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taff and the boys pleasant holidays and I hope his time next year I may be here again and Once more able to congratulate yoù on continued progress and success. (Applause)
The programme was as follows: Overture, Prof. O. Baptista: Moonlight an the lake," choir; violin solo, E. Lamblot; solo, "Where the beautiful river flows," Duncan Brown; sword drill, F. L. Silva, A. M. Tavares, J. Braga, A. Rodrigues, C. Vas, H. Lopes; duet, "Come silver moon," R. Bourguignat and R. Baptista; duet, Pepita," H. Lopes and A. Rodrigues; solo, "The Cabin Home," R. Bourguignat; recitation, "The Twins," J. Collaco; violin solo, Prof. Gonzales; solo, “ The Cottage by the sea,' Ormond Musso.
"
THE FIRST AEROPLANE FLIGHT IN JAPAN.
FRENCH OFFICER'S EXPERIMENTS END IN DISASTER.
FROM OUR OWN
CORRESPONDENT.]
TOKYO, December 13th. A few days ago there were carried out in this city some very interesting private experiments with an aeroplane undertaken by Lieut. Le Prieur, of the French Navy,one of the "language officers" attached to the French Embassy here. The experiments ended disastrously for the aeroplane, although the officers interested were more than satisfied with the results obtained
SITE OF THE TRIALS.
**
Lieut. Le Prieur, through the kind assistance of Messrs. Tanakadate and Aibara, the former Professor of Science at the University and the latter a captain in the Japanese Navy, obtained the permission of the police to experiment with & newly-constructed glider," built on the French mcdel of Voisin Brothers, at a site in Uyeno Park, near the Shinobadzu Fond. This place is admirably adapted for such experiments, the pond being a kindly haven in the event of disaster,
one or two feet deep and covered with lotus plants. The site is in a populous part of the city, and although the trials were quite private the mere appearance of the strange machine was sufficient in a short time to attract an enormous concourse
of people.
but
BUCCESSFUL FIRST FLIGHTS.
M. Le Prieur knew nothing of the possibili- ties of his machine, and doubted them more and more as he gradually came to realise that among the thousands of spectators were many distinguished men, including Lt.-Gen. Nagaoka, head of the Military Aeroplane Investigation Association, and other members of this newly- formed official bureau. But with the assistance of a 60 H. P. motor-car used for towing purposes, he made a successful first flight, maintaining his balance nicely about fifteen feet above ground and flying 150 yards. This experiment was repeated, and the landing in both cases was carried out with every satisfac- tion to the anxious lieutenant.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
ADDRESSES BY THE GOVERNOR AND BISHOP INGHAM,
7
[December 24, 1909.
CANTON*
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
December 19th. -
IMPROVED INDUSTRY. Fatshan is a great industrial centre and large numbers of women are employed by the various manufacturers. These women are in most cases
working and the quality of the articles exported suffers in consequence. To remedy this a Fatshan manufacturer is opening a training school, where women are to be instructed in modern methods There are a large of weaving and dyeing. number of applicants for entry to the school.
AN OFFICIAL DENOUNCED,
The weather was agreeably warm on Monday
RAILWAY AFFAIRS. The Minister of Posts and Communications for the open-air reception held at St. Paul's College, when Bishop and Mrs. Lander were "at has sent two able officers to make a thorough home to quite a large number of people who enquiry into the management of the Yuet Han had attended to meet the Right Reverend Bishop Railway, the finances of which are said to be in a state of chaos. 'These' deputies arrived per Ingham, D.D., Secretary of the Church Mis sionary Society. His Lordship and Mrs. Lan- s.s. Futshan on the 15th inst. They are report- der received the guests, among whom were Hised to be invested with full power to commit to Excellency the Governor, Lady May, and many the Magistrate anyone found guilty of mal- leading members of the community. After practice in reference to the railway funds. tea had been dispensed, the company entered the drawing-room, where His Excellency presid- ed, and was supported by Bishop Lander and Bishop Ingham.
HIS EXCELLENCY, in opening the proceed-only acquainted with old-fashioned ways of ings, said he had seen the work of the Church Missionary Society, more particularly in West Africa, which had been the sphere of Bishop Ingham's recent labours, and proceeded to re- mark that in Hongkong we were very much in- debted to the Church Missionary Society for the educational work they had done. He had noted in recent years with great interest and--if he might be allowed to say so without presumption -with great approval the greater breadth and expansion and liberality of the views with which the Church Missionary Society conducted its modern missions. He could remember some years ago, when he advocated the institution of medical and industrial missions, being told that such institutions
were beyond the scope of the Church Missionary Society, but he
glad to kuow that that view was quite wrong to-day. The Church Missionary Society was an organisation which was now of national importance. It adminis- tered large funds and it controlled educational and instructive schools in all parts of the world. He could, therefore, the more rejoice that the
days to scope, which in the alluded appeared to be somewhat narrowly restricted to purely religious teaching, had been so much enlarged so that, as they who were present at St. Stephen's College that after- noon heard, it could start and maintain an institution which in the words of the Warden was purely educative. Bishop Ingham, whom they were to welcome that evening, was the secretary of the or anisation, and he would give them his views on the work of the Church,
issionary Society.
