TRADE AND NOISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1928, Page 6

TRADE AND NOISE.

The Invercargill people are revelling in * penny-trumpet carnival with the idea of stimulating trade. It is reported that 15,000 Southland inhabitants and visitors gathered to hear speeches on the opening day and some of these speakers were extremely vulgar, of the coarsely-humorous type, and "to a stranger the scene would soon disprove the queer notion held in the north that Southlanders are_ a sober-sided race . . . fearful monstrosities that could not be classified under any particular heading, mingled together in a heterogeneous mass of packed humanity, which swayed and jostled ahd yelled till 'about eleven o'clock . . . disguised demons confronted them and called them by name, jumping round them in the meantime and yelling at the pitch of their voices. . . . Whistles shrieked, drums beat, dreadful noises were produced from all manner of quaint instruments, and above all was the ceaseless clatter and swish of a city en fete as the happy thousands wended their way backward and forward in quest of enjoyment. . . . Invercargill's May Fair effort this year' is going to make history and be an outstanding example to the rest of the Dominion in community effort." I understand that cheerful music is a stimulant and the enemy of depression, but that discordant noises and vulgar romping can encourage trade I greatly doubt. America leads the way in such childish, undignified displays as this, and that it should be an example to be imitated by us is to be dreaded. A carnival can be made beautiful and joyous if the rowdy, noisy element is sternly repressed, and it is to be regretted that the foolish excesses of "capping day" should be quoted as' offering relief for bad trade and unemployment. I should like to see a well-organised, picturesque and graceful carnival in Auckland to give young people pleasure and provoke a holiday spirit, but I hope there will always be local condemnation, of notee and nastiness. OUS 0£ JODGH»