CHILDREN’S DAY ATTRACTIONS

Southland Times, Issue 24113, 30 April 1940, Page 6

CHILDREN’S DAY ATTRACTIONS

NEW FEATURES AT WINTER SHOW ELABORATE PREPARATIONS BEING MADE Elaborate arrangements are being made for the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s Winter Show this year, especially for the attendance of children and the staging of exhibits with a centennial flavour. It is hoped that the Prime Minister (the Hon. P. Fraser) will be present for at least the official opening of the show. The committee in charge of the arrangements includes Messrs J. S. Maishall (chairman), D. K. Torrance (secretary), A. L. Adamson, C. Trim, E. Boyd, J. D. Campbell, J. S. Brass and P. L. Hodge. The Queen Carnival, which is now in progress, will be carried a stage further and the princesses of the Army, Navy and Air Force will be introduced on the final day of the show by the Mayoress (Mrs J. R. Hanan). The carnival will end at a later date and the crowning ceremony will take place in the Civic Theatre. . . An energetic committee of citizens, in conjunction with the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, is making arrangements for visits to the show between 2000 and 3000 school children from both town and country. Pupils from the country schools will be entertained on Friday, May 10, which is the second day of the show, and on the following day pupils of town schools will be assembled for similar recognition. , , The country school children arriving on Friday morning in charge of teachers or members of school committees will be assembled in front of the Customs offices, and a band will play them through the streets' to the Drill Hall, where they will be entertained with community singing, ventriloquial and illusionist items by Mr W. Mathews, and dancing items by pupils of Madame Thorn. It is hoped to arrange for a speaker to speak to the children on the significance of the centennial, and it has been suggested that this might be carried out by the Prime Minister if he is able to be present. CATERING FOR CHILDREN Arrangements for catering for the children will be made by a party of Rotarians led by Mr F. Lange. The children will be given light refreshments and possibly a centennial badge. A fund has been opened at The Southland Times office where contributions will be received. On Friday afternoon the children will be free, and will be able to attend the Civic Theatre free of charge, for a programme of selected pictures. This has been made possible through the generosity of the managing director of Amalgamated Theatres Ltd. (Mr J. P. Moodabe) and the local manager (Mr H. Olsen). After the programme the children will return to their homes by train, for which journey each way special picnic fares have been granted, and parents travelling with the children have been allowed a reduction of 10 per cent, on ordinary fares. The next part of the children’s function will be on Saturday afternoon, when pupils of city schools will be assembled at the Customs House and marched through the city to the Drill Hall with the Battalion Boys’ Band. The committee in charge is making an appeal for funds for entertainment of the children, and about £lOO has already been promised. By courtly of Messrs Herbert, Haynes and Co., Ltd., a shop window will be devoted to a display of the goods given as prizes for raffles. There will also be a patriotic window display and photographs of the princesses and their attendants will be displayed. Funds for assisting the children will be handled by the town clerk (Mr W. F. Sturman). HISTORIC SECTION Among the displays, which will be appropriate and topical, will be a patriotic section, arranged by a women’s patriotic committee, and a number of exhibits reflecting the centennial aspect. A display of historic relics and old sports trophies and mascots will introduce the centennial aspect, along with the necessity for a museum in the province. Mr J. H. Sorensen has arranged for a display of such interesting mementoes of the past as two Court costumes, photos of early Invercargill, an early Southland greenback note, and two display cases of snails, both native and imported. Oysters and their uses, with particular reference to the Thyrodone products and the Stewart Island canneries, will be dealt with in a demonstration, along with an old whaling tripod and guns, the first plough to have been used, in Southland, the first communion cup and servery used by the pioneer missionary, the Rev. J. F, H. Wohlers, and part of the old grinding mill at Ruapuke. In the bird section a real kaka will be a unique exhibit. It is hoped to embellish the display with old heirlooms from Southland families, and to introduce the sporting side with an exhibit of old representative caps, trophies and photos of cricket and Rugby football activities. The entire display will be assembled and arranged by Messrs H. and J. Smith, Ltd. SEATING ACCOMMODATION Adequate room for entertainment will be provided in the main hall, where there will be seating accommodation for from 1000 to 1500 people. The stage will be 32ft by 20ft. Along one side of the Drill Hall will be the vegetable section display, and on the other side stalls representing the Army, Navy and Air Force, in the charge of women’s patriotic committees. Alongside these stalls will be the one devoted to such relics as could well be housed in the museum which Southland lacks. A fashion parade arranged by Messrs H. and J. Smith, Ltd., will be held on Thursday and Friday afternoons, and will feature fashions for women. An excellent entertainment on the first night of the show is being provided and will include part songs by pupils of the Southland Boys’ High School, under Mr Kennedy Black. This has been arranged by courtesy of the rector (Dr G. H. Uttley). Eight teams have entered for the girls’ inter-house competition to be held that evening, under the control of a committee of which Mr Arthur Kingsland is chairman, with Captain A. R. Smart assisting, and Miss L. M. Story, area recreation officer. It is hoped that a cup and miniatures will be presented to the winning team. There will be dancing by Miss Rene Ward’s pupils, as well as community singing and items by prominent local artists. The fashion parade will be repeated on Friday afternoon and on the same evening the boys and girls of the Southland Technical High School, by courtesy of Mr C. A. Stewart, the principal, will engage in part songs and choral numbers under the charge of Messrs Charles Martin and Kennedy Black. Dancing items will be provided bv the Southland School of Highland Dancing, under the direction of Mr A. Sutherland and Miss Madge Flaus. The inter-house teams’ competition will be finalized on the last night of the show. That evening Miss Miller’s dancing pupils will perform, and a returned soldiers’ pierrot troupe will give

sketches and individual items, the soloists being Messrs Rewi Kingsland, H. Kummert, Frank Johnson and P. L. Hodge. Mr C. Paine will be heard in humorous numbers, and community singing will be conducted by Messrs C. Trim and B. Hammond, with Mr A. N. Armstrong at the piano, which has been lent by Charles Begg and Co., Ltd. Assisting soloists for the evenings entertainment will be Misses Dorothy Foothead and N. Brumby. The lantern and slides for the community singing have been lent by the rector of the Southland Boys’ High School (Dr Uttley). Mr P. L. Hodge, who is the organizer of the patriotic efforts, is being assisted by Mr A. L. Alsweiler. Mr A. Sutherland will act as stage manager during the three days at the Winter Show. Mr E. Smith has arranged to prepare the hall which will be made much more attractive and the window dressers of Thomson and Beattie, Ltd., and Herbert, Haynes and Co., Ltd., will assist in the decoration work. MORE CONTRIBUTIONS TO FUND Additional contributions to the fund for the entertainment of school children at the centennial celebrations at the Winter Show on May 10 and 11 have brought the total sum in hand to £126/3/-. The latest gifts include £25 from the Invercargill Stock and Station Agents’ Association and £2/10/- from Mr J. Holland.

The complete list is as follows: — Invercargill City Council £ 25 s 0 d 0 Southland County Council 25 0 0 Bluff Harbour Board 25 0 0 Invercargill Stock and Station Agents’ Association 25 0 0 Wallace County Council 10 0 0 Southland A. and P. Association 5 5 0 Invercargill Chamber of Commerce 3 3 0 Invercargill Rotary Club 3 3 0 J. Holland 2 10 0 Abraham Wachner 2 2 0 TOTAL 126 13 0