BUSY DAY IN THE CITY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2230, 17 August 1914, Page 6

BUSY DAY IN THE CITY.

THEATRICAL PROFESSION'S FINE EFFORT

AND THE PUBLIC'S RESPONSE.

VOLUNTEERS MASSING AT THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Tire theatrical profession as represented by the companies now performing in Wellington showed on Saturday that they were, every bit ns patriotic as citizens in other walks of life. 'With the assist-' anco of a few local residents they initiated a street parade of a highly patriotic character in tho forenoon and woundup with an exceptionally interesting matinee performance, the' total ' proceeds amounting to between ■ £380 and £3M), which must be considered a splendid tribute ..for half'a day's earnest work. The street parade caused a wave of pleasurable excitement in the mid-city streets at about noon. The procession was.headed by the State Coal Depart; meat's big motor lorry, on which were located the Natives' Association's Band, under Lieut. T. Herd, and Messrs. Fred Niblo and Kobert Greig, of the Niblo Comedy. Co., the chief persuaders. Then followed a motor lorry load of miniature natives, screaming with delight as they waved tiny flags of air nations, and following them. came half a dozen motor cars, with the ladies of the different companies armed with collection boxes. As won as tie band lorry stopped the ladies'left the cars, and attacked the crowd for contributions to,the Patriotic Fund, with wonderful success. In the- meantime Mr. Fred Niblo made appealing speeches from the lorry, interrupted with patriotic airs from the band, and the singing of ."The. Soldiers' of the King" by Mr. Earnest Parkos,- of the Smart Set. Nearly every speech, ,song and selection was followed by, a shower of silver and copper, aud now and again there was a gleam of. gold in the money that flowed in. The money was particularly thick at the Bank of New Zealand corner, where some pound notes were handed to Mr. Niblo.. Here, too, a diversion of an interesting nature was made by the? appearance on the lorry of a Frenchman, who with feelings that almost' overmastered him sang the "Marseillaise" .in French to the delight of the crowd and a small group.' of French sailors, from the : warship. Montcalm, who .responded, by singing 'our own. National Anthem in French. .'-At.'times the money came in that fast Unit it fell all over, those in the lorries and ' spilled • around' on the ground,, "where a\crowd, of - eager youngsters picked'it up. Most of it was,immediately, restored to the collectors. One urchin' was found to be making hay while the, silver showered-and was made to disgorge the sum-of-3s. 6d>. The parade only Masted, an hour and a quarter, ..but in that'time'the sum of .£9O was collected,, which must be considered great work. . ' ''■ The-Matinee Performance. It is not necessary to go into details about thio. performance at the Grand Opera House, which attracted a splendid audience, and every item of'which was thoroughly appreciated.. The first part was contributed by Sam Lo Mert, Bogues and 01ivotti,-Van<Bu!ren andSpinetti, and Miss Daisy Jerome, of the Brennan-Ful-lor- Company; the 6econd'part was ■provided, bv the.clever Niblo Comedy Company)" which presented the intensofy humourous second act of "Never Say Die!'; Mr. 'Niblo .also appeared to much advantage, in a wildly humorous' ;mpnor loguo. ..The third part was left to the Smart Set, the, .performers being Miss Georgio Martin', Miss Gwenyth. Evans, Miss...Lalla ~Knight,-' -Messrs., Walter George,' Harry. • Eoobuck, Maurioe ' Jones,' and Ernest Parkes. ,The. last named sang in fine stylo a, new patriotic'song, with a good melody and a fine swing, 'which has been written by Mr. Bert Hoylo and composed by. Mr. Frank .Crowther (of .His Majesty%' Theatre). The song is entitled "Britons All," and breathes that fervent patriotism which is affecting everyone in New Zealand at the:presont ,'tinie. Soiling the Union Jac. 