TEAM FOR GAMES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 17, 21 January 1938, Page 11

TEAM FOR GAMES

CITY'S FAREWELL

SCENE AT QUEEN'S WHARF

WANGANELLA LEAVES

A vast throng, tightly packed and linked to the Huddart, Parker liner Wanganella with innumerable bunched or flapping streamers, made the sendoff Of the New Zealand Empire Games representatives last evening an unforgettable sight. The scene on the southern No. 1 Queen's Wharf was unusual; well before the time of departure moving room was to be had only close to the steamer's side, where little could be seen, anu hundreds of people who had struggled through a crush to get wharf tickets found they could not get near enough to see what was happening. The Clyde Quay and Taranaki Street Wharves were invaded by Oriental Bay promenaders and theatregoers, and balconies in higher parts of the city were in full use. Enthusiastic though the crowd was, it could not be said that it was there solely to see the Games team leave; there were more than 300 passengers on board besides the sportsmen, and they had their friends and wellwishers. The liner's second-class accommodation had been booked out for more than a month, and the first class for more than a fortnight. Simian acrobatics put unusual persons in more unusual places. Correctlyattired business men coula be seen clutching wires, posts, and ropes to see above the throng, and overhead cranes and gangways were in full demand. Those who had clustered round the gangways—round them, beneath them, and on them—were-cast into the crowd just before the gangways were lowered, but as soon as the saloon gangway hit the wharf it was like jam to wasps. Unfortunately, gangways have a point of balance, and, there were • several jarred spines when the tip came. Just after 8 o'clock the Wanganella gave two short blasts, and shrieks of farewell that could be heard throughout the central portion of the city rose from the wharf. Photographers' flashlights stabbed the dusk, and the white, yellow, and blue streamers, tightened before snapping and hanging m bunches from portholes- and rails. Songsters struggled manfully to be heard above the cheering, and m the lulls "Haere Haere Ra E Hine, that popular Maori chorus, filtered through. The Governor-General (Lord Galway), who is attending the sesquicentennial celebrations at the invitation of the Governor-General of Australia, boarded the liner just before 7.45, accompanisd by Lady Galway, Captain R StuarS-French, A.D.C., and Mrs. A. F. Purvis, wife of the Military Secreta Among other prominent Passengers was Mr. J. O'Brien, M.P. for Westland who will represent the New Zealand branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association at the celebrations. He was accompanied by Mrs. O'Brien.