THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER, 7, 1938.
PASSING MOMENTS
What a waste of a pass For the man on the grass When to take it he isn't quite able!
But at ease take YOUR pass When your pass is a glass That is brimful of
DEWAR'S
White Label"
Always true to form
Sole Agents A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD.
WINE DEPT.
Tel. 20616
OLD FAVOURITES
FOR
The Festive Season
H.M.V. Recordings
C1681
Old Time Songs
Jack Hylton's Orchestra & Vocalists ,Light Opera Company
C-1741 Songs of the Past C-2077. Musical Trip round the British Isles
C-2624
50 Years of Song
C-2650
Drury Lane Memories
C-2716
Ballade Memories
C-2868 Our Greatest Successes
Reginald Foort (Organ) London Palladium Orchestra
Sydney Gustard (Organ) .New Mayfair Orchestra
FACTS for the 10h.p.
1
motorist
The Vauxhall Ten is the most economical Ten" in the world. On a recent R.A.C. official trial, over 1,000 miles of pubila roads, the "Ten"- saloon did 434 mpg.
Rellability is unquestioned.. Vauxhall 10. standard in every WAY,
I WAS FORCED DOWN
AT SEA
KNOW just what the four German fliers in the Condor plane went through before they were
covered 2.274 miles across Europe in the picked up by fishermen yes-
Monte Carlo Italy. Through snów, floods. Ice-bound ronda únd over Alpine posses It
did not lose a mark.
Every part of the Vauxhall Ten in
terday.
modern but proved. It has Independent I know because--for 20 hours, Ventilation and all-steel Integral Body-I, 100, had been in the same
Springing. Hydraulie Brakes, No-Draught
and Chassle.
VAUXHALL
LET US DEMONSTRATE THE 10 AND 12 H.P.
HONGKONG HOTEL GARAGE
Stubbs Rd.
The
Tel. 27778-9,
position. Four of us, a Cana- dian named Hosmer, Mechanic Pierce, Radio-operator Gilmour and I, determined to fly from the Azores to Newfoundland on our way from Pisa to New York. It was August, 1928.
We had got half-way when, suddenly, I saw in the wind- screen a strange crimson glow. It took me a few seconds to realise what had happened: the then broken, the machine had petered out owing to the weakness of the mixture, the engine had back- fired, and we were on fire.
Hongkong Telegraph. petrol feed had cracked,
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1938.
The New Agitator
THE R.BC, we are told in a news despatch yesterday, will continute news broadcasts in foreign languages. Why?
Because all over the world now the radio stations are giving out propaganda.
.
If you listen-in on the shorl- waves you'll hear a German or an Italian, though speaking in English. This Voice declares
The German Condor plane, which was forced down scar Manila yesterday.
By Captain Frank Courtney
who in 1928 attempted one of the pioneer Transatlantic flights in a Dornier-Wal flying-boat, which caught fire in tho air half-way between the Azores and Newfoundland.
We
Our first signal in the morn with safety appliances. ing was picked up and answered took the minimum: batteries,
fire-extinguishers, everything.
The engines were But above by the Celtic,
the machine. The trail of the We used the direction finder
The tanker Achatina sent & message: "We are near you. Can you put up a smoke screen?"
Petrol sends up good black smoke-but how to fire it? We got the top off a 5-gallon can. We filled it three-quarters full from the tanks. We tried to kick it overboard at the exact moment we fired it. But as I flung the match in, a wave, hit us and upset the whole thing.
For a few seconds we floated in a blazing pool of petrol. To add to our gaieties, we Then another wave took us out
flames was rushing backwards, to get our position and gave it were sea-sick. I was sca-sick of range. The smoke-cloud was
Those were the flames reflected.
I
i decided to come down. As I swooped, I had only one thought: "Any ships about will see us all right." There was no time to send out a message.
I yelled to Cicely Courtnedge & Jack Hulbert
C-2882 Immortal Strauss-Medley Of Waltzes.Viennese Orch. C-2682 Selection of Wild Sanderson's Songs
C-1783 C-2651
More Old Songs
Medley of Popular Classics
Terence Casey Organt Jack Hylton's Orchestra ..Sydney Gustard (Organ)
S. Moutrie & Co., Ltd.
York Building
Chater Road.
CHRISTMAS
ADVERTISING.
The early co-operation of advertisers is requested in the matter of submitting copy and lay-outs for special advertising during December.
Illustrative “mats” should be selected immediately, and copy sent in not loss. than forty-eight hours before the dates of publication.
"SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST”
and
"THE HONGKONG
TELEGRAPH"
that the broadenst is directed to
South and Eastern Asia. But
the message is directed, of course, to the place where most English is spoken-India.
up.
mo
Tempers were fraying. I gave that no-one should And the great ex- announce he could see smoke:
Although we had not enough juice to send messages, we had enough to hear. We intercept- ed a conversation about us be- tween the Columbus
and the Minnewaska.
It had burned the tail-fin which out to the liner, which relayed for the first time in my life: fine-but the Achatina did not projected above the fuselage. it to other boats. We heard the smell of burning aluminium see it-and we decided there
them "speaking." We
felt was too much. I was so sick I would be no more petrol flares. すず grand. We thought it was just didn't care if we were picked up
We had food aboard, but no- a matter of waiting to be picked or not.
one thought of eating. Sea- The wireless man called out sickness and anxiety together But we were so low in the he could see smoke on the hori- murder one's appetite. We had
I got to my feet, saw he nothing to smoke. Water, it was almost impossible zon.
