AMBITIOUS PLANS

Southland Times, Issue 22215, 6 January 1934, Page 10

AMBITIOUS PLANS

CENTENARY OF MELBOURNE. MUCH WORK THIS YEAR. Sydney, December 29. With 1934, Melbourne’s centenary year, the organization of the centenary celebrations will enter on its last and most intensive stage. Much of the ground work has already been done, and a long programme of functions, extending from October, 1934, to March, 1935, has been approved by the Centenary Council. But many features—including a Royal visit, on which the success of the celebrations largely depends—have yet to be arranged, and the Centenary Council anticipates that the busiest period of its existence will be in the early days of 1934. The focal points of the celebrations have already been decided and their organization is well in hand. They are the Centenary Air Race from England to Australia, the Centenary Royal Show, the Centenary Melbourne Cup, with its greatly increased prize-money, the dedication of the magnificent Shrine of Remembrance War Memorial, and the All-Australian exhibition. These main events will take place in the last three months of the year. About 150 additional fixtures have been approved by the council, and the more important of them include the British Medical Association Congress; a series of international golf matches; an international Rotary Conference; a visit of Empire Public School boys; a jamboree of Boy Scouts; a maritime exhibition; the centenary of Methodism and Anglicanism; a Eucharistic Congress ; a congress of the British Empire Service League; a choral festival; an Empire chess congress; a Tasman yacht race; an international bowls tournament; and a Centenary People’s Fair. The most important task that awaits the centenary organizer (Erig.-General Jess) is the provision of accommodation for the 50,000 visitors who are expected at the height of the celebrations. He is also in charge of the pageantry. The presentation of Victoria’s history in tableaux and pageantry will require extensive preparation. The music has yet to be written and the ballets will have to be schooled in the almostforgotten dances of the early days. Thousands of costumes will have to be manufactured and some of the scenes will be rehearsed over a period of many months. Early next year a census of the hotels and boardinghouses of Melbourne will be taken and their accommodation capacity will be recorded at a special bureau which is being established under the direction of the council.