FLAGS BY DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 188, 11 August 1925, Page 8

FLAGS BY DAY.

BRIGHT LIGHTS BY NIGHT.

CITY DECKED OUT FOR FLEET,

A CARNIVAL ASPECT.

A city of flags by day; of lights by night—that is Auckland in her carnival garb—Auckland decked out for the coming of the fleet. After public enthusiasm, there is nothing that bespeaks so plainly the warmth of our greeting to our guests than the fluttering bunting and the sparkling bulbs. On this auspicious occasion, when Uncle Sam's sons of the sea have honoured us by a visit, very fitting tribute has been paid by the various public buildings and shops being transformed from their ordinary, more or less dull-looking selves, to bright transmitters of civic greeting. A Gay Post Office. Take the Town Hall, for example. Tonight it will be framed in light; the tower will sparkle bright against the night, and the front facing will be ablaze with colour; while the crossed ilags of our own and Uncle Sam's countries will shine out from below the clock. And the Post Office. What a gay sight it is! There we find the finest decorations in the town. The whole building is a mass of waving streamers and flags, of electric lights and palms. Right in the centre, above the entrance, are the words, "Welcome to the Fleet," against a background of greenery. Flags in twos and threes are in every window and on every ledge, from top to bottom, while across the roof is a long string of little flags, stretching from the entrance to the railway station on one side of the oflice to the exit on the other. In the centre of it all flies our own proud Union Jack, but the Stars and Stripes have a prominent place in a top corner. Palms wave on the sides of the steps leading to the vestibule, while on both sides of the main entrance, extending over the footpath to the outer edge of the pavement, are strings of diamond-shaped festoons, which lead to national standards lining the pavement. To-night the building will look very beautiful. The Public Trust Office, too, is "all of a flutter." Across the Queen Street side, at an angle, is "Welcome," and on the other the Maori equivalent, "Haeremai!" Customs Street junction presents a particularly festive appearance, the three hptels on the corners being hung with flags, with liberal yards of Stars and Stripes predominating. Down on the waterfront the coloured lights and palms that make the entrance to the Motor Olympia on the wharf serve also as another link in the mass of welcoming colour. The Shops. And many of the shops have added their quota to the resplendent scene. Flags and streamers hang down from the verandahs, and in the windows our own flag stands side by side with that of America. Messrs. John Court's building, at night, has a simple yet wonderfully effective fire-effect, the result of the use of nothing but red globes on all the floors facing the streets. A block of flame, one might call it. An ingenious decoration graces the window of a florist's shop in Queen Street. A golden eagle, fashioned out of laurel leaves, stands in the central position, flanked on one side with the Stars and Stripes, and on the other with the Hag of this Dominion, both banners being made of coloured artificial flowers. Other imaginative schemes are to be seen elsewhere. The "Herald" office has an effective display, while the "Star" office makes a brave show of bunting. So "the city now doth like a garment wear"- the gay symbols of our welcome to the fleet. It is but a little while since we were walking amid similar deckings, hung in Honour of our own ships of war. Now, instead of the Hood and the Repulse, we have the California and the New Mexico. But our welcome is a warm one. We want our guests to appreciate this, and for that reason we deck out our city, so that, after the tumult and the shouting of our first greeting dies, these symbols may still denote our tribute to 'Uncle Sam's boys."