GROUND DISPLAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26708, 1 March 1948, Page 4

GROUND DISPLAY

SHIMMERING SPRAYS OF FIRE WONDERFUL ROMAN CANDLES Whirling rings of multi-coloured fire, shimmering sprays of pyrotechnic fountains and hazy mists of glittering earthbound stars filled the moments between the soaring and roaring of rockets and the radiance of the set pieces. The ground display, built up of Roman candles and a diverse series of wheels, triangles and cascading sparks, provided some of the most interesting and spectacular items of the display. One of the most spectacular of the items classified under the heading of ground display was a brilliant fountain in the middle of which a ball appeared to be balanced, rising and falling as the sparkling jets cascaded around it. To those who presented the display this device was, in all probability, a simple one, but the effect was at once striking and colourful. Roman candles of a quality never seen on the famous Fifth of November, even in pre-war days, shot their white, blue, red and green lights up to heights of 100 feet and more every few minutes and repetition did not satiate the appetite of the crowd for this type of thrill. But when to these Roman candles were added spinning wheels and glistening triangles in every common colour the enthusiasm of the onlookers knew no bounds.

The mammoth firewheels lived up to the description given in the programme. That is to say that they traced lines of scintillating fire as they revolved. Their splendour, however, was as nothing beside the blazing sunlike circles alongside which they were

set. The golden glow of the whirling little fireballs was of a calibre which might well have put Old Sol himself to shame—and indeed it was a sulky shame-faced looking moon which crept up into the sky long after the last barrage of artificial fire had been touched ofT. A series of double revolving wheels, surrounded by enormous petals of orange fire, gave a magnificent impression of a sunflower in one of the excellent presentations. From a modest beginning the display worked up to a crescendo in which leaping longues of fire gave the intended effect.

Those mentioned are but a few of the wonderful displays given. The quality of the entire -presentation of “ground displays" was on a par with the remainder of the exhibition. That is to say it was superlative.