TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 225, 20 September 1913, Page 13

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) | LONDON, August 9. THE LATE S. E. CODY. The world of aviation has lost its most romantic personality through the death Of Samuel Frankl§jf Cody, who; with'-Mr.-W. H. B. Evans, the well-known Oxford cricketer, lost his life in an aeroplane disaster at Alder-hot yesterday. He was, for one thing, quite singular among aviators in that he was 47 years old ere he made his first a matter of 80 yards—and practically did all his best work after he had passed the 50th milestone of life. His death is a big loss to British aviation, the more so because, as Mr. Massac Buist, the well-known writer on aviation and motoring matters, points out, Cody was the one whose-dis-coveries it was most difficult to pass on. He could find out how to do things by process of trial and error, and his own wonderful imagination, but of scientific knowledge he had none. He did not know, for instance, how much weight per square foot his aeroplane was lifting until he was told by an engineer, nor could he describe the . curve -of its wings in scientific terms, or -draw it with an instrument. But he could take a pencil, and with a few bold strokes could give you practically a perfect reproduction to scale of the actual wing section. Yet for all his lack of education and scientific training, Cody was able to produce machines which, after they had jected to, at times, a very lengthy "tun-ing-up" process, were aJble to put up better performances than those produced by men who had enjoyed the advantages of being trained as engineers or educated as scientists. Cody was the one successful example the world can produce of a I man who designed, .built and flew his I machine, yet who practically dispensed with scientific or theoretical knowledge. The dead aviator was widely known as " Colonel" though he had no military connection with any army- Nor could he claim kinship with "Buffalo Bill," cowboy and scout. An American, he was more or less reared in the circus business, and retained in his mannerisms and 6peech indications of the na.ure of his early training. He was pre-eminently a showman. It was mainly because in his early days as an aviator he spoke much about accomplishment before he had gone far enough to prove himself a flier that he met with considerable good-natured ridicule, and was for a long tome looked upon by English people as a mere "awanker" who had bluffed the British Army authorites into giving him a job. But Cody was really a genius, and though he was a terrible talker, he was also a tireless worker who toiled unceasingly unsier conditions that would have broken the health and sickened the heart of a man of inferior virility and less absolute faith in himself. Cody's faith in Cody indeed verged on the sublime. Born in Birdsville, U.S.A., in 1861, as a boy he learnt a deal about kite-flying from a Chinese cook. Even at that stage he succeeded in being lifted into mid-air by a kite. He did not, however, begin his career either as a kite-flyer or as a cowboy. His wonderful «ye and steady hand brought him to the front in circus displays of the Wild West type. Presently he came to Europe, and among his early appearances in this country was one at Gatti's music-hall, in Westminster Bridge Road, shooting a cigarette out j of a woman's lips. Elsewhere he_ figured | as a cowboy, doing trick-shooting and I lassoing, and also appeared in opera i and melodrama. j At the beginning of the century Cody achieved some remarkable successes with his man-lifting kites. As the South African war had afforded a glimpse of the possibilities of aerial observation for purposes of military services, the British War Office made a contract with Codyi

