WHEN THE LIGHT WENT OUT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 134, 2 March 1929, Page 10

WHEN THE LIGHT WENT OUT

BAGPIPES AND DARKNESS.

There were two agendas for the meeting of the Hutt Park Committee, last night—the official order paper, and an unofficial programme. Both were carried to completion. The first item on the unofficial list was a serenade. Up and down the street, passing and repassing the Council Chamber, in which the' committee were sitting, a pipe band marched, sending up such a volume of sound that members were unable to hear themselves speak.

About ten minutes past nine, the light failed, and after an inquiry whether there was any more business to transact had been answered in the negative, the secretary intimated that the concluding minute of the evening’s proceedings would be—

At this stage, the light went out. The committeemen then filed out of the room, and with the aid of matches, made their way down the stairs. “This is no good,” said one, at the top of the staircase, as he gazed out of the window, across the harbour, "Wellington is alight.” ■ „„ Yet another surWse was in store. Ihe iron gates of the building were locked. “Have you ever been ‘over the top.' asked one, of another. “Yes,” .was the reply, “I’ve been ‘over the top,’ and I II go over this top, too. It’s not so dangerous as the other top.” ' , Fortunately, a key was forthcoming, and the men who had been, locked in, lined out into a street of candle-lit shops. It was the main street of the flourishing borough, of Petone.