NGAMOTU BEACH PICNIC

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1918, Page 4

NGAMOTU BEACH PICNIC

AX E.NJOYABL-E OUTIXG Notwithstanding the postponement «f the beach picnic at Ngamotu, which could not be held on Tuesday on account of the unfavorable weather, the function as carried out yesterday was most successful. The weather, though not exactly ideal for such an outing, was line, and a large crowd gathered at that popular seaside resort. From an early hour the trams running to .Alio breakwater wera heavily iaden, and numbers of people : >.rrived by other means. There were, however, few country visitors at the beach compared with'what might have been on Tuesday, m on that day special consideration had been made by the Railway Department, which had arranged to, delay the departure of the afternoon ! train from Sew Plymouth. It was estiIffiated, however, there must have been well over 11000 people present. In addition to what i may he termed the permanent attractions of the bead), the committee had provided an excellent eports programme, chiefly to interest the children, and for the various events big fields, entered. A valuable and popular addition to the amusement was the Serial glide, which has been recently erected and was used for the, first time In connection with yesterday's picnic,' Hie line was exceedingly well patronised, and at a penny a. time, was kept in constant use from an early hour until very late. The youthful "gliders" simply revelled in the new thrill. The afternoon tea rooms at the palladium were thronged, and good business was done. The bathing facilities were, of course, largely' availed of, a great many of the visitor* indulging in surf-bathing. There/were also provided tents for ice creams and soft drinks, in which good 'business was done all th» afternoon.

The sports items included events for the children, such as pillow-fighting, revolving barrel race (for boys), a canoe race, blindfold wheelbarrow race, and a novelty race. The latter afforded a good deal of amusement, the entrants having their hands tied behind them, and after running the course were required to get an apple out of a bath of water. Not niany succeeded, but most of the competitors managed to get pretty wet in the attempt. The star item of the day was, of course, the hunt for hidden treasure. A space on the sand had been fenced off, and within it some 70 coupons, entitling the finder to one or other of the many valuable prizes that had been donated, were buried. The price of the privilege of digging for treasure was one shilling, which included the provision of the necessary spade, ami when a start was made on the hunt some 300 spades bid been requisitioned. When it is stated that some of those to whom success came early eagerly paid the price of a repeat of the privilege, the state into which the sand in the enclosure was worked may be easily imagined. In spite of the fact that operations were continued for ft long time, it was late before all the "treasures" were uncovered..

The guessing competitions were well supported and resulted as follows: Sheep weight-guessing, Mrs. Christiansen, South Road; cake weight-guessing, Don Cameron.; teddy Ibear, B. M..Meldrum. Cocoanut shie3 provided adjditioni al amusement.

The postponement of the picnic from the previous day necessitated the abandonment of the inter-schools three miles championship race, as a number of comjpetitors were not able to bo present. A j special prize waß offered, however, foi I a r.ico over a similar course. A good I number of boys made the attempt, and eight passed tha tape, the winner being C. Watkins, of West End School. Following are the results of the-wini cipal events:—

Long distance swimming.—{jirlsj Misi Banks. Boys: E. Simpson 1, E. Ward and 5. Hayden (dead heat) 2. Canoe race.—R. Ward., .

Inter-schools Marathon race.—o. Wat" kins (West Find) 1, L. Frethey (Central) -2, L. Fahvasser (Bell Block). 8, H, Brown (Inglewoodf 4.

One mile handicap.—C. Watkins I>, L,Frethey 2, H. Brown 3. 100 yards (giris).-Jean Ramson 1, Connie O'Dowda 2.

A great deal of the success of the gala was due to the energy and enthusiasm with Avhich 1 the committee worked. Mr. R. Ellis, secretary of the beach committee, had matters well organised, and everything worked smoothly. The following members of the committee and assistants are also deserving of thanks for their work in connection with the function: Messrs J. W. Hayden, L. Hoffmann, W. C. Weston, L. i Little, W. Bendall, S. Coad, W. F. Short, P. H. Ham, L. Cathro, C. Ward, Da Launay, AV. Paul, P. White, R. T. MeQuade, J: Morey, R. J. Dearc, Lieut. C. Crutch, J. Whelan, J. H. Fowler, J. Hayden (sen.), and R. Day. The following ladies also rendered invaluable assistance: Misses Mouatt (2) and De Lauftay, Merdames Hayden and Cutler. Amongst the many donations received by the committee were two very acceptable garden seats from Mr H. Brook- ■ man, who ajso sent a gift of a hamper, the first of the kind the committee had eyor received. .

The amount taken at the gates was over £GS, which in comnarison vrtth last year's gate returns (.£BO odd) must be considered very satisfactory. ' The total .takings yesterday amounted to ar proximately £IBO.