MIGHTY CONCOURSE GATHERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26708, 1 March 1948, Page 5

MIGHTY CONCOURSE GATHERS

Positions of Vantage Sought

Boxes, forms, folding seats, chairs—anything which might be useful in giving a better vantage point—were brought to Hancock Park by the vast crowd on Saturday evening. An estimated 120,000 to 130i>00 people—probably the greatest concourse ever seen in New Zealand—thronged the park and the adjoining sandhills. They started arriving early in the afternoon, but the area proved fully capable of coping with tlie demand for accommodation.

Thousands of spectators who had selected Kettle Park and the extension of the sandhills as a less crowded site discovered to their dismay that a string of coloured lights along the end of Hancock Park almost completely obliterated the effect of the set pieces, and vehement calls that they should be extinguished met with no response.

Thousands of people had taken advantage of the fine weather by making a day of it—taking picnic lunches and teas and spending the whole day on the sandhills and beach. As darkness fell, the great throng was sprinkled with the glow of lighted matches, cigarette ends and flashing torches, turning the whole area in to something resembling a vast glowworm grotto.

Small boys who were “ nesting ” in the trees on the city side of the park probably had as good a view as any, but their pre-display efforts to brighten proceedings by tossing down crackers were not appreciated by the crowd below. Everybody was out for the display—age was no drawback and there were spectators ranging from babes in arms to others who could still vividly recall the pioneer days which were being celebrated. Anxious parents, apprehensive that their children might be lost during the darkness and crush, could be heard “ briefing ” their youngsters on their names and home addresses in case of mishap, while others had carefully placed slips of paper bearing this information in the pockets of the children’s clothing. Some parents were lelving on special whistles around which the family could rally. Parents’ Precautions Portable radios were fairly common in the crowd and helped to while away the long waiting period. Sporadic bursts of community singing were heard, while other people contented themselves with watching the everchanging panorama of the multitude, or with reading and talking. Some had made provision for hunger by bringing food, thermos flasks filled with tea, or more potent beverages, and the dozens of empty bottles left on the ground provided something of a hazard for unwary feet while the crowd were moving away.

The expected calls were made on the St. John Ambulance personnel spread about the grounds, and the three casualty clearing points dealt with the patients. Several cases of heart attack were reported, presumably the exertion of getting to the ground and the excitement of the evening having proved too much for these luckless people. It was stated, however, that none of these attacks had proved fatal. Good-natured Crowd It was an orderly and good-natured crowd, and the police stated yesterday that they had met with the greatest cc-operation. Nervous suspense, was the basis for several bursts of cheering and whistling which were heard in the quarter hour immediately prior to the display, but once the great cataracts of fiery colour were seen, noise was reduced to occasional outbursts of tumultuous applause and occasional awed mass exclamations. Before long, most people had used up their stocks of “ Oh’s ” and “Ah’s,” and were gazing at the magnificent spectacle in overwhelmed silence.

As one great salvo of rockets burst aw'ay, leaving a fiery comet’s tail of gold, a man in the crowd created a burst of laughter by shouting with exaggerated surprise, “ Superman! ” Addicts of alleged comic strips will no doubt recall that this redoubtable hero of a thousand imaginative exploits generally appears with a wake of sulphurous sparks.