OFF TO THE FOURTH TEST

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 11

OFF TO THE FOURTH TEST

MANY GO FROM TARANAKI SPECIAL LEAVES NEW PLYMOUTH. 500 PASSENGERS ON BOARD TRAIN. Two hundred and twenty-five passengers left New Plymouth by the special train last evening to attend the fourth Rugby Test in Wellington. Another 300 people went to the station to watch them go. The train left at 9.25, and was to reach Wellington at 6.37 a.m. to-day. Further contingents joined the train at Inglewood, Stratford, Eltham and Hawera. The train, 11 ears and a van in length, was not full when it left New Plymouth, but the empty seats were booked at sta/.ons along the line. Thirty joined it at Inglewo d, a large number at Stratford and Eltham, and 130 at Hawera, : the 14 cars containing 500 people on leaving Hawera. By 5 o’clock last night 150 seats had been booked at New Plymouth. The remaining 70 passengers : bought their tickets on chance find there were seats for everyone. Some of the passengers carried suitcases and rugs, but most of them went unhampered., . Several wore the black and white s.tr,eah]ers of New Zealand’s colours, ai)fl ' a.t ; least one patriot flaunted the amber and.black of Taranaki. , , , , The,.crowd which .shuffled up and down the. platform was’ very.' quiet. .Once when, the engine gay.e an : apologetic whistle as it went off jUpne/,to. fetch another carriage, there .w;as,a look; of panic on the faces of passengers (lawdling on the-platform.. A young u ipa,n ( assured his friend in the first carnage tiiat; he would have, the shortest ,'a.hqthpr. car W.as put. on. n,/, t “Are .ymi .going doWp, ?”, jiskejl a ipan of a group, of idlers./,., “We’re. all going, down,” .said ■ a portly gentleman.,. “Oh!” said, the oth,e)r,., , ~ -i “All!” said the portly ,genjle,n>'an, making the joke of the evqqhig, “Down-’ill! 3 ’ Traffic from, all over sew Zealand tq Wellington . was heavy* The Auckland and main trunk trains, were, reported to> be full by a man 'who came by car from Te Kuiti to catch ( .the train from New. Plymouth. He had been unable to get a seat, he said, on the main trunk trains.

Many Taranaki people left earlier in the day by car. Cars from the north passed through the province yesterday. Waitara, although it was not aware, had the father of. the half-back, Corner, in the town for a short time in the afternoon. *

Due to the delay in taking on another carriage, the special train was 10 minutes late in leaving. Then the two engines took the strain and handkerchiefs fluttered as the train rounded the bend into the night. It leaves Wellington again at 7.40 p.m. on Saturday evening and reaches New Plymouth at 5.10 on Sunday morning. . GOVERNOR ENTERTAINS TEAMS. PROSPECT OF FINE WEATHER. Wellington, Last Night. The British and New Zealand Rugby teams were the guests of the GovernorGeneral at afternoon tea at Government House to-day. The New Zealand team arrived in Wellington from Otaki shortly after 1 p.m. The members of both teams remain fit. At least one man is determined that he will not miss the match to-morrow. Before 10 o’clock to-night he sat on a box outside the gates at Athletic Park and commenced a 16-}-hour vigil. The weather remains fine as it has been for the last two days with a light northerly and passing clouds. The New Zealand team is:—Nepia, Hart, Cooke, Lucas, Lilburne, Strang, Corner, Porter (captain), McLean, Batty, McWilliams, Steere, Hazlett, Hore, Cottrell. The British team is:—-Bassett," Novis Aarvold (captain), Bowcott, Reeve, Spoffg, Murray, Welsh, Beamish, Ivor Jones, Black, Farrell, Rew, Parker, O’Neill. Crowds are arriving from al! over the country by rail, road and sea. The hotels and accommodation houses are feeling the pinch for room, and one proprietor declares that if his place were six stories high it would not be big enough to hold the people who have applied. Provision has been made at Athletic Park to accommodate between 45,000 and 50,000 spectators.