MYSTERY AND MIRTH

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1924, Page 1

MYSTERY AND MIRTH

“.MAGIC” THAT AMUSES. Why is it that calm, quiet people "ill go out of their way and pay to be scared ? Nervous girls, middle-aged and portly men and elderly spinsters who never cross a road without looking hoili ways are unable to resist the lure of the show Ilian's “l i'ighl” machines. The secret li-s in (he fact that these instruments id frightlnliioss are absolutely sale, yet provide all the excitement of a narrow escape from a nasty smash. Knowing that the greater the thrill the bigger the draw, the organisers t:I the Pleasure Park at the Rritish Empire Exhibition have ransacked the world for novelties. Something like a million pounds has been spent on providing “all the fun of the fair” ■">

seventeen acres ol ground. The big Ilirills include two racing coasters, a giant switchback, a scenic

railway, a mountaiiT water chute guaranteed to scare witlioqi peril, a ‘ijvhirl of the world,” "Jack and Jill” and nearly a thousand side-shows. “Jack and Jill" is a kind of moving staircase with chairs. You sit down and are taken lo a good height, then deposited on a slope as slippery as ice. Down you flv at a speed that makes you gasp for breath.

The "whirl of the world" provides humps without bruises. A pavilion is being erected with a level Ilnur space 110 ft by Soft-, into which are let sixteen discs each loft in circumference. These revolve in opposite directions at speeds varying from four to seven miles an hour. Small two-seater ears with four castor wheels will take the Hour and he Hung this way and that, according to the direction of the disc with which they come into contact. He tween the two passengers in the ear is a lever: pushed forwards, ii exerts a downward pressure n the front wheels, causing it to grip the disc under it. so that il the disc is spinning to the left the ear will go that wav. Pulling the lever backward relievetho front wheel and engages that in the rear, which may he on a disc spin liing to the right. Pressure may he applied to the right and left wheels in the same way, so that the skill of tjie passenger manipulating the lever determines the length of time tho ear remains on the revolving discs and the variety and excitement nf the ride. Forty ears may he on the Horn- at once: they "ill bump, of ionise, bill that is part of the fun. Cars thrown olf at cither end arrive on “dead” ground. They are then conveyed by an endless belt to the .start-

ing point. The imuintain water chute is liuilt on a base with a circumference of lotlfi. and rises to a height ol Milt. Passengers sit in a boat which ascends a luminous lift shaft decorated with multi-coloured lights. At the top the boat is ejected into the water chide, and dashes down at a terrific speed. The “Derby race” will resemble an ordinary merry-go-round, with Ihe difference iliat. hy means of a new mechanical device, the horses will race. Moving in rows ol live, they will draw ahead e.r fall behind one another as they make the circuit of the course. The search for Aladdin's lamp in n globe ollfL high promises lo be one of the most exciting shows in the park. Five pounds is concealed ill the lamp, awaiting its discovery. It is hidden somewhere in the cave, but, although its seekevs may see it. they may also |inil that when they fun towards it the lamp rliaimios into a or a castle wall. Cachets brimming with jewels appear and dissolve again before one's eyes. (Lass doors and windows, false floors ami swaying wall-, a sudden storm and blinding rain—which wets one not at all—a pit. a high bridge, all these bewilder the seeker of the lamp. As many of the earth’s wonders as possible are packed within this magic globe.