ROBING THE BABY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 213, 28 May 1918, Page 7

ROBING THE BABY

AT THE TOWN HALL

PRESS NOMINEE ENTHRONED.

Between 50 and GOO people attended at tho Town Hall yesterday afternoon to do reverence to His Majesty the Baby, ill this case Master Colin Karlc (son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred J. Earle), who, as tho Press Committee's nominee, topped tho poll at tho recent Baby Competition. Tho function was n regular babies' At Home. Nearly all tho contesting babies wero presont, with their mothers ami relatives, giving the Town Hall tho atmosphere and sound of i:n out-size creche. Thnt tho competitors wero all generally ami severally worshipped by the ladies goes without •.•aying. They were really a grand lot cf children, and deserved all the adoration they inspired. Tho ceremony proper commenced with tho reading over of the list of candidates and the "lumber of votes each secured. Mr. F. W. Man ton read the list, and in apologising for the Mayor's absence read a letter from Mr. Luke in which ho con-

gratulated winning and losing candidates with Mayoral impartiality, and wished the™ a full measure of happiness in the future. j Sir William Fraser, who spoke. i on behalf of Mrs. Massey and Miss Fraser ] (his daughter, who had acted as organiser i and secretary) congratulated all who had been connected 'vith the baby scheme on its success. He tendered to the conlesfauts and their committee his hearty congratulations for the manner in which they had. worked for so worthy an object. Ho' particularly emphasised the good and eiEeient work of the sub-com- • uiitees of the winners, and those who bad not !>een so successful. Perhaps it ; wa< to the Baby Committees whose candidates wero not among the winners the greatest praise was -iue, as in somo cases they had known from the first that they could not get into the first six, and yet they had persisted, and did what they could to help tlio cause. (Applause.) That the work the Red Cross Society and Salvation Army v.as doing among the boys was a great r.i:o. it was Hot for him to say, as everyone knew '..s well as he what they were so nobly doing. Ho was therefore glad That the amonnt of money subscribed—over .C3OO0 —was 60 substantial. Had the weather during the last week been more propitious, ho understood that there was littlo doubt but that the amount would have reached i:1000. Ho wished particularly to thank three gentlemen oil behalf of tho committee, Messrs. P. W. Manton, A. D. Bayfiold, and Mr. James Luke (who had kept the accounts), and finally all who had helped in any way to make the competition tho success it had been. (Applause.) Mrs. Massey then produced a beautiful

and woll-maiU baby's cream robe, edged with purplo silk, and adjusted it on .Master Colin Earle, who treated tho whole business with the utmost forbearance and good nature. Having tied tho final string under his chin, Mrs. Massey handed over to the iittle victor tho handsome silver cup due to the winner. Then the Gear Company's baby, Isabel Brice (daughter of the well-known representative cricketer), was landed ,1 very handsumo cup to ><ld to her paternal progenitor's already large collection, and the third prize-winner, Pamela Soudamore (representing Northland) received a caso of afternoon teaspoons, wdiich she began to hurl about the ftage with >i reckless regard for their value.

After the presentation of (ho trophies Mr. F. J. Earle, on behalf of the Press iiaby and the committee, thanked tho Main Committee for its present, and also

• :ip. D.I.C. for its generous donation of f tho coronation robes. He reminded these ! who had worked for babies who were ' lower down in the list that it had been | emphasised from the outset that it would jo easily possible for tho best baby cii ; his or her merits 1o secure tho fewest j locncy votes—:hat the best baby might : not will. Perhaps most of those present ; thought that this early prediction had ; been fulfilled. What tho Press Baby's j sponsors thought he would not liko to jsay, as (hey had been so successful. The j result of the competition brought two j old sayings to mind. One ' as that "It '-n't the hen that cackles the most that lays tho biggest •••ggs." That adage had been disproved. On this occasion tho ! Press Baby had i.iado the most noise— ;or his supporters had—aud ho had pro- • vided the biggest golden egg, worth ,£ll2l. : The other saying was: "The pen is | mightier than the sword." He would not I claim that the present result had demonj stratocl its truth. As a matter of fact ! his committee had. really been working in conjunction with the sword—to raiso money on behalf 'f tho brave soldiers at Ihe front. The power of a united Press alono was tremendous, so -hat the other l*aby committees could not wonder that tho combined powers of the pen and the sword should have brought about the result they had just seen. Under the circumstances the other committees had fought splendidly against overwhelming odds. They would bo interested'to know that the Press entertainments had brought in nearly JiOOO, of which the matinee at His Majesty's Theatre by Fullers' Company, Ada Reeve, the Pierrots, and Mis 3 Beero's pupils had realised J:177; the -oneert by local artists and Miss Campbell's pupils, £100; ami l'.'.e Fuller-Allan Wilkie matinee £%. Donations of cash .and goods totalled ,£227 12., nud sales of voting tickets ,£3OO. Expenses had been defrayed by supporters, so that only £8 10s. was paid out for cost of labour, and that was to patriotic workers who had given their services free on several other occasions. To sum the i figures up, tho committee had raised ,£SO I a day sinco it started work. Tho Press ■ workers realised that tho Theatrical Baby I had not done so well as it might have ] dono had the theatrical effort been con- j centrated insteid of being to a large ex- j tent diverted to 1110 Press Committee, t which had" made all the arrangements for ■ its enterprise immediately after deciding I to nominate its baby. Therefore,. as aj slight recognition cf the theatrical sup-1 port it had received, the committee had , decided to present tho Theatrical Baby with a memento of the occasion. Air. < Earle concluded by expressing apprecia- [ tion of the work of Miss Eraser and her j assistants, and by paying a tribute to | the magnificent work done by the mem-, bers of the Press- Committee, which had ! resulted in such a gratifying result for | worthy patriotic causes. j Before tho function there was a short I concert programme presented. Dr. King- I ton Fyii'e played a solo on the grand | organ;" Mr. Hamilton Hodges sang tho; well-worn and inseparable "liig Lot of | Sunshine" and "Coming Home" onco more, Miss Sinclair Hrncn did a quaint golliwog dance, and Miss Eila Liurdot fluttered round on hor toes prettily, and Master L. Riddell recited (at the piano) "Napoo," and gave a humorous sketch of village life, in England. Mr. R. Panklmrst presided at tho pianoforte.

A properly-audited balance-sheet of tho Press Daby Committee's financial operations during tho campaign appears in another column.