'An itc-m -which aroused : great interest was 'the sale by auction of a fine Union Jack (presented byjMr. H. Plimmer). Mr. Niblo acted as auctioneer, and showed sarly in the affray that hehosa'particularly-. persuasive way with him; The bidding started at £X, and then jumped rapidly to ■£2 10s. Then came "five-pounds" from .the' family circle. Mr. Niblo ex--plained that it was not the value of the bit of 'bright'bunting that ho' was-selling—. it was something 'deepor-than that,-it was the sentiment that made the British race a great one.. If ,was a common old flag, anyhow—kicking round the world one saw them more often than anv other flag. "Who'll give £6 for the old thing?" "Ten pounds! came a',voice from the dress circle. "Twenty pounds!" eame. from the same quarter. Then a small voice ,from' above ventured ■ £25, and a. cheer followed. After a little more persuasion on .-Mr. Niblo's., part. a. whitehaired old' lady said, very quietly, "Thirty pounds!" There was a pauso for a little talk,' thon "Fifty pounds!" came out of the dress circle, and tho audience went, crazy with delight. Then as time was getting on, and there did not appear to L be "any further competition, the flag was knocked down for £bb -to, Mr. Walter Blundell, who bought it on, behalf of the "Evening Post." An' East-' man postcard-size camera, presented by Mr. Castles, was then put for auction, and was knocked down, for £5 to' Mr. W. T. Young..: -. ' Ministerial Speeches. During-the interval, the Prinio Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massey) appeared m'the stage.- and was given a- rousing recaption;' He said that a great call-had been made of the people of New Zealand and speaking as tho head of the Government, he expressed the opinion that the manner in they had ri*en to the occasion was something splendid, nay, it was magnificent.. It was only n few days ago that war had been declared,and the Government had called for volunteers for the front—a vague aud indefinite term that might mean a post of longer or perhaps even in the fighting line in Europe—yet the young men had been tumbling over one another to do their duty ,by fighting for the honour Df their country and race and for the lear old -flag; (Great applause.) That was the spirit which had animated tho British race for centuries .past, and was the spirit that had won/Waterloo, and it was the same spirit that had animated the troops they had sent -out of the coun-. ry yesterday (Friday). He felt sure that they -would come back victorious, or they would not want to come back at ill. (Applause.) During the past few lays the Patriotic Fund had n mounted to enormous proportions, and there was every, evidence that it .- would continue :o do so.' Not only were tho people lontributing to the.war fund, but they were, making provision to provide for the hardship whioh might arise out of the conditions imposed by the war. On beliolf of the management he had to announce that the collection taken up. in ;he streets that morning by the theatri3al profession had amounted to about £90,. and was a fino effort which reflected ' credit on all concerned. (Aniluitse.) Such.ah enthusiasm made lifo vorth living and. made dr. 6 pi-oud to lie a citizen of the British Empire. It showed the world that wo were equal to any emergency,' no matter -wihat that emergency might be. Their duty was plain.•■ It was to avoid-jingoism, but to tangibly express a determination to keep the old flag flying—the flag which for centuries had braved the battle and the breeze—over what was the brightest and best and greatest Empire the world had ever known.. (Applause.) • Mr. Massey then called for three cheers for the King, which wore given right lustily. Continuing, Ihe'Prime Minister said that no'people in New Zealand had worked harder during ,-the crisis than His Excellency the .'Governor ami the Canutes of Liverpool (who woi'o present), anil the call [or thrtojij}ar£y_ ch.eerg for the King's

