FUN IN A SALOON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13728, 18 August 1908, Page 5

FUN IN A SALOON.

A party of nine bluejackets, headed by a bosuns mate, had an immense time in a Queen Street saloon. They hove-to at tho hotel at 8 o'clock, and did not pick up their course again until 10. The bosuns mate commandeered the seat at the head of a marble (able, round which his mates quickly assembled. It was not a drinking crowd, for nothing stronger than lager beer wan indulged in, and that in I moderation. But they had an exten-

sive vocal vocabulary, and gave off coon songs, patriotic songs, and songs of all nations, with aai occasional recitation. A large number of people as* sembled in the bar, and listened to their singing, whirih evidently gave much pleasure. The bosuns mate had a rather good voice, and it was he who did most of the singing, his mates joining in the. choruses. One of his recitations was exceedingly funny. He depicted a representative of each nation going up to St. Peter at the gate. All were turned away with, the exception of an Irishman, who contrived to get into Heaven by persuading St Peter to cross the portals, and then rushing m, shutting the door, leaving the Celestial one on ttarßAfeide. When the hotel closed th© men talked off *« e .? ly J° .™\ 9 va y> where % ™mt °*L£° *& 1T .**"%* in tendersA ' t Tn^ foUowu »g is the chorus of V song which was rendered pretty frequently by the party, of rane:^-J-rA- — P—A-—J*->P — A-—J*-> Japan, you better keep away frrom ydur Uncle gam. If yy i OU • c ? r ' n>t > you're sure to rue; uncle fcva m w flj ma ]j 6 a "mince- . Pie, out of you. There c Admirals Wainwright and „_.., _°*>erry too, . t. a , *■» battleships quite a few. v^~~+~"~ A ~; N > Japan, you better Keep, away from your Uncle Sam. (By 'an Official Guest.) x? a j ing i acee P ted the invitation to attend jthe celebrations in Auckland during Fleet Week I took passage by the Rarawa. , A run of 11 hours over a smooth sea landed us at Onehunga. Symond Street was soon reached. Here I obtained board and residence at the modest sum of 15s per day. During theafternoon I visited the Auckland Star printing office and saw the new printing press turning out thousands of copies of the evening paper. Through .the courtesy of the manager of the bookbinding department I was shown The Album, an elaborate affair, being' New Zealand's gift to President Roosevelt, also the illuminated address to Rear-Admiral Sperry. The covers of the Album are made of ;New Zealand woods, handsomely decorated with silver and gold. On one cover appears a picture of Auckland Harbour, showing %ix the foreground a fully-manned Maori canoe and three battleships. Neither ink nor pencil form part of the piciture, all being worked with inlaid woods. Later in the evening I witnessed the arrival of the first through train by the Main Trunk Line. „'~ The fleet was timed to arrive at 8 a.m.- on the following morning, Sunday. ' At an early hour crowds of people in* trams, cabs, and vehicles of all de-> scriptions were hurrying to the sea front, and the small steamers were soon loaded with living freight steaming out to meet' the fleet. I had a good position on top of the flat roof of our* board-ing-house and obtained a splendid view of the procession of the sixteen mighty warships. In less than an hour they were safely riding at anchor. Queen Street, the principal thorough- ■ fare, was thronged with people. Knowing that I: would have the* opportunity on the morrow of meeting RearAdmiral Sperry and visiting the warships, I avoided the crush and visited the hospital; then attended service in , St. Matthew's and heard the Rev. F. <■ A. Bennett preach an eloquent sermon on the Maori Mission.

' The official landing took place on Monday, at 10 a.m. The parly proceed- ! Ed to the Military Hall, where the city welcome took place. Guests were requested to foe in their places by 10.15. The hall had been considerably enlarged for the purpose of holding; the official functions and was tastefully decorated with flags, banners, shields and thottoes. The native foliage on the walls formed a pleasing contrast. 'The Auckland orchestra played beautiful selections. By the time the Governor and Admjral arrived there mutt have been .over 3000 people in the hfcll. On thbir^ - * arrival the whole audience rose and sang the National Anthem. The Governor rose and, addressing the Admiral, said it was his pleasing duty as representative of His Majesty the King, to extend the Admiral a hearty welcome to the f urtherest portion of the King's Dominions. The Mayor, Mr A. M. Myers, on behalf of the citizens of -Auckland, then presented Rear-Admir£l Sperry with the illuminated address. When the Admiral rose to reply he was greeted with a welcome tha^ will long be remembered by those who heard it. The speeches were not long and were very appropriate. The next ceremony was the tree planting in Albert Park, immediately opposite th*e hall* The Governor, Lady' Fhinket, the Admiral, Sir Joseph and Lady Ward each planted a tree. The lawns were roped off and large crowds gathered round the enclosure. Being one of the privileged, I witnessed the . ceremony^and had the honour of being introduced by Sir Joseph Ward to Rear-Admiral Sperry. I spent the .afternoon in seeing the military review, which was held in the Outer Domain. In the evening I attended the state banquet' given by the New Zealand Government.' There were eight hundred guests present. % The following morning we ha# a Harbour Board launch placed at our disposal and visited the Admiral's ,warshlp,'the Connecticut, 16,000 tons, with 24 guns. The officers were courteous in answering our questions. The big gun is capable 6f throwing a projectile . weighing 'over 2001bs. a distance of 15 miles. j?here are about 930 men on board this ship. We inspected the cook's galley and saw the mid-day meal being . prepared by an army of cooks. The bread was first-class and the boiled , white beans and pickled pork looked very tempting. There are several provision steamers which accompany the fleet. They are fitted up with refrigerators. The men have always a plentiful supply of fresh meat, vegetables and fruit. There is also a hospital snip attached to the fleet, which is fitted up -with an operating room, sterilising apartment and ''dispensary. The steamer is named the Relief.' She is or 3000 tons and steams 18 knots. The boat was the gift of an American lady, Mrs 'Helen Gould. We, also visited the British cruiser Powerful. In the afternoon I attended the Mayor of Auckland's at-home at the Military Hall. There was a very large number of guests and I am sure the. Mayoress must have been glad when the handshaking was over. In the evening I attended the State ball at Government House. It was a magnificent affair. The ladies' dresses are beyond my power to describe. Their Excellencies entered the ball room at 9 p.m., the orchestra playing the National Anthem. The officers* in their full-dress gold uniforms and the jewellery worn by the ladies presented a very brilliant spectacle. Tjie two following days were spentr in visiting the adjoining boroughs by the tram cars and by steamer. The city was crowded with visitors, and I consider the crowds were very orderly. The illuminations were well worth seeing. The .hotels and restaurants were doing a very large trade. Many amusing incidents took place. The jolly tars seemed to be having a really good time. I consider the Mayor and citizens of Auckland are to be congratulated on the arrangements made.