OUR EXPECTED GUESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 184, 6 August 1925, Page 9

OUR EXPECTED GUESTS.

SURE OF WARM WELCOME.

AUCKLAND MAPS OUT

PROGRAMME.

TO ENTERTAIN AMERICAN TARS.

Auckland may not be making so much outward show of her pleasure at the forthcoming visit of the American battleships and our 12,000 American cousins aboard, as she did 17 years ago, when the "Great White Fleet" spent such a delightful week, during the whole of which time the harbour was like a millpond, but nevertheless the visitors are being eagerly expected, and if they fulfil half the engagements that have been mapped out for them they will be glad to get to sea once more and have a rest. With such a crowd of men ashore every day and every evening as we are promised the town might be hard put to find something to amuse them, but the official programme alone goes a long way towards a solution of the problem which confronts us as hosts of all these hosts, and in addition dozens of private entertainment have been planned by thoughtful hostesses. It will be remembered that in 1908 the weather was surprisingly delightful, and Auckland is wondering whether she will be able to produce something of the same kind again. A fortnight is rather a long while to reckon on "gardenparty" weather, but wet or fine Auckland will make the "jackies" heartily welcome. As a rule there are plenty of people who want to have the honour of entertaining the officers of visiting fleets, and the men are often overlooked, but that will not be the case during the' fortnight Admiral Robison's fleet is with us. Sometimes the entertaining of the men is overdone, as the ideas of landlubbers and men of the sea do not always coincide when it comes to matters of recreation, but this , has been kept in mind by the people at the head of tho Auckland arrangements, and while every hospitality will be offered the men, they will be free to come and go as they please—the facilities will be there, but if they choose to wander about and make their own fun, they will be at liberty to do so. So far there is not much being done in the of decorations. The Post Office, with its electric signs of welcome, is the most ambitious up to the present but the Harbour Board will have some rather striking greetings, expressed electrically on the Prince's wharf sheds. The Customs Buildings in Customs Street, wiil also be making something of a display, and the Town Hall i s to have itself outlined in electric light, while the crossed flags of the United States and Britain will be a feature of the decorations. All these are, of course, for the evening, and in the day-time there will be a liberal display of bunting by the various public offices, and private citizens have also been invited to show their feelings in flags wherever the staffs and the bunting are available. The Fleet's Entry. Just at the top of high water, which happens about fifteen minutes after mid-day on Tuesday, the big battleships should be dropping their anchors in the Auckland harbour. At first it was thought the California, which is Admiral Robison's flagship, would come alongside Prince's wharf, but it is now the Sntention of the whole fleet to anchor in the stream, and the flagship will not berth until a few days later. Precisely at half-past eleven on Tuesday morning, the fleet may be expected off Rangitoto, and there they will be met by the Harbourmaster (Captain H. H. Sergeant) and three pilots. Captain Sergeant will pilot the flagship to her mooring ground, which will bo on the northern side of the harbour, just about abreast of Prince's Wharf. Astern of her will moor the West Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Tennessee, New Mexico, Idaho, and Mississippi, in that order, the last mentioned' ship being moored just west of the Sandspit Beacon off North Head. On the southern side of the harbour, starting just below the eastern breakwater, will moor the repair ship Medusa, the oil-tanker Kanawha, and the store-ship Arctic, the last mentioned being not quite so far down as Orakei. CONSUL BESPEAKS WELCOME. Addressing members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to-day the United States Consul bespoke for his fellow countrymen a cordial welcome to Auckland in following terms:— "Gentlemen, in a few short days there will anchor in a bay that I believe to be the most'beautiful in the world, and at least the most beautiful that I have ever had the good fortune to see, a fleet of ships bringing to your shores some eleven or twelve thousand of my fellow countrymen. "I need not speak of the welcome that awaits them. I need not pour out my heart in appreciation of the glorious hospitality that is New Zealand. I do not care to adorn the brow of the morn nor to colour the rainbow, but I do wish in the full simplicity of my heart to tell you how pleased I am to know that this number of my fellow countrymen Will have jthe opportunity to know your country and your people, that they may see with their own eyes what AngloSaxon pluck, enterprise, stability and worth have made of an island in the South Sdas, and that when they return to the lAiited States singing the praises of New Zealand in one harmonious jubilee chorus, that they will also return apostles, not twelve apostles, but twelve thousand apostles of the gospel of Anglo-Saxon friendship and good will. ! • ——_ WELLINGTON BERTHING PLAN. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.l - WELLINGTON, this day. Tentative arrangements are being made to berth the U.S. flagship Seattle and Richmond (the flagßhip of the light squadron), and the Pennsylvania at the new Pipitea wharf, where H.M.s. Hood lay. The hospital ship will be berthed on the opposite side of the harbour, and the rest of the visiting warships will remain in the stream. v SOFT DRINKS" AT HAMILTON. (By Telejrapti.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. .The Fleet Entertainment Committee decided not to supply intoxicants at the dinner to be given to the American sailors visiting Hamilton. ". -.