AUSTRALIA BOUND

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 45, 21 January 1938, Page 9

AUSTRALIA BOUND

WANGANELLA A FULL SHIP. ATHLETES ON BOARD. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Jan. 20. One of the largest crowds that has gathered at a Wellington wharf in recent years, to farewell an overseas liner packed Queen’s Wharf south tonight for the sailing of the liner Wanganella for Sydney. The vessel, hooked to capacity with New Zealanders en route to Australia's 150th anniversary celebrations, carried the biggest and most representative sports contingent ever to leave the Dominion—the teams for tho British Empire Games. The Wanganella, timed to sail at 8 p.m.,, cast otf at 8.7 p.m., and in the greying twilight of a summer evening gathered speed on the mill pond surface of Port Nicholson, with crowds watching also from the adjoining wharves. By 7.30 p.m. there were several thousand people on the wharf and queues of several hundred waiting at the wharf ticket offices. At the shipside it was a gaily coloured scene, to which the streamers contributed largely. The Governor-General, Viscount Galway, going to Australia at the invitation of tho Governor-General of the Commonwealth to attend the sesquicentennial, and accompanied by Lady Galway, Captain R. Stuart-French, A.D.C., and Mrs A. P. Purvis, wife of the Military Secretary, boarded the liner shortly before 7.45 p.m. His Excellency acknowledged the greetings of the crowd by raising his hat.. Lady Galway waved a hand to well-wishers; in her other hand she carried a hook. Other prominent passengers included Mr J. O’Brien, M.P. for Westland, who will represent the New Zealand branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association at the Australian celebrations. He was accompanied by Mrs O’Brien. The Minister of Marine (Hon. P. Eraser), Mrs Eraser, and tho Minister of Mines (Hon. P. C. Webb) were among those present to bid them farewell.

Tho contingent of New Zealand sporting representatives numbered 63, including the athletic, rowing, swimming, boxing, cycling and wrestling team aud their officials. Tho New

Zealand rifle team of 16 left to take part in the Australian National Rifle Association’s meeting, and the first New Zealand women’s cricket team to leave the Dominion left on a tour of New South Wales. The winner of the New Zealand Deanna Durbin contest, Miss June Barson, was cheered by the crowd as she mounted the gangway. Other passengers included Dr J. C. Beaglehole, lecturer in history at Victoria University College, and Mrs Beaglehole, and the noted New Zealand billliard player, Clark McConachy The W'anganella carried nearly 400 passengers. Her second class accommodation had been booked out for over a month and the first class for more than a fortnight.