Hongkong, Feb. 15.
The first aviation display we which Hongkong has been treated proved a fiasco. There was, in fact, no display in the real sense of the word at all, for after the preliminary speeches had been delivered and the aviator, who meanwhile had been circling around overhead, was signalled to descend to the Race Course he found the task beyond his powers. He made several attempts and then flew to a neighbouring ground and crashed into a tree. The aviator was unhurt, but the machine was smashed and the programme of flying "stunts" which had been arranged had, of course, to be abandoned.
From this early mishap it would appear that a promising private enterprise has been crippled at the outset. The flying was done by a Chinese who had been trained in Canada by an ex-lieutenant of the Flying Corps. An aeroplane was purchased and with this it was intended to tour through China giving exhibitions of "spinning, stalling, looping, tail-sliding, etc.," for the delectation of the natives and the ultimate profit of the protagonists. Before going on to Canton, however, it was decided to get a good send-off from this Colony and that is where the great mistake was made.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.