THE OPENING ATTRACTION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 7, 9 July 1923, Page 3

THE OPENING ATTRACTION

GALA PROCESSION THEOUGH CITY. • The first essential for a 'successful carnival of any type, after the organiser has done his preliminary work, is to got j the people but, and next, when they are ! out, to get the carnival spirit going and keep it going. Wellington made a very good start in that first essential on Saturday evening when the torchlight procession, starting at Bunny street, the starting place of all Wellington's processions, and, during the war, many,memorable parades, wound through the city streets.between close-packed banks of people:i-The crowds which turned out' to see the Pi"mcc. of Wales go by set a. record for the'city'that is not ' likely - to be beaten for many years to come, but all'the same,-if counts could have been taken, it is probable ihkfc Saturday night's big crowd .was hundreds rather than thousands short of those in town on the night of the Prince of Wales's arrival. It was not till the, tail of tho long procession had- passed by and the people lining the route turned to follow on that one realised just How many there were out and about, and it was a case of go with the crowd or hold hard in a doorway, for the majority apparently elected to see. some more of that procession and the minority were not consulted—they went too, buj, as it was a carnival night that mattered neither hero nor there. The weather.-. held favourable, but there was still enough nip in the southerly to send most people homewards very shortly after the four sections of the procession had broken up. Extra; trams were run on all lines, and the unusually heavy: traffic was handled in remarkably smart time.

Decorated lorries and tradesmen's carts, cars, and vehicles of' all sorts, making up the evening's show formed into line at Bunny street from 7 o'clock onwards, and,,at .half-past'the. first section, led by the marshal; Captain A. V. Hale Monro, and the Highland Pipe Band and the Artillery Band, moved off along Lanibton quay,■followed, after an interval of ten or fifteen minutes, by sections ' two, three, and four, with a couple of bands to help things along as cheerily* as possible, the Tramways and the First Battalion with section two, tho Hutt nnd Petone and the Patriotic Band with the'next section, and the Central Mission Band, playing doublo tima since there was only one of it, with the last division.' The organiser of Wellington's Welcome Week has insisted -from the night of the first mention of the idea that a carnival without music is not a carnival, and none will argue with that pronouncement; there was bright music and to spare on Saturday evening. There were something like forty or fifty vehicles and exhibits in tho processions, and a description of every one of them would fill a. very great deal of space, but some stood out as'brighter or smarter, more humorous or more novel than the rest. The parade of the city's fire brigadesmen, under Superintendent Tait and Deputy-Superintendent Robertson made a fine show indeed, for when brigadesmen turn out on parade with evrey button and buckle as brilliantly burnished up as their showy and 'essentially useful—brass helmets, they look fine indeed. . Probably very few people in Wellington had previously seen the brigade's new telescopic fire escape in the city streets, but it was the men they watched and' applauded for their fine appearance and splendid marchinig, and not the big machine. The Women's National Reserve and the council's milk exhibit followed, and then the splendid horses upon which the Corpora tidn'very: rightly prides itself, beautiful animals out making a night of it before turning .to again next week on round the town jobs. The Harbour Board made a comprehensive display of those exports which mount up to millions sterling each year, and place Wellington on the top of the list among Dominion portß—wool, mutton, hemp, dairy produce, special lines and standard' goods'for- overseas—and following up behind was an old-time life-' boat with" a steersman toiling manfully to steer a straight course, up Lambtbn quay, through the narrows of Willis street, and the still denser seas of people in Manners street and Cuba streets. He was the hardest-worked man in the procession, but he did make that old lifeboat an effective show.

Several good exhibits .were in ado .by leading Wellington firms, a few of them straight-out displays of what those firms had to offer, the public when the public nared to buy; oi-hors built with a light and happy touch to catch the eye and impress t-hemselvei vpon the mind. Mo-

ther, {or instance, toiled away at a wushtub with father and washed tubs and tubs and tubs of family linen through town, but with that particular brand of laundry soap the work was light, and father smi\ed right through it. A firm of auctioneers showed' exactly how an auction is really carried out, what they sold- and just how smartly, business premises at remarkable valuations, Government buildings to members of tho Opposition, and a little further along tho line the inner workings of Parliament were laid bare in arousing burlesque. A lorry-load of young men featured themselves as tho singing chorus, but apparently they ran through their repertoire of conventional numbers quite eaily in the evening, and, not wishing to tire people by a, mere repetition, fell back on a, series of war cries of widely-assorted derivations. As singors, perhaps, they fell below the standard, but they made a lot of noise they had the carnival spirit, as it were. One trade display that appealed particularly to small boys, who packed solidly behind the lorry, was a moving cinematographic show of the making of one of tho world's leading automobiles. A picture show appeals to the small boy at any time, but if it is free and on wheels', and about a motor-car, then it is really something worth while, much more attractive even than that fierce brute the "allicrocodile" captured and tamed during the Jast week by the staff of the Harbour Board or the cowboy marshals directing each section of the nroeessinn.

Mosjt of the displays were lit np electrically by strings of tiny bulbs placed along their main outlines, but all those lights looked pale and dim when the 1 ram way Department's 'gorgeously lit and decorated "Welcome" show tramcar came into view. There were some hundreds of coloured lights among the greenery on that double-decker bio globes burning 200 volts or so ' lights with authority behind them, red, green blue and orange, lighting up the whole street as the car wont by, and bringing up tho .tail of tho procession as it did, this brilliant display ~ave a finishing touch to the first hi s 'item of Wellington's first- Welcome' Week. It was the brightest and best and longest procession Wellington has seen, and bo widely varied were the displays' made that the judges decided that the prize list would have to bo extended, since one award could not fairly cover the whole 'show. Accordingly they divided the displays up into seven divisions, and made awards as follow••-'- - ■,cradA? D»Pla>\-J- Newton | and Co. (St. Mnnoio soarA Best Health PNnlav.—Kilbirnie South liranch of the W.N.P., Best Turn-nut of Horses.—Wellinirton City Coloration's tandem team (from Gnviioration yards). Tradesmen's Onrt.—TWo (lintohor). Best J.o"!il Manufacturer's Bisp'fv' Mrrnt. Cottrell, and Co., (car-body builders). ■ ■ ■ . •

t> M°v „ 9,7'" nal display.—Harbour -bnpvd s auicrocodj'o."

_ Most Amusing Sketch.—"Parliament in session.

, They made particular- mention also of Hie excellent work of tWlitrhtine experts of the Tramway Dfioartment in Hfirkine out the doiihln-dorker as they did and applauded in official,manner, as the crowds had done by hearty hand-i-lapnincr. the fine npp^arn.nco of the i-"fsmber3 of the city's fivo bricadesmnn. The cala procession cnrtainlv opened the carnival week in the brightest and happiest fashion.