BEACON FIRES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 106, 7 May 1935, Page 11

BEACON FIRES.

SCOUTS ON MOUNT EDEN. CEREMONY IN CRATER. Beacon fires blazed from hill tops throughout thet Auckland province last evening to mark the loyalty of youth in New Zealand to the Empire's King. Near the summit of Mount Eden a pile of pine logs and other inflammable material had .been built 12ft high, and thousands of people gathered there to see the lighting of the boy scouts' symbolic fire. At 7.30 the scouts were drawn up before the pile, and after the singing of the National Anthem,the Commissioner of Scouts, Mr. W. J. Holdsvvortli, gave a brief address in which he referred to the nation-wide organisation behind the movement. The Mayor of Mount Eden, Mr. T. McNab, also gave a short address, and then lit the pile. A strong westerly wind fanned the flames, which soon leaped high in the air, and that was the' signal for the lighting of bonfires 'on other hilltops round Auckland. Small points of light began to appear in the distance, ana they steadily grew in size. The scouts went down into the crater with electric torches, and there their ceremonial was carried out. The scout laws were intoned, flares were lit, and round a small camp fire scout choruses were sung. At the conclusion, Lord Baden Powell's message to the scouts, urging them to perform a special jubilee good deed was read.

Despite a very cold wind, spectators clustered round the rim of the crater until the ceremony was concluded, and from that vantage point they had an excellent view of the searchlights of H.M.S. Dunedin and Diomede at the Naval Base at Devonport sweeping across the sky.