CHEERING CROWDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 46, 23 February 1940, Page 8

CHEERING CROWDS.

QUEEN ST. TRIBUTE. THOUSANDS LINE PAVEMENTS. i VANTAGE SPOTS AT PREMIUM. A mass of whirling streamers and eonfetti . . . a Queen Street jammed tight with cheering thousands ... a scene which stirred the very hearts of all who saw it. This, to the ordinary people, was Achilles Day proper, and they made it a memorable occasion. Even at nifie o'clock crowds were beginning to throng Queen Street, and when most of the city stopped work at 10 a.m. there was keen competition for Vantage points. Shop assistants hurried to fetch tables, ladders, boxes, anvtlwng to stand on. Others packed windows and roofs, balconies and ledges, verandahs and anywhere a foothold could be found. In the street itself, pavements were lined with boxes. In several places periscopes were in use, and near the waterfront three venturesome souls watched from atop a telegraph pole. TT»eu, % at 10.20, came the first detachment to march through the guarding line* of territorials and secondary school cadets. Led by a naval band marched naval detachments and Hie Royal Xaval \ olunteer Reserve. Then the Papakura camp band, and, under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel X. L. Mackv, marched the men of the second echelon of Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, smart in bearing and impressive on the march. These men from Papakura proved themselves to-day as soldiers. Finally, and equally as impressive, was a detachment from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Half an hour to wait now. The final rush for vantage points. The Ferry clock at last struck eleven. Xliere was a buzz of excitement, and as Captain Parry's car came out of the Central wharf gates the first rousing cheer went up. As the men of H.M.S. Achilles swung out the cheering rose in volume, and when they came into Queen Street it swelled to a. deep-throated roar, which did not stop until the men were drawn up in front of the Town Hall. It is probable that Auckland was a little surprised at itself. The usual restraint was thrown to the winds at the sight of those men who had made themselves heroes, and the cheering mnat have beejx heard ior miles.