THE KITE CRAZE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7133, 25 June 1901, Page 2

THE KITE CRAZE.

: • IAN INSIDIOUS FASCINATION. The kite craze, -which; threatens to assume gigantic proportions 'this summer, is tihe subject of a delightful' article in *he May number of "Pearson's Magazine," by Mr Marcus Tindal. i "When the tailless kite -was introduced to the American puWic, the great kite re- ! naissance began. Scientists . seized the opportunity -which the new kites afforded to | explore the upper regions of t&e air. Taill less kites were promptly put on the market by enterprising manufacturers, and! lihoutands rushed to buy t/be la-test scientific toy. i Kite-flying became a fashionable crazfe. Adi vertisers saw immense (possibilities opened 1 up to them in the way of aerial advertisements, photographers saw n«w posßibilrtaes , in mid-air photography.; Whenever a celebration took place kites were flown, th«r strings adorned -with, huge banners, or at night with lanterns or flaring lights. No craze 4ms ever so caught the public fancy. "During the late Presidential election kites were flown dn every fifltte by electioneering agents as a novdToneans of canvassing votes. Kite-flying stations were established in the large .towns, and big sums of money were spent in outfits, and in paynig experienced men to fly *he kites. . , " Not until quite lately, however, has the. kifce-flying craze reached Britain, but when it arrived thousands were capfcaivated, and at the fashionaible seaside resorts kite-flying bids fair .to oust all other pastimes. There, arfr signs of a kite 'boom of gigantic proportions in England this summer. "Kite-flying, like opium-smoking, Swa an insidious fascination. In almost every case the man, who buys a cheap box kite, and i flies i.b successfully once or twice, becomes^ a I hardened kite maniac. The more expert He becomes, the greater grows the fasoination. It is pleasant enough- to. send a single box kite up in the air in a steady brewe, to feel the pull of the string a* you ™» k *J* * lt ? higher, and to watch the little (bright patch of colour against the deep blue of the sky— bifb there are no words iJo tell of the joy ; a man feels when, for the first tone, hfc I sends a strong team of large kites on one: ' string soaring up to pierce the heart of a : cloud, so .that some appear above, come arelost in the mdst, and others are seen below I all tossing various ways in varying wind currents. However a man may ecofi at kzte- : flying he wiU yield to its fatal fascination ' when he has once waifcehed a kite team ! mount, to such a height that the leader is. lost to sight in the brightness of the aky. ■