR THE HARMS WORTH TROPHY IN REGAINING THE WORLD’S RECORD

FEW Englishmen realise what they owe to Lord Wakefield. Hardly any of our triumphs on land, in the air, and on the water, would be possible without his support. He has done more for the prestige of his country than any other man. Here are two things upon which his heart has, for a long time, been set. One is the World’s water speed record and the other is The Harmsworth Trophy. The Speed record has been won—and lost, but the Harmsworth Trophy is as far away as ever. Those of us who can digest the remarks of the daily press would be led to believe that the trouble in Miss England robbed us of certain victory in. the race for the HarmsWorth. Trophy, but in actual fact it is extremely doubtful if Miss England

would have won anyway. More especially so, now that Gar Wood has shown us what his boat can really do.

The struggle for supremacy on the water is the only one in which we have any real competition, and, frankly, we have not shone. Lord Wakefield cannot alone combat an organisation like that at the disposal of Gar Wood. We, too, must make a perfectly organised attempt to bring back the Harmsworth Trophy. Gar Wood is a speed boat manufacturer. He superintends the building of his own boat. All the ideas incorporated are his own. His plan of campaign is his own, and he probably knows more about fast motorboating than anyone alive. He is, in fact, a man to be reckoned with. On the other hand we, in this coun

try, can manufacture very much better engines than those at the disposal of Gar Wood, so that it would seem that all we have to do is to build the best boat we can, install the world’s best engines and entrust the craft to someone who, in this country, is the equivalent of Gar Wood. Our motor boat industry is not in a position to finance a world’s record. attempt at the moment, but with a little co-operation from all the trades concerned and a piece of masterly organisation on the part of somebody, surely we, with the materials at our disposal, should be able to do something about that extra 5 m.p.h. by which Gar Wood has beaten our record.

One thing is certain. Lord Wakefield has done his bit many times over.