2
way
CAPTAIN AIBARA'S MISFORTUNE. Among those keenly interested in those ex- periments was Captain Aibara, a naval engineered
use the
ma-
T and member of the Military Aeroplane Inves- tigation Association. The captain asked for M. le Prieur's permission to chine, but the latter objected and warned the captain of the probable consequences. Captain Aibara, however, persisted and started off with the assistance of the motor car. He glided over the pond, but not being able to check his ascent, broke the rope attaching him to the motor car, lost his balance and toppled over, falling 25 feet into the pond. Fortunately for the Captain he received no hurt beyond a wet- ting, but the machine was wrecked and Lieut. Le Prieur is now busy on a new one.
Thus ended the first experiment in this country with an aeroplane: It is interest- Ling to note that the public are paying increasing attention to this subject, judg- ing from the contents of the newspapers and the reports of the Patent Office, while
action at law affecting
inventor's reputation is already occupying the attention of the courts. This is the claim for damages "of an inventor named Uchida, and the defendant in the case is Prof. Tanakadate, mentioned above, who severely criticised Uchida's machine in a newspaper article.
an
an
was
which he
BISHOP INGHAM opened an interesting ad- dress by alluding to the educational evolution of the Church Missionary Society, which formerly failed to appreciate the value of medical missions but now supported one of the largest medical, missionary works in the world. His experience in Western Africa had shown the danger of developing the moral sense of a people whose country was undeveloped, and this pointed to the necessity for industrial missions. For a long time the Society could not see its to adopt educational work, but facts had been too strong for them and now they support- many industrial missions. That afternoon he found himself in an awkward positicu, as his special duty was to persuade people to believe in missions, but he found himself in one of the cutposts of the Empire surrounded by people living under very extraordinary condi. {tions. He knew British colonies in the West Indies, in West Africa, but he had never before been in a British colony like this, where we seemed have Buckingham Palace, the Foreign Office, the War Office, Plymouth, Portsmouth and all the conditions represented by those different places in one small city. He wondered how we managed to get along. Yet we found time in the conglomerated society in which we were to come to such a meeting. Continuing, he spoke of the work of the Church Missionary Association, which endeavoured to. encourage and support the work undertaken by the Church Missionary Society. He then referred to the words of the Prince of Wales, who when he returned from a long tour spoke of the necessity of greater sympathy being shown by the British people to the native races among whom they lived, and concluded with some further reference to the work of the Society, especially with a view to deepening the interest in the Society-
to
»
A gentleman has accused the sub-prefect of Yang Kong of serious misdemeanours. He is charged with accepting bribes, using improper methods of punishment, extortion and inciting the troops under his control to plunder house- holders and disturb the public peace. The accuser has sent proofs of these charges to the Viceroy and petitioned him to investigate the prefect's conduct. On receipt of the documents the Viceroy sent a deputy to make a searching inquiry into the matter.
A FREE SCHOOL.
The great majority of the water population is entirely uneducated, and certain philanthropic men, pitying the condition of the young boys, have opened a free school called "Fung Yuen for their special benefit. They have also invited a theatrical troupe to give a series of perform- ances in the Honan Theatre in aid of the funds.
A GREAT FIRE,
Fires still continue to cause a great deal of alarm this month, and the amount of damage lately caused has been enormous. At 7 p.m. on Monday last a fire broke out at Shiu Hing Street, and before the flames were put out thirty-one houses were completely destroyed. Shortly after this blaze had been extinguished another broke out in a dyer's shop. In this case there was luckily no great damage done, and the surrounding houses escaped.
A NOVEL SCHEME. Fire-brigades are institutions of great im- portance in Canton, and during the last month they have been kept very busy. The brigades are usually under the control of certain "Kai Fong" who raise the necessary money for their upkeep. There is often a difficulty in raising this money, but where there is a will there is a way, and the following is an account of how one of these brigades was formed and equipped. West Gate outside the Yuen Near the Mu Koon there are two monstrosities in stone purporting to represent a lion and a lioness. On certain days of the year. the superstitious folk of the neighbourhood make a pilgrimage to these objects; those desiring a son praying to the lioness and those wishing prosperity in business praying to the lion. Near the images there are stalls kept by certain of the Manchu community, where incense, candles and joss paper may be bought, and the owners and the stalls make handsome profits. There was lately a fire in the locality and the Kaifong determined to have a fire brigade, but no money was forthcoming. They then approached the heads of the Manchurian. section, and after some delay the stalls were handed over to the Kaifong. In a short time enough money was raised by this means to start the desired brigade.
SALT.
Those interested in the salt trade are in some little fear regarding the steps the Government is likely to take regarding the sale of this commodity. Certain rich merchants of the province in conjunction with other merchants from the Straits have endeavoured to gain the permission of Government to form a salt mono- poly, promising to pay in return a very large annual royalty variously quoted from two
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