Together with members of his family he _• was employed from 1905 to 1909 in deve- a loping his system of kites for the British t Army. That work stands to-day. c Cody knew nothing more about motors o than he could pick 'up casually, but t when Colonel Capper navigated the p dirigible " Xulli Secundus " over London t to the Crystal Palace, where it was v wrecked, Cody was in charge?., the en- a gines, though prior to coming to this t country he had never handled a motor- c engine. Once associated with, work of this sort, however, he was quickto grasp .1 -the" possibilities of the aeroplane, and t made full use of his opportunities. Dur- - c mg the years he was engaged under the ] kite contract, he began. to build aero- i planes that cost the British taxpayer t some ten thousand pounds, _-n_" with '■ which practically nothing successful was "\ accomplished. Though he claimed that the War Office treated him badly, it is . on record that when he left its service he - I was given the aeroplane which he had ; ! made, and some months after he began , to make his first successful flights on it. " At a later period he received additional \ sums for his military kites. He joined the Royal Aero Club in 1909, the year in which he achieved a British record by , flying in a circle for nearly two miles. • Another of his flights that year was the ] first cross-country journey made on a ' British aeroplane. , A His flying career proper began when, in June, 1910, he secured the ninth aviator's certificate issued by the Royal . Aero Club. In December of the same year he made, a flight of ISS :__il_s, at Laffan's Plain on his biplane, aha'won the first British Empire Michelin Clip, the most important prize that fell to him. In .September, 1911, he flew 120 miles across country in a> circuit, winning the Michelin Cup No. 2, with his biplane fitted with * 60 horse-power Green motor, and in October piit up a duration record.of,sJ hours, again winning the Michelin Cup. In December, 1011, he was the first pilot to secure the Royal Aero Club's special certificate for a fifty miles out and return cross-country aeroplane journey. Other triumphs followed for him last year, the most notable of which was the winning, of the War Office first prize of £4,000 for the best aeroplane for military purposes produced in any country, as well as the first prize of £1,000 for the same purpose for the 'best machine built in Britain. During the last two years, indeed* Cody has been quite the most successful British aviator Cody was both a builder and flier of original methods, practically from the beginning of his constructional ' career he built large' and heavy aircraft, whereas other men were striving to rise into the air by the saving of every possible ounce of- weight. All his best performances were made on biplanes, and for the past m.nth he had been experimenting with a promising type of hydro-biplane. That was the machine he was using on the occasion of his second and fatal flight.at Aldershot. In demonstrating his machines, even when he was only beginning to fly, his methods were such as could only have been exploited without disaster by a constructor using an extraordinarily strong machine. One of lm methods was to get up a great speed while running along the ground and charge a hillock the resulting bump launching the machine m flight. The Cody biplane has a very considerable range of control. When taking up a passenger, he would demonstrate this by deliberately causing the machine to fly. for appreciable spells . with an appalling list during which time he delivered a lecture to his single j auditor, challenging the world to produce | , a machine with which anyone could do I . that sort of thing. Once he demonstrated ; this same point by making one of his | attendants stand out a couple of spars I away from the centre of the machine, , and between the two planes of one win". With the aeroplane loaded out of balance . in that fashion Cody made a successful L flight. Sometimes when flying with a l passenger he would take his hands off I the control machine to show the stability • of the machine, but of late he had not t indulged in that highly dangerous ; practice-

VOTE HVHTEBS AT SI. PATT_.'B.J •MeTe man must marvel: that even the hysteria which inspires the militant suffragette should lead any woman, to suppose that "any political or other cause can >be> advanced by. making -a mockery of religious observances, as certain creatures did at St. Paula Cathedral last -Sunday morning-. The. disturbance occurred during the latany. Canon Streeteh was reciting the prayer for "all prisoners, and captives," when about twenty suffragettes, who were sitting together in tie.front of the pulpit, answered:— ■•"'-- ; . God save Emmellne Pankhnrst, . Spare her, spare her, with her life, and set her free. Save her. 01-.ord. . ■ ' Hear us while, we pray Ao Thee. The outburst caused a profound sensation among the congregation, ana. people kneeling near the women quietlj asked them to cease their singing. "Remember you are in church, was the admonition addressed to them by those in their proximity. . But the women paid no heed -to the advice, and persisted in singing their verse three or four times, and each time in a louder key. ...•'■... One of the assistant vergers also requested the women to be quiet or to leave the service, but he was rebuked with the retort, "Remember, you are m church." The women persisted with their special invocations, but, on the approach of the policemen on guard in the Cathedral, got up and walked out of the cathedral quietly under his escort. The congregation treated the incident coolly, and the service continued as 3if nothing had happened. The incident, it i 3 understood, is only the prelude to an organised campaign of church service disturbance by the mad-heads of the army of female vote hunters.. It "s useless? apparently, to point out to them that act 3of this kind are specially abhorrent to decent people in every walk of life, no matter whether they are what J3 termed "religious" or otherwise, or to din into the suffragist ears the fact that such acts must put back the clock many hours "as regards the grant of chisement. The St. Paul's incident is not, of course, . the first occasion of suffragist misbehaviour in church. .. They.. were guilty some time ago of a. peculiarly despicable outrage in an Eastbourne church, when they wantonly defaced a picture of the. burial of Christ: •

