THE KITE CRAZE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4869, 29 June 1901, Page 4

THE KITE CRAZE.

The kite craze, which threatens to assume gigantic proportions this summer, is the subject of a delightful article in the May number of ' Pearson's Magazine/ by Mr Marcus Tindal.

' When the tailless kite was introduced to the American public, tbe great kite renaissance began. Scientists seized tbe opportunity which the new kites afforded to explore the upper regions of the air. Tailleßs kites were promptly put on the market by enterprising manufacturer*, and thousands rushed to bay the latest scientific toy. Site-flying be* came a fashionable craze Advertisers saw immense possibilities opened up to them in the way of aerial advertisements. Photographers saw new possibilities in mid-air photography. Whenever a celebration took place kites were flown their strings adorned with huge banners, or at niebt with lanterns or flaring lights. No craze has ever so caught the public fancy.

' During the late Fresidental election kites were flown io. every state by electioneering agents as a novel means of canvassing votes. Kiteflying stations were established in the large towns and big sums of money were spent in outfits, and in paying experienced men to fly tlie kites. 'Not until quite lately, however, has the kite-flying craze reached Britain, but when it arrived thousands were captivated, and at the fashionable seaside resorts kite-flying bids fair to oust all other pastimes. There are signs of a kite boom of gigantic proportions in England this summer. 'Kite-flying, hke opium-smoking, has an insidious fascination. In almost every case the man who buys a cheap box kite, and flies it successfully once or twice, becomes a hardened kite maniac. The more expert he becomes, the greater grows the fascination. It is pleasant enough to send a single box kite up in the air in a steady breeze, to feel the pull of the string as you work the kite higher, and to watch the little bright patch of color against tbe deep blue of the sky — but there are no words to tell of the joy a man feels when, for the first tima, he sends a strong team of large kites on one string Boaring up to pierce the heart of a cloud, so that some appear above, some are lost in the mist, and others are seen below, all toBBJDg various ways in varying wind currents. However a man may scoff at kite-flying, he will yield to its fatal fascination when he has once watched a kite team mount to Buch a height that the leader is lost to sight in the brightness of the sky.'