TOUCHING INCIDENT

Northern Advocate, 28 December 1934, Page 6

TOUCHING INCIDENT

BOY CRIPPLE’S INTEREST

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS HALTS

HIGHLAND PIPERS’ PAGEANT,

[Special to “Northern Advocate.”] AUCKLAND, This Day.

As the Duke started to drive away from the official platform at the Domain yesterday morning there was a touching incident. A boy aged about. 10, a cripple, lay on a stretcher cot. He had a Union Jack in each corner of his cot and another in his right hand. He did his best to raise himself to catch a glimpse of the Duke as he drove by. His Royal Highness directed his chauffeur to slow-up to give the occupant of the cot an opportunity to see him. The Duke smiled . and the child was delighted. He had seen the Duke—and the Duke had seen him. Twelve tram cars were used to transport the country schoolchildren from the Domain to the Zoo and back to the Newmarket railway station. A number of special cars also picked up the suburban children and took them to the Domain. Children’s tastes in music are not catholic. For them a refined Scottish taste or a genuine Highland ancestry is not necessary to appreciate the skirl of the bagpipes—or perhaps it was the sight of the enormous and imposing drum major in the lead. As the Highland Pipe Band moved across the ground in the morning on its way to the annexe gates, playing lustily, crowds of small children ran from everywhere, took an awed glance at the pompous dignity of the drum major in the lead, and then fell quietly in behind, marching in step to the wail of the pipes. One curly-headed little five-year-old could not keep step—the pace was too fast, so he trotted smilingly behind at his own gait. Many children last evening would tell their parents about the band.

The large contingent of Catholic girls and boys, all dressed in white, marched on to the ground after assembling at St. Benedict’s, off Symonds Street, and at Outhwaite Park. Members of the Holy Name Society, under the direction-of the Rev. Father F. H. Terry, acted as marshals.

Arthur’s Worries Ended.

“Will little Arthur —’s father please gc over to the grandstand at once as Arthur is getting really worried?” asked the announcer at the microphone and loud speaker when the crowd was dispersing. A moment or so later Arthur was observed at the pavilion crying bitterly, a smiling policeman doing his best to pacify him until his father arrived.

Dozens of small children were lost in the crowd, but messages sent out by the man at the loud speaker invariably brought a successful result. For fully half an hour after the rally had concluded the loud speaker was blaring out these messages. It filled a most useful purpose, and each announcement could be heard all over the large Domain. Casualty Tent.

Excellent work was done by the St. John Ambulance Brigade. A casualty tent was provided, also another tent where lost children were taken until claimed by their parents. Only one dressing had to be carried out. the remaining “casualties” being trivial. A few children were affected by the heat and the excitement, and fainted, but under tire expert attention of the willing women members of the brigade they quickly recovered.

Hundreds of cases of bottled drinks were dispensed to the country children in quick time, and after lunch was , over the ground under the trees near the cricket score board was littered with drinking straws and bottles. The Domain bottle gatherers had never before seen so many bottles on the ground, and enterprising “bottle-o’s” were early on the scene with sacks. FRIEND OF CHILDREN, A NEW YEAR MESSAGE. [Special to “Northern Advocate”! AUCKLAND, This Day. A special New Year message to the children of New Zealand is being written by the Duke of Gloucester, and arrangements arc being made for its publication in the newspapers on Monday next. The message will be signed by His Royal Highness, and duplicated copies of the document as autographed will be available for presentation to the schools. This souvenir in remembrance of the children of the Dominion is typical of the Duke’s unfeigned' interest in the juvenile population.