The Late Balloon Contest at the Alexandra Palace

Extract

As I am unable to attend the General Meeting on account of the accident which befell me at the Alexandra Palace on the 11th instant, I must beg you to read to themeeting this communication.

With respect to the Balloon Contest which took place on Saturday, it was proposed by me, in order to give an opportunity to balloonists of any nationality to put in practice their theories for the propulsion of balloons, about which so much has been lately vaunted. The conditions were made very favourable for this purpose. A town was chosen in the direction of the wind at the time, so that the balloon which approached nearest should be the winner of the prize. A day much earlier than the 11thof July was originally fixed by the executive of the Alexandra Palace for the contest, and for that day I had arranged with seven aeronauts for their legitimate contention for the prizes. That there were no more competitors and no foreign balloon propellers might have been due to the small amount of prize-money which I had been able to collect. The day first named being subsequently altered to a much latei date, it was found that the aeronauts had nearly all, for one cause or another, withdrawn their consent to attend.