The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28
SMALL INTEREST IN CZAR-KA|SER VISIT France Relies Absolutely on Her French Ally AN AVIATOR IS SUED Asks Damages for Flying Over Land. Plan to Clear Away Marrow
 Streets on Palais
 Royal
AN AVIATOR IS SUED
By GEORGE DUFREsNE

meeting between the Kaiser and the
 Czar in the Finnish Skerries aroused only very faint interest and scarcely any newspaper comment here, though the time is not very far in the past when a meet ing of this kind would have set the whole
 press wild with feve.fsh anxiety. The
 reason is not only that France is today
 far more sure of her own military
 strength than she was five years ago, but also that she knows that she may rely absolutely on the fidelity of her Russian friend and ally The fact Is that while
 the Kaiser went to the meeting with free
 hands, the Czars hands at that time were practically tied As long as the ques- tion of what to do to avert an Oriental crisis alone was discussed the Czar knew that he was sure of the approval of
 France that is willing to cooperate in any plan devised for that purpose, but in other great diplomatic questions Czar Nicholas was prevented from giving promises of any kind without first consulting France that is until he has met M Poincare at
 St. Petersburg. As matters stand at present M. Gabriel Hanotaux is perfect
 ly justified in saying that the last word rests with France. and the fact that this is common knowledge here kept France from losing any sleep at the thought that her chief ally was to meet even a man of such wonderful magnetic and persua- sive powers as the Kaiser
 The aerial fleet, which the French call
 'the army of the air, is the pet of the whole nation. Officially it had no indi- let.
 when the president at the great review at Longchamps declared 1t an independent unit of the defences of France and hand ed over to its commander in chief it's beautiful official flag; but even before this the military airmen had received a promise of another flag donated by the women aeronauts of the Stella" society.
 This flag was obtained by subscription organized by the women. It bears on each side in gold embroidery an anchor and aeroplane wings and the names of the battles and campaigns in which the he- roes of the air have taken part, notably Fleurus, the far east and Morocco.
 The flag was presented to Colonel Hirs- chauer, the military chief of aviation, by
 Mme Surcouf, president of the Stella.
 It will be placed in the principal room of the military aviators' quarters.
 The action by four landowners against M. Maurice Farman has been followed
 with great interest by those interested in
 aviation. The landowners each claimed
 5000 damages, and sought to restrain M
 Farman and his pupils from flying over their properties in the neighborhood of
 Puc. h addition they asked for an in-
 junction forbidding iaeroplanes to fly over | private property unless at a height of | 500 feet, and demanded that aviators
 should fit silencers to their motors. | One of the landowners subsequently withdrew from the case, as M. Farman had leased his land. The court found that the land of M Bertrand was situated at
 a considerable distance from the aero
 drome, and that 1t had not been proven that an aeroplane had descended on his property. His claim was disallowed. M. Louis Pringaant, another of the landlords, was non-suited because he
 brought forward proof of his conten- tion that owing to the noise of the aero
 planes, game had been driven from his land
 The fourth landlord, M. Mauge. was
 more successful. He obtained $10O dam ages in respect to descents by aviators
 or land under cultivation. As the in-
 junction demapded that the height of
 aeroplanes flying over private property
 should be regulated it was refused. the court declaring that in the absence of any law governing aerial navigation. the
 matter was outside its Jurisdiction. Only complaints of actual damage done on l land by aeroplanes could be dealt with. | The remnant of by-gone Paris is pas sing in the transformation into mechan- | ical traction of the Madeline Bastille bus.
 There was something stately and serene in the progress of this old vehicle, drawn by it's three patient Norman horses, as it trundled down the boulevards, just as if
 the world had stood still these fifty years.
 Few of these symbols of leisurely days remain-so far that one wonders at the toleration of the one-horse car that trots with peaceful insouciance of hurtlng taxis and electric underground, from the church of St. Sulpice to Auteuil Gone are those old relics of 'imperiale" days.
 when one could view the myriad life of the city from the altitude of the upper l deck It was a tourists joy, innocent | and wholesome enough.
 | And presently, no doubt, the rising | generation will learn to speak of the
 rumbling omnibus and It's triple steeds as | of something far off incredible-like the
 Dreyfus case. It needs but a German l savant to declare-and prove-that the prisoner of Devils isle was all a myth and the three horsed bus a legend of the | ages
 The latest scheme in the city develop |