THE FIRST SUMMER CARNIVAL

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 2

THE FIRST SUMMER CARNIVAL

PROCESSION THROUGH THE CITY

ATTRACTIONS AT NEWTOWN PARK. Wellington's Welcome Week Carnival committee has good reason to believe that the first summer carnival, which commenced on Saturday, and will be continued throughout the week, will be in every regard as successful and enjoyable as the opening carnival last July. In tackling a winter carnival the committee set itself no simple task, for winter weather makes for fireside evenings or indoor amusements, but there is no question that that first carnival was a success, and now, with the weather odds all in favour of a carnival, the committee may look to much greater success. A lull programme has been drawn up for each afternoon, and evening this week, and wisely the committee has provided for ample variety from day to day and from item to item. Newtown Park is the headquarters of the whole carnival, but there are im-port-ant attractions elsewhere during the next six days—racing at Trentham tomorrow, and on Thursday and Saturday, the Anniversary Day regatta in £he harbour to-morrow, yacht racing for the banders Cup, and so on. The window dressing competition is also attracting muc" attention. On all occasions there will be music, plenty of music, and wherever outdoor events are held in the evening there will be, special lighting. PROCESSION TO THE PARK. Saturday evening's weather could not nave been more attractive to outdoor folks and more enticing to indoor people I than it was, and the great crowds which tourned out to see the Welcome Week I procession were only what was to be expected. From the starting point, Post Office square, right to the park gates, the route was lined two1 and three deep on either side, and the number of motorists who turned out was quite remarkable. Some idea of how many vehicles there were following on the procession was certainly gained by tram passengers, for the two-section trip from the city was a matter of a very good half hour; a clear run was no more possible for tram cars than it was for motors. lhe procession was not, perhaps, as well varied or as representative of city interests as that which gave Wellington's first Welcome Week its start last winter, nor did all the business firms participating go to as much trouble as they did for the.July procession, but there was a strong turn out numerically. Without doubt the most striking item of the whole procession was the Taniwha, a terrific sea monster indeed, about 200 feet over all, handed over to the care of ■ a warranted genuine prehistoric man, I\lr. Robert Leckie, who succeeded in enticing the great brute from Post Office square to Newtown Park, and several times round the park, and to top off the evening constitutional, by waving a marrow bone a few feet out of reach. The Fire ( Brigade again made a fine showing, both in marching ,and in turnout of apparatus, several "chemicals," the big ladder escape, and the Harbour Board's "steamer," which is housed at the Central Brigade Station, being included. The City Council was represents ed by a special display from the Municipal Milk Depot, and by several of the beautiful teams of horses, upon -which the Corporation very rightly prides itself and backs itself against all comers. Members of the Harbour Board staff had also prepared a display of Wellington exports, cheese and flax figuring largely.

The humorous section of the procession was not particularly Btrong, for there were comparatively few entrants, but the nonsense work was quite good, and was kept up over the full two-mile run to the park. The Aotea Girls' Soccer Club was represented by a full team in costume, and improved the hour by collecting from bystanders pence or silver, according to depth of pocket.

Trade displays, of course, formed the bulk of the procession, and some were very fine indeed, and were worked up. in excellent fashion, brilliantly coloured and brightly lit when the evening closed down.

The Carnival Committee, and the public too, owed a very great deal to the eight bands, for a carnival without music is not a carnival, and a procession without band music ia merely a march past I Through the city proper the bandsmen marched on foot, but at Courtenay place boarded lorries provided by the Wellington Associated Carriers, and so made the longer trip to the park. The leaders of the four sections of the procession were : Chief marshal, Mr. A. V. H. Monro; section one, Messrs. R. Shallcrass and F. Oakes, Wellington Pipe and Municipal Tramways Bands; section two, Messrs. .J. Myers and G. Beasley, Port Nicholson Silver Band; section, three, Messrs. W. S. Wilson, B. Thomas, and Philp, Patriotic and Artillery Bands; section four, Messrs. J. Abel, M. Robinson, and Gemmell, Central Mission, Hutt Municipal, and Institute Bands.

The awards made by the judges, Messrs. H. D. Bennett (trades displays), Fred Eowe (horse turn-outs), and Albert Eussell (humorous and novelty displays), were aa follow :—

Trade display : Wellington Gas Company, 1; Q-Tol, 2 ; Sunlight Soap, 3. Decorated cart : Denhard Bakery No. 12.

Butcher's cart: Gear Meat No. 7, 1; Qjjar Meat No. 2, 2. Decorated tradesman's ■ turnout: Pascoe and Co., 1; T. and S. Supplies, 2. w >

One-horse team : F. Tonka, 1. One-horse lorry : Wellington Milk Depot No. 19, 1. Two-horse team : Wellington City Council, 1.

Four-horse team :F. Tonks 1 Humorous ; Taniwha, 1; London School of Motoring, 2. Arrived at the Park, specially lit tor the carnival, the big crowd had a very fair variety of amusements to choose from. Champion axemen, invited seven or eight thousand present inside to watch the chips fly in a preliminary round for the world's championship; at a dozen or so stalls one was invited to ring wooden ducks, or throw darts, or otherwise to show one's skill and reap a rich reward; there was a merry-go-round, an unusual merry-co-round, for it did not play the oldest airs and a real hair-raiser in "the flying roundaoout. Also there was music, and when tunes ran right, dancing on the green appealed to many. b