FLEET AT SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18685, 15 April 1924, Page 12

FLEET AT SYDNEY.

A WONDERFUL WELCOME* GREAT HARBOUR SPECTACLE. (HIGH PITCH OF ENTHUSIASM [vnca etna own otbbkstokdknt.l „y • SYDNEY. A:pnl 10. After a week of atrocious weather, which bad spoilt the visit to Hohart and shown the Commonwealth naval college at Jem-is Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales, at its gloomiest, the great ships of the Special Service 'Squadron crept horn tho shelter of Jervis Bay late on Tuesday into a t black and storm-swept sea. The wind howled along the coast, The expectant- thousands aad tens of thousands of Sydney went sorrowfully to bed, having already -abandoned the projected trip to one or other of the points of vantage on the morrow to see the fleet arrive.

Bat, wonder of wonders, Wednesday dawned a perfect day. The very rains, soaking and constant, that had continued for bo many days and appeared likely to last over the fleet's visit, had not only gone as by a magic, bidding, but bad contributed a freshness and verdure to all the grand amphitheatre of the harbour that left it at its best and made one of the.moTi resplendent settings for the day's historic naval pageant that it is possible to conceive. Early in the morning countless trams set about the gigantic task of transporting vest bodies of paopla from the suburbs to points commanding the ocean and the Heads, or to those commanding the harbour only.

Traffic Admirably Handled. Memories still live of the visit of the 'American Fleet In 1903, -when the tram qysteia proved utterly inadequate to cope with the influx of people to the city, and many thousands were left miles away frem their destinations when the ship?, steamed up the harbouir, so large numbers of people, taking no risks, set ont ifor their chosen spots not long after the ran bad risen. But yesterday the handling oi the traffic was admirable, and excited the admiration of visitors. By eight,' o'clock tens of thousands of •yes were drinking in the delightful spectacle of Sydney's harbour on a perfect day. From the ferry bosfta one could see the concourses at the different points that afforded the best views, all determined to get the first glimpse of the ships as they hove into sight over the eastern horizon. Stormy or fine, the fleet keeps to time. Standing on the ' frowning cliffs, which to the north-and south stand sentinel to Sydney's ocean gateway, ten thousand people and more knew well that as surely as their watch hands turned tilowly tho half-hour past nine, just as surely over that'shimmering line of the eastern horizon they might momentarily expect a tiny :speck that would grow and grow till it proudly steamed forth, the mightiest thing afloat, And they were not disappointed. - Eschewing the coast the Admiral had put out to sea, so that the approach to Sydney was a movement due west, , And west he came to the minute.!

.■'/■■■' Hood Comes Into View. Ascending quickly and gloriously in the path of the ~ rising sun came the grey mass of the. Hood to thrill with pride and historical memories the eager watchers on the cliffs. Onward she came, making the Heads in a path as straight as rule could draw it. Then the Repulse. And then the lesser ships, though great and mighty stilL '■ No human - heart that throbbed with British blood but throbbed the quicker before that grand procession. Cleaving the waters to aW,; of foain the stately Hood and those behind her, symbols of all that Britain, stands imperial graatnestai, her civilisation, her ideal of freedom, her ideal' of honour, her aspirations for ._ the weal not. of Brifcains alone, but of all man-kind-4>rbߧ;ht to the joyous watchers such a flood of honest pride, such a depth of pure* emotion, that many an eye <: was dimmed with manly tears. At the stroke of ten the long, slender bows of the Hood, hacked by her. massage gun towers and towering turrets*, lay between the heads tad slowly advanced, with the other ships hanging back to the rear. . . ; , ; ; The arrival was the signal for such .a Scfin on the harbour as might justly be said to express the exuberant spirits of the counties* onlookers. There- was not a brass i threat in Sydney ; that did not screech in alto or boom,' in bass a resounding clamour Of welcome that human throats at the moment were- impotent to utter. ''■: But as the immense mass of the Hood turned into the channel and another grey prow showed up at the Heads, while aeroplane? sped about*in - mad joy overhead, the ear could detect amid the prevailing din. many a: volley ' of cheers from the hill-sides, and theijf eye could discern countless handkerchiefs and small 'flags, even umbrellas which had been brought out for emergency, vigorously waving the welcome that pulsed m every breast. . Great Ship Comes to Anchor.

5 The mooring place to which the pro-gress-of the vessels led is one of the most 4 beautiful imaginable, Neutral Bay, which, it is interesting to recall was named by ; Governor Phillip, the fintt Governor, owing to its depth ;of water and sea-room affording a convenient place for mooring the ships of all nations vising Sydney, was chosen for the Hood. 4 Thus she came to anchor at the same spot as .was occupied by the Renown during tie vist of the Prince. of Wales, and ; the Adnnral a baree, which almost immediately .afterwards put off from the .towering grey side of the ship, sped across the main channel to the Man-o'-War steps, on the southern, or city, «de of the harbour. # . , With the Hood at her moorings ana the Other vessels rapidly taking up theirs, mouisillve boats, thronged with people, were quickly noting about, eager to take m all the deUfls of the wonderful visitors. No description could do justice .to- the the Hood and the gßpßfeev I At close quarters the impression of repressed -power is ove** . wheiininE. Let but one of those silent ™ speak, :; and - Penrith, twenty miles 'LV at, sway, v dust. Let even the lesser oil these prfaed shafts of steel spit b «* i, city of death and devastation. But it is not the potentiality for death Bid destruction that impresses . one lZmmM. the shadow* of these mighty sgmrw *»» sense of safeguard and assur«cV that their existence gives against £2- dread calamities. That is the ►£ note.enema* safely say, of the cr-wcendo Ahtriaenf that at t% time of writing b Seph^epJrite.of. Sydney thousSide at the highest pitch.