By The Tall Tower

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

By The Tall Tower

J)EAR Boys and Girls, — Where the fall tower goes up, up, up toward the sky, and the vast courts of the Centennial Exhibition buildings spread north, south, east and zvest, I went exploring last Sunday. There were thousands of Wellington people strolling round the grounds and peering into half-finished buildings, and 1 suppose many Leaguers zvere among the crowd. 1 sazv dozens of lads climbing over and through barricades, up the big tozver, and dozen into basements—there teas no place they did not seem to explore, so perhaps some of our small members could tell more about the buildings than I can! Flags waved in the fresh breeze that carried a tang of salt with it from the bay close by, and William Weatherman chuckled as he raced by in a gust that nearly stole my hat azcay. The long cream facades of the courts were very imposing, but inside the buildings were still a maze of framework. II- ilh only skeleton walls up. I could see from end to end of each court—a vast distance that made me zvonder hozv all the space zvould be filled. I tried to imagine all those zvalls subdividing each court into hundreds of smaller courts, zeilh stalls ami shops and showrooms of infinite variety through each building; the outdoor pools, nozv bare concrete shells, filled with water, and fountains playing; lawns. flower gardens, and the raucous, vet fascinating, blare and show of Playland, where the sideshozvs zvill be in a ten-acre park; and though I tried to picture it all, I could not really imagine it as it zvill be, though the crozvds of people helped me to imagine the throngs there zvill be in the grounds—day and night.—for six months. Steps, beginning, but as yet leading to nowhere, and barricades through zvhich / peered into nothing, fascinated me. The floors echoed hollozvly with many footsteps, for beneath each building is a space of several feet. In places zvhere the flooring zvas not yet dozvn. it zvas easy to see hozv far the buildings zvere raised above the ground, and in one huge court the floor framework, running in long parallel lines like sets of rails, seemed to converge in the distance. Each slat zvas two inches zvide, and zvhere the floor-boards ended many curious people zvent balancing along, across to the next place of interest. It zvas fun to watch many dignified people gingerly tight-rope-zvalking along these slats, and across narrow board ‘'bridges.” and I zvondered if they zvould remember their first exploration zvhen they zvander about the completed building in November. On my zvay back to the city by the special new road, along the waterfront. I looked back at the valley between the hills zvhere the tozver rises, tall and imposing, above the huddle of roofs and chimneys. It will act as a beacon, day and night, during the Centenary, zvith its tall column floodlit and bcflaggcd. » Such lots of special things zve are planning in the League for the Centennial celebrations of our country, and already zve are looking forward to seeing many far-away Leaguers zvhen they visit Wellington for the Centenary. But Easter is the celebration nearest now, and remember our special page, members! Happy days to you all. TT