CROWD OF 130,000 EXPECTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26707, 28 February 1948, Page 6

CROWD OF 130,000 EXPECTED

INTENSE INTEREST Visitors Pour Into City TO-NIGHT’S FIREWORKS DISPLAY Every bus and train which arrived at Dunedin yesterday brought its quota of visitors for the centennial fireworks display at Hancock Park this evening. Special, buses from towns as far away as Invercargill and Timaru will arrive in the city to-day and, in many cases, will set out on the long homeward journey after the display. With the large number of visitors in the city already and the promised influx from all parts of the province there is every indication that the largest crowd in the history of the province will assemble at Hancock Park to-night.

The traffic authorities and the police, upon whom will fall the heavy burden of crowd and traffic control, are prepared for between 120,000 and 130,000 spectators. The magnitude of the task confronting them has not been taken lightly and every effort will be made to see that the dispersal of the vast audience after the show is as orderly and speedy as possible.

From dawn to dusk yesterday the organiser of the display, Mr C. D. Brock, and his assistants, Messrs A. C. Fletcher and C. H. Wickersham, laboured in the preparations of the frames for the set pieces. When the last pole and lattice have been placed in position and the fireworks themselves carefully mounted, the stage will be finally set for the light to be put to the paper-encased quickmatch, which will fire the spectacular setpiece scenes. Weeks of work have gone into the painstaking preparation of what promises to be the most lavish display yet witnessed in the southern hemisphere. From the time the first rockets are fired at 8.45 to-morrow night till the final barrage, only 75 minutes will elapse—and the workmen will then face the task of dismantling the apparatus again. In spite of the comparatively brief nature of the display, the intense public interest indicates that everyone feels assured of the high quality of the entertainment, and Mr Brock himself maintains that there will be no disappointment among the crowd.

Cinema habitues will be able to indulge their tastes for celluloid entertainment to-morrow evening and still see the fireworks. Because of the general wish not to miss the display,

some city theatres have advanced their evening programmes to 6 o’clock, and special trams will convey patrons and staff members to St. Kilda after the performances, which are. scheduled to end at approximately 8 o’clock. The St. Kilda Municipal Band will play at the park before the display starts. This will relieve the monotony of the long wait on which many are expected to embark this afternoon. The helping hand of the St. John Ambulance organisation will, as ever, be available during the evening should there be any mishaps among the huge crowd. Members of the brigade will station themselves in pairs at intervals among the crowd, and an ambulange will be stationed at the headquarters of the Chisholm Park Golf Club, which will be used as a first-aid post.