A PARISIAN SENSATIOW. The arrest of the great French aeroplane manufacturer, M. Deperdussin. upon a charge of wholesale fraud on the great Paris bank, the "Comptoir Indus-, tricl et Colonial," has provided the biggest social sensation Europe has enjoyed for some long timel ' When thenews of the arrest leaked out it was at, first firmly believed that the authorities must have madeMome ghastly blunder: It seemed inconceivable that the great aeroplane manufacturer, the .Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, member of the committee, of the Aero Club, proprietor of a dozen aerodromes,, and of-at least three chateaux, director of a private hospital, .and generous donor of many aviation cups and prize^—that this man, whose cre4itrtilla. few days, ago-seemed as firm iaitttßjr'Bank : "should be under lock and key, like ah. ordinary criminal. . .'-... ; ", It eeems, liowever,' only: too that -M. Deperdus9iiv.-Jias.ibeen.-. doingj-.those thinge which lie ought.not to have 'done, , and-thatvhe has been doing them for a long time, and: on a very .big , scale, for it is said, that his. defalcations amount to over a million and a-quafter sterling— 33,000,000 francs is the precise sum mentioned—and it appears 'that _hj3 iraude on the Industriel^- have .-been going on" for■ years. - It is fifteen years ago since. M. first Kad deal 1 , ings with the firm. He. was then an agent, in silks, and suggested. v to. the"; management of the Comptoir Industriel-that, through hi3 r : relations? with! .large' :silk manufacturers, he could • obtain" consignments of -silk at. practically f cost-price, which, sold again -.to the .great- shops* would represent a large-profit -It was agreed that ■ lie should do so, and the .association between- the bank, -and M. Deperdussin .continued for. several "yeare, with rapidly increasing .profits .to both parties. Gradually. the.."Cdjnptolr,: grew to place implicit trust in M.rDeperdussin: and ttt- advatfee him' whatey.er; sums; he asked..; The3e.;.sums;7it iiow;. appears,- he did not devote to-the purchase of' silke but to his own ends. The aTrest of M Deperdussin- was effected in coneequenct of a complaint 'lodged by -the Comptoii Industriel." A director of the bank per. sonally called on the. magistrate, ate told him the following story:—M. Deper dussin first had dealings with them som< fifteen yeare ago. From being a verj small agent in silks, his dealings witl the bank rose to about £20,000,000 i year, and became so important that-the; formed a special department in the bank and were periodically discussed by thi directors. M: D.eperdusein at stated .in tervals presented .hie invoice" bills to th' bank, showing that-silks_had been d* livered at certain big stores, and--th bank advanced hint the necessary sums At the end of-- certain periods th accounts were made -up "and ', the profit divided between :'the :T>ank. and M

'•Deperdussin. 7. 7.';,_;._...... ...J... ..".'. I ..For. a number of years, thia arrange-. B ment worked satisfactorily. A represenr tative of the bank always accompanied •i M? Deperdussin to witness that the goods c were delivered. Latterly- -the - bank's V representative seems to have neglected t his duty, and this enabled M. Deper- '» dussin to make fictitious. purchases and n obtain "money from the bank. During f that neriod, instead of contenting hime self with sales at three, six, and nine '.- months in advance, he also pretended to have orders for a year from date, and n was authorised by the bank to effect s them, and was given the necessary funds, c The bank has thus 'been a loser of some a 30,000,000 francs. y Some weeks ago tlie directors asked s M. Deperdussin to furnish details cbng cerning his stock of silks and orders,'and .. he then admitted that he had no stock c on hand, and that the orders and purs chases of which he had shown the bills 1. had been forged by him. He begged the d bank not to dishonour him, and outlined g a scheme by'which he hoped to make s restitution in full, but the directors ,c could not see their .way" to accept- bis c proposals or' to hush up the' matter in ie any way. o It is estimated that for the last four d or five years M. Deperdussin has been is robbing the bank of between four.and s five million francs per annum, and that c, in addition" to this "income" he was y. drawing quite £40,000 a year from his :e aeroplane enterprises. Where did all. this II money go to? How could a man who a had begun life as a chemist's assistant fl; lon a few shillings a week succeed in :y I spending a quarter of a million a year st j without, as the French say, throwing his is I money "par les fenetres"? According Ito the "Telegraph's" Paris correspondent,

the answer seems to be that M, Deper- __..___ extraordinary success had turned his head. Hehad "la folie dcs He is known to have-possessed a luxurious fiat? in Paris, with three motorcars; he was "the owner. of - three historic chateaux; The!" founded aviation prizes right and left;' bought- aerodromes in* this department and that, and; gossip 'credits him with other expensive, tastes- and habits. To one of his numerous female friends he is s_-d to have presented 0:1 different occasions jewels and money to the value of £120,000. He could be seen, so the tale runs, at two o'clock every morning supping in restaurants in the company of three or four women, to each of "whom he gave a thousandfranc note as a memento of the evening.