To drink we to see us. Waves seemed to be had been deceived. It was just had two gallons of fresh water. breaking at us from all heights a and all directions.
sun-ray through a distant When that was gone we should elond. I cursed him. Later I have been reduced to the water raised the cry of "Smoke." in the radiators chock-full of Gradually the difficulties of Gilmour saw I had made the iron filings. the rescuers began to dawn on same mistake, and cursed the mechanic: "Cut off the us. We were a tiny speck, set back. petrol." He clambered out and almost on the water-line. A turned off the tap.
shower of rain would obscuro, When I was a few feet above us at a mile. Even if it stayed clear a ship would have to the sea-a pretty rough sea come within five or six miles to orders I saw the foam of the waves sight us. was pink from the flames. I had no idea how I should land, panse of the sea, stretching only ships should be taken as The Columbus was going south.
desolate and empty before us, evidence of salvation. I simply held the plane off the brought home to us the grim wave tops until it lost speed and realisation of the immensity of
At one in the afternoon, a the sea. the task. We heard the ships
the President message from As luck would have it the land. exchange messages. We even ing was perfect.
heard Lisbon giving out For a bit I was terrified of the messages to the Press. | risk of going up in a blaze. The calls came to us: "We are on There are two ways to stop
fire was just above a 10-gallon our way." Someone asked for had arrived at our position, and heard the Minnewaska's signals
we were not there. Of course getting nearer. tank of petrol. In the fuselage a report of the accident. But and
the B.B.C. knows. it. below were the main tanks. we could not reply: our batteries Jam the offending station. Or
One spark and it would be all were too low. up. Luck saved us again. The give him some of his own medi-fire went out. cine. Santa's Beard'
What can you do about it? Radio penetrates the defences of the old-fashioned Press censor-
ship like a boxer with મ new punch slips through the guard of the orthodox stylist.
it,
then let her fall into
Ships'
They were 50 miles away. The Minnowaska was heading straight for us. We hoped, how we hoped to God, he would con- Hayes, en route to the United might change his course.
tinue. How we dreaded he States on a round-the-world Dollar Line Cruise that had The sun began to sink lower taken in Hongkong, told us they and lower over the horizon. We
Suddenly the
not. The drift of sea-weed told Achatina cut in: "We'll reach us we were moving at about 3 you somehow." It seemed a m.p.h.; my chart told us we were race between the rescue ships also being carried by the Gulf and the sinking sun. And the Stream at about 2% m.p.h. Our sun seemed to be winning.. drift to the westward was at the rate of 5 m.p.h., and we had covered 50 miles from the time
After a bit, we began to put
We had not thought of pack- up the radio, At practice, we had rigged it in 15 minutes. ng more juice. We were think AFTER the hind legs of the When we had to do it under real ing of lightening the plane as we had given our position.
much as we could before we wondered if the liner would the horizon-but he didn't dare conditions, it took us two hours, started, not loading ourselves figure that out too.
donkey, no man deserves our sympathy at this time of the year more than the professional Santa Claus. Among the perils
of his occupation, it appears, is the catching of his beard in electrical toys. Not only is this fate painful in itself but it 3 calculated to destroy every morsel of that prestige among the young so essential to h task.
Nevertheless, Santa Clausea Santas Claus) have approached their task with a high sense of professional conduct. At a New York conference they have shown a firm grasp of this beard ques- tion. Santa's beard, it is laid down, is to be long enough to add a touch of verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing person. But it is not to be like Aaron's, that went down to the skirts of his clothing. There should be moderation In all things, even in beards. Smiling Through
What Is your favourite flm? The British Film Institute mug-
Finally, we got it rigged. We sent out an SO S. We got no reply.
We decided to wait until S a.m. before sending out another, when some ships would be sure to get the signal, When day broke, our only emotion was a dumb wonder: shall we be picked up to-day? If not, what will happen?
gest in their annual report last month that tastes are altering. The "leg-show" is on the run, and the everlasting sunshine of the glamour girl's smile is paling. Conversely, the screen car- toonist's little characters--which can be endowed with six legs and a smile that meets at the back of the neck-are growing, in everybody's esteem.
The pointless, "popular" pic- ture is making way, it is said, for good historical adaptations and for filma that have honest plot | and genuine interest. Taste is on the up-grade.
A few years more and tho screen pubile will get out of the Hollywood.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
I
Gilmour really saw smoke on
to say so. Then, over the sky. line we saw the line of a mast, of a funnel, of a bow, heading
he could not see us. Would he, would he turn off?
By Lichty straight towards us. We knew
711-15⋅
"You're such a brute, Cadwelli. You still haven't noticed my new hat!”.
Nearer and nearer. And the sun sinking lower and lower. Nearer and nearer, lower and lower. We sent out our last message, leaving our batteries empty.
It was the setting sun that we had looked on as our enemy that proved our salvation. A sailor at the mast-head saw a flash- the level rays striking wings. If the sun had been higher in the sky, he would. never have seen us.
our
And the Minnewaska was about to change course just when he
| sighted the flash.
M
The liner hove to, lowered a | boat, sent out, took us off. Once we reached the ship, all our sensations disappointment at our failure, heart-slekening unxiety, resignation, complete apathy when we were ill-faded into one not of relief but ‘of gigantic anti-climax.
That was my adventure. That is what the four Germans faced before they were picked