NEW YEAR'S EVE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19826, 31 December 1938, Page 4

NEW YEAR'S EVE

CELEBRATION IN TOWN LATE SHOPPING NIGHT LIVELY HOLIDAY CROWD R.S.A. BEACH CARNIVAL

Last evening was virtually New Year's Eve for a majority of Gisborne's residents, and the final opportunity for a last night's shopping was accepted by large crowds who came into the business area partly to buy New Year supplies but mainly to see the fun in Gladstone road.

The number of people about the streets was not as large as on Christmas Eve, but a spirit of jollity was plainly manifest, and shows carrying stocks of holiday novelties were well patronised.

The gala spirit was exemplified among the younger people by the wearing of comic hats, moustaches and masks, in many cases, and the manipulation of various types of noise-producing toys, from trumpets and squeakers, through a range of dying-pig balloons, to the more raucous hand-rattles which at close quarters can ' sound' extremely' • like machine-guns. Streamers by the thousand were launched over the heads of the shoppers by high-spirited young people, and the sound of snapping throwdowns was almost continuous. The sales of this fairly innocuous form of explosive must have represented a substantial figure, in the aggregate. Traffic regulations which reserved the use of the main shopping area to pedestrians worked effectively, under police and traffic staff control, and the night's celebration passed off reasonably quietly. The behaviour of the holiday crowds was exemplary, on the whole, and ebullience never got out of hand at any time, according to the reports received by the Inspector of Police. Bathing Belle Feature

This evening a special New Year's Eve carnival will offer attractions at the Waikanae Beach, to Gisborne residents who by choice or necessity are not travelling abroad during the holidays. The function, organised by the social committee of the Returned Soldiers' Association, will extend from 8 p.m. until midnight, when the advent of the New Year will be signalised by a fireworks display for which the materials have been specially imported. During the earlier part of the evening, the programme will include' a performance by a concert party of unusual merit, musical selections by the W.E.C.M.R. Band, public dancing on the tennis courts, a display of wrestling by leading amateurs of the district, and as a principal feature, a bathing belle competition for which a substantial number of entries has been received already. The municipal authorities have given much assistance to the R.S.A. social committee in connection with the gala, and in the conduct of the programme the organisers will have the help of many experienced carnival workers. It is anticipated that the function will rival in its success the Guy Fawkes' Night celebration conducted at the Waikanae Beach.