BACK TO THE COAST

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 124, 23 February 1928, Page 3

BACK TO THE COAST

GREY DISTRICT DIAMOND JUBILEE « The Diamond Jubilee of the Grey River district is to be celebrated this month, and extensive preparations are being made to mark the event fittingly. Carnival week in Greymouth will commence on February 25, and the round of festivities will continue until Alarcli 3. On Febrnarv 25, the Grey I rotting Club will hold a jubilee meeting at A’ictoria Park, and a sports entertainment will be provided in the evening. On Februarv 26, services will be held in all the churches, a feature of the Sunday programme being a church parade. There will be jubilee dinners at the Old People’s Home and Hospital at noon, and in the afternoon wreaths will be laid on the graves of the pioneers. On the Monday, the principal attractions will be the Mangahua Trotting Club’s jubilee meeting at Victoria Park, a sports’ entertainment at 2 p.m., and the jubilee race ball at 9 P-ni. The festivities will be at their height on Tuesday, February 26, which is Jubilee Day. Bells will be :ung to svmbolise the completion of 60 years, and a procession will be made to victoria Park, where the flag will be saluted and a civic reception extended to visitors. At 1 p.m. that day an pflicial luncheon will be tendered to His Bxcellencv the Governor-General (e>ir Charles Fergusson), after which there will be a procession, with prizes for tne best decorated cars. At 2 p.m. military and naval displays will be made, and a star attraction should be the children’s demonstration, which will provide a living representation of 1868 merging into 1928. Ihe competition for the best-dressed group rcpresetitinjx 1868 should also proxe lull of colour and interest. M 3 30 p.m., the sale of the whole ot the West Coast by the Alaoris for £3OO, which took place at Greymouth m 1866, will be re-acted, and other attractions will be test selections and march by the municipal Band. At 730 p.m. there will be a torchlight procession through the town to Dixon Park, which will be illuminated, and here the whole of the inhabitants o; the AVest Coast will hold high carnival. There will be fireworks, military, and naval displays, a swimming carnival, and dancing on the green. AVcdnesday, February 29, w ’“ be Children’s Day at 9 a.m., the cmldren will inspect the warships, after which they will be entertained at Victoria Park. A call has been sent out to all West Coasters to reassemble for the Diamond Jubilee, and a reunion pioneer dinner will be given at 1 p.m. on the Wcdnesdya, and a reunion old-timers’ concert at the Opera House at 8 p.m. Thursday. March 1. will be celebrated as “Re-union Day.” The principal event on the programme this day will be a regatta, in which the warships will take part. The s.s. Kennedy, a pioneer steamer of 1865, should be an object of interest. An Empire concert will be held at 8 p.m., and a Vice-Regal, naval, and military jubilee promenade ball will take place 'at 9 p.m. The chief event oil the Friday will be the New Zealand cycle championships at noon, while there will be a concert and children’s poster ball in the evening. A fire brigade demonstration will extend over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The celebrations will conclude on Saturday, when the New Zealand cycle championships and the fire brigade demonstration will be completed. Greytnonth will have a regular “night out,” when a masque carnival will be held. The committee which has the arrangements in hand is an influential one, comprising the following officials: Patron, His Excellency the Governor General; president, the Prime Minister (Right Hon. J. G. Coates) ; vice-presi-dents. Sir Joseph Ward, ALT’., Messrs. T. E. V. Scddon, M.P., H. E. Holland, 51. P., W. S. Glenn, M.P., Hon. H. L. Michel, M.L.C.; chairman of committees, the Alavor of Greymouth (Mr. J. \V. Greenslade) ; lion, secretary, -Air. C. 11. Rose; organiser, Mr. E. I. Lord.