STREET SCENE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 46, 23 February 1940, Page 10

STREET SCENE.

PRIDE AND FALL. PAPER, LITTER, PEOPLE. VERANDAH NEARLY DOWN. In the early morning Queen Street, busy already with people, was proud in its dressing of gay colours, waving flags and streaming cross-street posters, which told the men of the Achilles that every town, city and province in the country welcomed them with gladness. As the morning wore 011 Queen Street was filled with a teeming throng of people, cheering lustily as men of the Achilles and the units of other services marched by. At 1 p.m. the show was over—officially, but about the streets still there were thousands of people, and heaps of the paper streamers and other litter that had earlier showered the parade as a march of victory. Day of Incidents. It was a day full of incidents for the public. Rapture of greeting, enthusiasm of acclaim, weariness of long standing and the worn-out feeling of the aftermath. Crowds had lined the streets, and every window, parapet, roof and verandah along it. At least they had lined the verandahs for a time, in spite of the repeated warnings regarding their safety. It took a moment of drama and a "horrible example" to emphasise those warnings effectively. A big crowd had gathered on the corrugated and wood verandah of the building on the corner of Wakefield and Queen Streets, opposite the Town Hall. Again and again they were told to move—then suddenly there was a loud crack and part of the verandah began to break away. It was lucky that there was i. telephone booth below. It held the verandah, while the crowd beat a hurried retreat. That lesson was effective. Ambulance Men Busy. It is doubtful if Auckland has ever seen a bigger crowd gathered in its main street, and with the crush and the heat there were many casualties, mostly fainting cases. As usual, the officers of the St. John Ambulance were 011 the job. assisted by the Red Cross, and the efficiency of their organisation was amply demonstrated in the manner in which they dealt with these cases. Among the crush of people were many thousands of children ready to display their enthusiasm not only with lusty lungs but with flags, and even, in some cases, with miniature sailors' uniforms with Achilles cap bands. It might be said that the street echoed with their plaintive cries to be lifted on to the shoulders of adults about*- them.