AROUND AND ABOUT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 25

AROUND AND ABOUT.

PEEPS AT THE CROWD. '■ Viewed from the balcony of tlie Festival Hall, the crowd in the Grand Court presented a mosaic of shining wet um-brellas-a mosaic that undulated with every successive period of excitement. Everyone was there; the artisan and the professional man, the accountant and the clerk, the tradesman and the assistant, the housewife and her servants—and any feeling of regret which may have been felt was lost in the visitors’ resolve to celebrate fittingly the winding up of one of the most epoch-making periods in the history of the Dominion. All seemed to / be thoroughly happy. Nowhere in the ’ vast area of Logan Park did there seem to be breathing space. Seats, boxes, stands, and forms were pressed into service to rest the wearied bodies of the thousands of visitors, who, having travelled all night, were yet plucky enough to brave the ultimate strain of l “ seeing it out.” The feeding of these thousands was no t light task, and such as took it for granted that a meal could be obtained for the , mere asking and paying for, it were doomed to disappointment. Many ob- * tained their meal, but twice as many | went hungry. This, however, was no , fault of the Exhibition caterers, who did ) their part well, but queues of some hundreds outside the quick lunch building ( and the doors of the cafe, and a ravenous : crowd of diners kept waitresses and cooks so busy that it is doubtful whether all \ went away satisfied. The verandah outside the Festival Hall was, for the tim e being, turned into an extempore cafe, and here a merry 200 visitors made a hurried picnic meal. Many of the wise heads knew what was to bo expected when visiting an Exhibition, and } brought their hampers, and the parties had attuened to them an energetic messenger, , who saw to it that sundry cups of tea > were hurried to the scene from the quick lunch counter. And so they fed royally and well. The humble pie, too, was not neglected. Shut out from the delights of the more expensive and elaborate meal provided in the cafe, a food-seeking and hunger-stricken crowd of old and young besieged a pie merchant, who. it seemed, had difficulty in keeping up with th© unprecedented demand for his wares. Night time, with its blaze of multi* coloured lights, onlv served to add to'the* seething throngs throughout the ground!

and th 0 buildings. Strangely enough, although the search for pleasure appeared to be predominant, and rightly so, on such an evening the courts attracted their due ahare of attention, and even the Secondary Industries Court, which, of all Logan Park, would seem least to be associated with the spirit of carnival, was packed. And here again was evidenced the mood of the evening. At every stall where there was anything to buy or to bo won the cry went up, “Your last opportunity,” and, indeed, this was the predominant note of the evening. E verve no knew it was his last opportunity, whether to ride on the railway, win a tea set. or to have e last lingering study of the historical lesson of the British Pavilion, and everyone made the most of the chance. Music-lovers stayed till the very end—damp and tired, but determined to near the final note of their beloved Argyll and Sutherlands. Again, it was their last opportunity, and regretfully they lingered over it, as a connoisseur lingers over the last glass of a rare vintage. 'As in all •er'wds, the practical joker was in evidence. Venturesome spirits in search of a panoramic view climbed to the roofs of the buildings, and in one case, where the ladder was not a fixture, it was promptly removed, till frantic yells and semaphoring by the explorers resulted in a rescue. Three men, jammed in a queue in the Amusement Park, found, on moving, that their coat-tails had been pinned together, axl one bright youth possessed of lusty lui-gs gathered together a curious crowd of srue hundreds and then vanished, leaving them wondering what it was all about. I Stall-holders generally greeted the closing of the great shew with a good deal of satisfaction, not so much on account of a particularly profitable six months, as the fact that what one of them termed a “wearying job” was now over, and normal hours would again become the order of the day. One showman was emphatic in his assertion that never if he knew it would he see another exhibition. “I’m going to buy a fruit farm in California,” he said. Asked why California was the land of his choice he grinned. “There’s no ram in California,” lie replied, “and. as far as i know, there won’t be an exhibition there for a long time.” “Goodness! I hate to part wdth them,” was the remark passed by an enthusiast, as the strains of “Will Ye No’ Come Back Again'’ floated through the Grand Court. He was, of course, referring to the Band, and he was only one of thousands who were of the same mind. All hated to part with them, and the closing scenes proved how thoroughly these soldier musicians have played their way into the hearts of the Exhibition-going public.