The Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps members and guests 'made merry' at headquarters last night at the annual smoking concert and prize distribution, a report on May 16 said. Lieutenant General L.G. Bird gave the 'loyal toast after an excellent repast and then expressed regret at the unavoidable absence of the general officer commanding'. Colonel C.R.U. Saville, who distributed prizes in the general officer's absence, praised the corps for 'their efficiency in all round work as regards musketry and machine guns'. 'During the year he had been in Hongkong, he had come to the conclusion that some people were under the misapprehension as to the reasons for the existence of the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps. The Corps had nothing to do with the wars in Europe, or anywhere else except as regards Hongkong, and had nothing to do with corps of officers, but was purely and solely a corps of defence for their own homes and property ... and judging by their present state of efficiency the units were a great asset to the regular army and the Empire as a whole ... The officers and men gave up their Sundays, holidays and many evenings they were entitled to, and he thought every man and woman in the Colony gave them their thanks,' the report said. Colonel Saville was warmly applauded.
In reports on May 16, flying feats were a hot topic, with one report detailing a race sponsored by the Japanese paper Asahi and another about the cancellation of an aviator's proposed flight around the world in 10 days. In the second report, the Soviets refused to give aviator and aeroplane manufacturer Vance Breese permits to fly over Russian territory. The first report said the race would start on May 28 when a representative of the Osaka Asahi would embark on the President Madison bound for America, while his counterpart from the Tokyo Asahi would leave Tachikawa aerodrome, outside Tokyo, making the journey in the opposite direction, via Seoul and Moscow. Both men would cross the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by ship and use airlines over land. 'The Asahi, which has always given encouragement to aviation and which possesses a fleet of 10 aeroplanes, is also offering a prize of 100,000 yen to the first Japanese to make a non-stop flight across the Pacific in either direction during the year ending April 20, 1932,' the report said. Half the sum would be paid to the first foreigner doing so.
In other aviation news, veteran Griffith Brewer, who was 'taught flying' by Orville Wright, celebrated the 40th anniversary of his first flight. Mr Brewer took part in many balloon races and 'although over 60, he is still flying his own light aeroplane'. His wife was the first woman to cross the Channel by air. 'That she did in a balloon,' a report on May 12 said.
An advert for Wills' Gold Flake Cigarettes on May 16 touted them as being 'as mild as a sun-kissed day in June, as mellow as a rare old port, as sweet as a rich, ripe honey dew melon'. The woman in the ad said that she 'may rush from a dinner to a Talkie and later on to a dance but never change from Gold Flake'.
In the Stage and Screen Notes column, the Post reported: 'Hell's Angels, one of the most pretentious pictures that has come out of Hollywood, will be the featured attraction at the Queen's Theatre. This spectacular film drama was produced at a cost of $4 million and was three years in the making. This is the most time and money expended on a celluloid production. Howard Hughes ... produced and directed this amazing dramatisation of the world war in the air. He is Hollywood's youngest and most picturesque producer. The sensation created by Hell's Angels made him the outstanding figure today in the picture industry,' it said. 'The air scenes took two years to film ... and in one scene 50 planes were shown in a free-for-all combat in 'what is admittedly one of the greatest achievements in filmmaking'.