BALDWIN'S PARACHUTE SEN SATION. THE PROFESSOR INTERVIEWED. Auckland, Jan. 31.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 340, 6 February 1889, Page 6

BALDWIN'S PARACHUTE SEN SATION. THE PROFESSOR INTERVIEWED. Auckland, Jan. 31.

Professor Baldwin,- the daring aeronaut, accompanied by Mrs Baldwin, ai rived from the South this morning and pub up ab the Star Hotel, where he was interviewed by a Star reporter. The Professor is an athletic-looking young man of middle height, with a determined look as of one possessed of strong nerve, and he speaks of ■ his adventurous career and numerous long drops from the clouds just as he might talkof I 30 many pleasure trips. Mrs Baldwin, who took part in the conversation, spoke with the greatest confidence and absence of fear concerning the Professor's performances. Professor Baldwin was discussing the gn& pressure in the vicinity of Potter's Paddock where his next accent is to be made, when our lepresentalive was introduced. He said : " Our greatest difficulty is to obtain a good pressure of gas. because the places chosen for the ascent are usually so far from the Gas Work?. Ido not think we shall have any trouble here, however." A scrap-book containing reports of Baldwin's various "drops" was then produced. It included the interview reproduced in a recent is&ue of the Star and a great many other clippings from American papers, almost invariably under highly sensational headings. The reporter asked for an account of some of Baldwin's greatest feats, slaiting with his first descent. My first ascent and descent was made, said the professor, at San Francisco, in January, 1887. That was the first balloon descent made for fifty years. The previous descent was made on September 9bh, 1837, when a Mr Cocking went up from Vauxhall Gardens, and was killed in his attempt to descend by means of a parachute. I'm nob superstitious, but I must say that it did seem strange that all the fatal accidents with the parachute before my time were made in the years ending with " seven," and it was 1837 when Cocking was killed. His pai-achute had ribs in it ; mine has not. I took the ribs out in order to prevent it oscillating, but that was nob sufficient, and eventually I cut a hole in the top of the parachute to allow the air to escape. Professor Baldwin showed the reporter a sketch of De Groof's parachute, an arrange- ( ment formed to act as a flying machine and' tried at London on July, 9th 1874. It resembled a bat on the wing. The wings were 37 feet long, and the average breadth of the machine was 4 feet, while it carried a tail 18 feet 3 inches long. Groof made one successful descent from a balloon with this machine for a distance of about 300 feet, but on another occasion it collapsed in mid air and caused his death. " One of my most notable descents," said Baldwin, " was made atQuincey, Illinois, in September, 1887. I went up during a storm, and landed thirteen miles from where I staited. How did I feel? Oh, very comfortable. I did nob feel the force of the storm, because I was carried with it. As I neared the ground I circled round a tree 150fb high and dropped into a very nice little cove, without having received the least bit of a scratch." Have you never sustained any injury in other descents ? queried the reporter. "No," replied the professor, "I never have had the least accident. In all my ballooning career I have been very lucky." But you dropped into the sea twice, did you not V 1 once landed in the ocean, and on another occasion I landed in Jamaica Bay, near New York. On these occasions, however, I went up in an athletic costume and was in trim for swimming. I knew I was going to fall in the water, and on one occasion I took a life-preserver with me. It was on 3 of those affairs that you blow up, but I lost it going up. Once I was three-quarters of an hour in the water, but that was owing to some bungling in sending out the boats. Will you carry a life preserver with you next Saturday ? No, I don't think so, although you have plenty of water around here. I hope to be able to alight on the same place from which the balloon goes up. I can steer the parachute at an incline of about 30degs in still air. I suppose your contact with the ground in falling is pretty eeveie ? Sometimes I get a pretty hard jar, but so far it has never hurt me, because I have always been able to pick out a nice clear place on which to drop. How did you get on in the South Island ? I made successful descents at Dunedin and Christchurch. At Dunedin I went ud 800£b, and at Christchurch I,oooft. Previously I had made unsuccessful attempts there, bub they were clue to a shorb supply of gas. I do nob anticipate any difficulty of the kind here, I estimate that the balloon will take five hours to fill, but I will start a couple of hours ahead of my calculation in order to make sure of being ready to go up at the time advertised. Will you describe the balloon and| parachute you intend to use ? Certainly. The balloon is made of India silk, ib is covered with a varnish preparation, and is enclosed in a linen nebbing. Ib has 15,000 ft. capacity, and weighs 1101b. The parachute Is also made of India silk, but it is not oiled. Xt weighs 301 band resembles the top of an ordinary umbrella, except that there are neither ribs nor handle. It is 20 feet in diameter, and has a fringe or sail round the edge to assist me in balancing. | From the umbrella-like covering their depend a number of ropes 5 20feeb in length attached to a loop 20 feet in diameter. There is another ring attached to a cord at the end of the balloon, which I call a "boatswain's chair." I sit on this and have hold of a cord calculated to stand a strain of 100 cbs, so that when I throw myself off the lhair the cord is broken, and lam free from balloon. I then de cend with the parachute, which at first is closed. It opens out gradually as the air rushes inside and is fully spread by the time I have dropped 300 or 400 ft. I go up any distance from 1,000 to 5,000 feeb, a good deal depends on the weather, and whenever the weather permits I go up 5,000 feet. Professor Baldwin also stated that in September, 1888, ,he received a gold medal from the Ballooning Society of Great Britain, because they considered he had made one of the greatest discoveries in the practical application of aeronautical science, so far to realise results which, previous to the invention of his balloon, appeared to be absolutely unattainable. Our reporter thanked the Professor for his courtesy, wished him a safe journey up and down on Saturday, and the interview concluded.

Thero are 2,608 public houses and beev shops in Manchester, or one for every 29 families. ' Yes,' he said, ' I began life as a farmer's boy, and to-day I am worth thousands.' 'To what do you attribute your success ?' ' To getting away from the farm as soon as I could.'