STUDENTS' REVELS

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18073, 15 May 1924, Page 2

STUDENTS' REVELS

* CAPPING CARNIVAL PROCESSION.

Tho key was turned in the back-door of many suburban homes yesterday morning :ifc an hour when the domestic labours are, ordinarily in full swing. Peris were laid aside in many city offices, and the business done over tho counters of city shops between 10 a. m and noon w*as negligible. The explanation of this sudden cessation of useful endeavour was the Canterbury College students' annual capping carnival procession. Cathedral square was thronged by a crowd numbering'thousands, nnd there ■ were several thousands more packed in interested lines on either side of the streets through which tlio procession wended. House-, wives were in attendance iri numbers, as large as those of tne flappers from the omces. The small boy was there in force, and the busy business man so far forgot his dignity as to run, with boat tightly buttoned, down ' side streets, so that he might jqm up wri.li the procession again on another mam street.

The arrival of Studens Rex. his Royal | Consort, niembers ot the imperial Gov- I eminent, and other notabilities was solemnly announced by a policeman witn an enoi wnite-gioved hand. In his waKe, over tlie Worcester ; street bridgo, came the procession, with its lorries an d cars laden with all manner of strange occupants. A hait was | made in front of tiie Grand Theatre, and from the balcony of that building '•the Mayor, Mr f'lesner," "the King," '•the Queen," and "Dr. Thacker" addressed the "subjects'' below. Current topics were touched upon by the speakers, who, if they did not give to the world any fresh gems of wit and wisdom, at least displayed a confidence in their own oratorical powers which compelled ' attention. i Alter the speeches—and interjections—the procession" moved off to Gloucester street, along Manchester street to the Clock , Tower, up High street, and back to the Square. TJie*e was nothing in the procession. to livein the memory, the whole thing falling much below the standard of smart burlesque attained in previous years.-The organisers were dependent, for the most part, upon skits oh local advertisements for their topical allusions. Somebody's fruit drink, under a thinly disguised name, received a prdhiinence which the humour of its treatment did not warrant, and if picture at present showing at one of the theatres was represented by a "bathing beauty" going through' contortions meant to represent the act of swimming; There were representations of the Woolston and Tramways ,Band. A troup of "Chinese" did stunts on parallel bars a la'the Long Tack Sam CompanyWwith a certain important difference, ■' however: Ram's Eye Mac Donald mixed freely i with "Dr. Thacker" and Flesher/'l while by the sides .of .the carriages ran /frock-■ coated gentlemen, "''policemen," and a {miscellaneous lot of other characters. 'The; late railway strike, which . should have provided a good subject for the,' students, wasfcreatsd in a manner winch left the good t'aste of those responsible a matter for .question. ' A bouncing "baby" in a perambulator attended by a pair of. fori'd, although- grotesque, parents, formed the rearguard of the procession as ft passed through' the (square from • the southern end after traversing the.eastern portion of 'the business-area of the city; This turn-.' a somewhat perilous passage, for it had lost touch with the main body some while before, and it was only by gallant galloping on the part of the parents through the crowd surging on L to the roadiyay after the pr'oct n passed, that a liaison was again ei:Xted. The "baby" held grimly,to -4he swaying ship, and arrived all standing: and un jettisoned. Other characters there certainly were, but'''there was nothing outstanding in the whole production,winch caused former admirers of the* students andvtheir playful ways, to murmur sadly, "Where are the students of yester yearp" In the afternoon the students, including the women students, paraded '< in , "crocodile" formation, attired in., their undergraduate gowns, and made quite an imposing array as they went thr6ugh the principal-streets singing snatches of song. Afternoon iea at the Beresford concluded the day's festivities.