BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

MOSTLY FOR COUNTRY READERS, AUCKLAND EN FETE.

Dear Boys,

The city of Auckland has been doing its best to throw off the gloom of depression, and so we have been in the throes of a "Prosperity Week." His Worship the Mayor sponsored the movement and, as outlined in my letter last week, many and varied were the methods used to cheer people up and to get them to give towards the Prosperity Week funds. The money raised is to be expended on work for the unemployed.

Band music and singing parties aboard lorries have been the order of the day all the week, and on Friday a great procession paraded Queen * Street. One of the cutest exhibits Was the motor car that went backwards bearing a huge placard "Reverse conditions: Leave Old Man Depression behind."

Upon a modern fire engine rode one of the queens, and, following behind on a trailer, was a scene depicting the smoking remains of an old house.

Old Man Depression must have been vanquished and his spirit sent aloft, for his tears fell thick and fast upon the earth. Despite the ill-timed rain, however, everyone seemed quite happy, and the spectators who lined the street cared no less than those in the procession, who refused to have their spirits damped.

Then there was the wonderful Arabian Nights ball—one of the gayest spectacles Auckland has witnessed for many a long year. It seemed as though one had suddenly come into possession of Aladdin's lamp and, by its agency, been transferred to the land of fairy tale and romance. The huge Town Hall was a scene of Eastern splendour seldom seen outside a coloured picture book.

And now the festivities and fun are over—what now? First, everyone is the richer—he who gave and he who received—and, secondly, we have made a gesture which shows the /T&\ spirit of the British Nation—the race that refuses to lie down, even to f if fr depression and sadness. Let's all OA Q& carry on Prosperity Week in ■ our hearts.