representative TVa 3 answered with a will finally lie called for three cheers "for the boys who. had gone- .abroad," and again the theatre''rang with tumultuous cheers. The Hon. James Allen (Minister ol Defence) m the course of his remark! said that for many years now. Gennam had been a menace to the peace of the world and to the existence of some of the smaller nations, and for the honour oi Hio Empire it was -mr duty to take s 6hare of responsibility a, the present war and we would take our share. (Ap' plause.) .We wore sending a number ol our best men from New Zealand, and he felt that they would'uphold the honoui and traditions so admirably begun ir New Zealand. The supreme hour hac com© for them "to make sacrafioes, an<i great sacrifices, and he knew that fjhosi sacrifices would bo made, for they wen fighting in a, just cause. He indicatec the danger that lay in allowing German} to dominate over the smaller nations whom we were in honour, and from i sense of right, entitled to sympathise witt and support, and whom, he ventured tx say,' would come right at the finish. . (Applause.) Thanks. The thanks of the promoters are due t( all., who. assisted .in making .the. actors' pntriotic day'such a brilliant' success Among, those to be especially thankee are the State Coal Department., the' banc of the' Natives' Association, the' Cham pion Confectionery Co., Cadbury's, anc Thompson Bros., and others for gifts oi sweets; the young ladies .who- assisted th< Mayoress and Miss Belle .Luke in the sail of sweets, flowers, ancKprogrammes; Mis: Murray, who supplied the boutennieres R. Q. and i Miss Knight, and. the TJnioi Clothing Co. for the loan of bunting; th< St. John Ambulance Association for th< loan of collection' boxes, and'all the' gon tlemen. who so kindly, placed their .motoi cars at' the disposal of the management; and .the Dresden Co.. ~, FORCES CONCENTRATING IN THE NORTH' AND SOUTH. Active preparations for the dispatel pf the main Expeditionary Force are being, made and the Palmerston Nortl concentration camp, (as well as those it other centres)," is now well under way A detachment of Wellington volunteers some seventy in number, were entrainec from, Wellington for the camp on'Satur day morning, and a further detaohment, including the" Signallers, will leave today. Alt Saturday the Signal Corps wen undergoing training at the Drill ■ Hall where enlistment -was still proceeding briskly. The .advance party was composed mostly 'of. men from the Wellington military district, who were drawn upon first'owing to the need for urgent dispatch, but the next contingent tc leave will be more representatve oi both Islands. The'first flush of excitement which"'was. aroused by the announcement of war has now worn off, and the streets at • night have returned largely to their normal- aspect.- Large crowd: thronged the main thoroughfares on Saturday night, but there was little difference to other Saturday nights, .with the exception that uniformed figures were plentifully scattered about. • I? the Wellington district to date over 4000 ofheers and men have volunteered ioi service abroad. This number includes .WOO from Wellington city kuid suburbs I alone. Country figures to date; for the Wellington military district, are as'' fol-low:-6th ~ Mounted Rifles•■- (Mariawatu), 20 officers; 138 men; 9th Mounted Rifles Napier), lu, 102; 2nd Mounted' Rifles (Hawera), 6,- 58; 7th Regiment (Wanganui) ,W, li: li 9tll Begim«nt (Napier), 8, . 199; nth - Regiment' (Hawera); ■ 14,, 130; 17th Regiment (Masterton), 8, 180; J (Palmerston,'2,'27; F Battery: (Napier), 1, 35. Civilians: No. 6 Group (Palmerston), 18, 555; No. 7 Group (Napier), 13. 535; No. 7 A Group (Masterton), 9, 256; No. 8 Group (Hawera), 7, 193. The ' Wellington Rifle Club Reserve Corps, which now numbers 220 men. will parade for inspection by Colonel Campbell, Coast Defence Commander, to-mor-row evening. , (By Telegraph-Press Association.) ™ a„V Au J* , . an f!> A,] Bru9t IS.' Ihe Auckland mobilisation camp now contains about 1000. troops and all members of the northorn portion of the Ex-peditionary-Force are expected-to be under canvas' by Wednesday, next. The camp-was thrown open to visitors to-day. _ . ' ■•' , Napier, August 15. I'orty-eight volunteers from Gisborne and two local men, left Napier-by train at 10.15 this morning for the concentration camp at' Palmerston North. Tomorrow morning 61 men will leave. The latter were addresed :at the Drill. Hall to-day - by" the Mayor. (Mr. J. . Vigor Brown) and Lieut.-Colonel Hislop, and complete kits prepared by ladies were distributed. Dannevirke, August 16. About 1000 peoplo assembled on' Saturday and farewolled 66 troopers who left for the Vnlmerston North, concentration camp. This was the third batch of men to: loavo here during the last three dayi of . the week, the other two going one each., to Palmerston ;, and Masterton. Each time the Mayor (Mr. E. A, Rawson) has delivered a patriotic 6peech and ; the townspeople have given the -departing soldiers a hearty send-off. The call for oddit-ioml volunteers is meeting with a ready response. ■ Timaru, August 15. . Several' parties of volunteers' have left for the camp at Christchurch. In each case a,large crowd assembled'at the station to see them off. Greymouth, August 15. The West Coast section of the 13th Regiment entrained to-day. Altogether there are 119 men from all parts of the Coast, in command of Captain Crabb who was a Lieutenant in the Fourth' Contingent in the Boer war. .There, were largo crowdj and much enthusiasm. The, Salvation Army authorities have arranged for their officers -to be in attendance at the concentration camp at Palmerston North. A large marquee will be erected and facilities afforded the troops for social intercourse and recreation, -as well.as occasional religious services. Iho arrangements are in the hands of Brigadier Hoare, Senior Salvation Army Chaplain to - the Dominion i'OTces. ..,.'. GORE GERMANS LOYAL TO THEIR ADOPTED ■•■',■ COUNTRY. . (By Telegraph-Press Association.), a - j- ■ Gore, August IG. At » meeting of-German residents cf Gore and surrounding, districts yesterday, it was unanimously agreed that in loyalty to their adopted, country they -stand shouldot; to shoulder against any invade" H*l ™« »j?o prepared to assist in meeting any distress that might arise "out of the present crisis as far as lies in their power. In connection with the official notification of war with. Austria, a Garotte Extraordinary has been issued containing proclamations relating to days of grace tor the departure of. the. enemy's ships, and trading with the enemy, and notifying that anyone contributing to a lonn raised on behalf of the Emperor of Austria or contracting with the enemy,-will to guilty of high treason. The"proclamations are identical with those issued upon illio declaration of war with Germany. In the list of the volunteers published «9 Ih>iii? on No.'2 Troopship, the- name of' Lieutenant H. F. A. Wollcrman was inadvertently given as "Lieut. H. F. A. Woller," '