The Coronation Ceremony.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 118, 8 December 1915, Page 2

The Coronation Ceremony.

TO THE EDITOR Sir,—ln your issue of the 29th alt., Mr Ruadlev's letter" re coronation ceremony contained therein makes reference to the Band striking up "one ot its refined selections just as our respected School directors bad marshalled and attuned their charges prepare-

Tory to singing tbe respective national anthems of oar Allies". Now, Sir, I desire to say tbe Band played according to instructions received from one of tbe officials, and if its effort clashed with tht of the children I can assure you it was merely an incident and not by anv means an act of discourtesy. I have tried to dispel from my mind all through thoughts of Mr Roadley's statement being sarcastic, but the general tone of tbe letter is such that I cannot for the life of me think other than that tbe word "refined" is bristling with sarcasm. However, I trust my contention may be wrong, and shall be glad to bave Mr Koadley'a as* surance that this is so. —I am, etc., G. M. WKIGHT, Band Chairman.

Sir,—The Waiuku Executive and its honorary secretary are to be congratulated upon tbe secretary's admirable letter in a recent issue, in which he showed how well Waiuku redeemed all its promises, and that it was Pukekobe alone wbich failed, and failed hopelessly. As the Waiuku secretary explains, six Waiuku ladies had promised to help and were present on tbe ground, and were only waiting to be asked. Had the Pukekobe organisation been anything but the miserable effort it was, two dozen of the Pukekohe helpers at tbe refreshment booth would have been told off, they would have divided the ground into an equivalent number of sections, they would have secured an assistant each to see tbat no lady spectator moved off her respective section until.the search was complete, and with the assistance of the police, which would doubtless readily have been granted, and by diligently questioning each lady on the ground, it is perfectly char that before tbe termination of the proceedings those six willing and eager Waiuku helpers, or at least tbe greater number ot them l , would infallibly have been discovered. From the fact that the six ladies were not discovered, it follows that the Pukekohe organisa'ion was most defective, and well merits the scathing condemnation which the Waiuku secretary accords it. The fact is further attested by the Pukekohe ladies' failure to discover the important presence in Pukekohe ot tbe said secretary. Mr Mason is undoubtedly right in holding this op as tbe culminating point of Pukeorganising ineptitude. It is idle and vain for Pukekohe people to suggest that the Waiuku Secretary should bave requested modest and retiiricg Waiuku ladies to call at the refreshment booth to announce their arrival, or that he might have called to see that the promised help was not lacking. Such attempts to conceal that fact tbat the lack of Kelp was due to Pukekohe's ineptitude, such illnatured attempts to shift the blame from shoulders to which it rightly belongs, can deceive no one. Another admirable point in Mr Mason's letter is tbat it clearly aod emphatically repudiates all idea of local jealousy. Because there is nothing in Mr Baiter's letter to call for any reference to jealousy, it has been suggested tbat Mr Mason's emphatic repudiation of it can arise . only from a troubled conscience, or be asserted so emphatically for tbe purpose of strengthening the faltering faith of the writer. But such criticism hardly requires comment—l am, etc.,

ONLOOKER.