TWO AND A HALF MILLION UP

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 185, 2 May 1940, Page 11

TWO AND A HALF MILLION UP

Exhibition Visitors

SOUTHLAND FARMERS’ PARTY ARRIVES

yesterday, three days before the Exhibition ends, the two-and-a-half-millionth visitor entered the gates An attendance of 22.627 carried the total of attendances up to some 2,507,000. The day was remarkable for the large number of country people and schools’ parties. So far this week, large daytime attendances have been recorded, and a tremendously large proportion has been made up of visitors from outside Wellington. A party of 303 Southland farmers and their wives, the biggest party of the kind to have visited the Exhibition, arrived at Wellington yesterday morning, and is staying at the Exhibition Hotel, They wasted no time before putting in an appearance at the Exhibition, entering almost as soon as the gates were opened.

Because the party was too big to be comfortably accommodated in the Southland reception-room, Mr. Charles Mackay, Southland Court organizer, welcomed it from the tower steps. Mr. E. A. Cameron, president of the Southland provincial branch of the Farmers Unipn, and leader of the party, replied The party was photographed grouped in front of the fountain. An elaborate programme has been arranged for the visitors. This mornin" they will visit motor works in the Hutt Valley. In the afternoon they will go for a bus trip to Paekakariki, traversing the new coastal highway and the Ngahauranga Gorge Road, and. weather permitting, enjoying the view of Cook Strait and historic Kapiti, which is rated one of the finest coastal panoramas in the Dominion. Tonight they will hold an official dinner in the Exhibition restaurant, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, will be their guest of honour. Tomorrow the farmers will be shown over the Government experimental dairy laboratories at Wallaceville, and on Saturday they will attend the official closing of the Exhibition. They are to leave Wellington next Monday, on ■the homeward journey. In an interview yesterday, the general manager of the Exhibition, Mr. Hainsworth, said that it was wonderful how solidly Southland, one of the most distant provinces, had supported the Exhibition. Pageant of Youth. Before a full assembly hall, members of the New Zealand Youth Movement staged a second “Pageant of Youth,” the first such programme having been given at the Exhibition a week or two ago. The programme opened with a sketch by three old folk, Mr. J. J. Roberts, Mrs. M. Stuart and Mrs. Lemon, who discussed the youth of past periods by way of contrast. Another sketch of topical interest was the reading of a letter from the New Zealand forces overseas, by the writer’s father, a returned soldier, and the enactment, of the news by a number of young soldiers, who gave a fine performance A most interesting and spectacular display of swordsmanship by members of the Wellington Swords Club was a feature of the evening’s entertainment. The fencers were G. S. Harcourt (captain), C. Morris, J. H. Malcolm, S. O. Gurney, Miss P. L. Ross aud Miss P. Brown. 1

Another striking feature was the flying of model aeroplanes in a blackout, their movements being spotted by searchlights. The aeroplanes flew so successfully that they would not come down in the time allotted to the number, and the next item on the programme had to be begun while they were still circling gracefully overhead. Members of the Wellington Model Aeroplane Club also sta' _ ed an exhibit of many striking models. The evening closed with an address by Mr. A. S. Blackle, principal of the New Zealand Youth Movement, who explained the objects of the movement. Clever School Cliildren.

An outstanding demonstration was given in the Sunken Court, in the education section of the Government Court,