FANNED BY A NOR-WESTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11572, 16 December 1915, Page 6

FANNED BY A NOR-WESTER.

The River and ,l*o*>e Civrnivul, :i <itk» thai', conjures up ■visions ol placid, pebbly reaches iunl Howr-ry bowers, lias been promoted, its most people should know, to raiso money for tlwi Patriotic Fund for f>iek and Wounded Soldiers. It has entailed an amount ol planning and preparation perhaps never beloie expended on a, carnival ol' tho kind, mid tho result is an immense Inir, covering .acres of ground, in North I lira. First iinpros.>ions are always interestinsx and diverse, but probably there was onlv one first impression ainong Iho crowds that sot towards Armagh Street this morning, ;tnd that was the immensity of the' new canvas lovyn that had sprung up in a few days. '1 he tents enclosed a huge grassy quaarangle, which occupied tho full. site oi the Exhibition grounds, and extended right down to the Cnrlton plai.tations northward, and in line u, the A'ictoria Lako i>lantation westv.aui, whilo thev formed a continuous a line a,lotn T the river hank. The enclosure secnu'd too l)ig before the crowd arrived, but it seemed to small at the tmish. , A iior-westei' blew pnlhly across tho cround and the tents bellied and saggeU and dragged at their Topes. It was thc hottest dav of the .season, coming right on top of yesterday's nor'-wester, and the workers who had pinned their iauu o:i ico cream and soft drink sales congratulated tTiemscl:ve«. on their ptescienco. It was really too hot a cla.v for comfort,, hut it was splendid tor the ladies with their white dresses inecrowds arrived mainly hy the Armagn Street bridge, but there Avero two temporary bridges across the river, and they "were very useful for .\bo wisiiod to escape 1 t'otn the liurlv-burly for a quiet walk along the river tank. Instead of being a quiet rosy retreat, tho carnival developed into a Svionc o commercial activity, with a- continuous buying and .selling and raking in of money that kept the tellers of the National Bank busily scratching coins into the coffers as pound after pound \\as recorded. The size of the undertaking could bo gauged by the the old foundation stone of the Exhibition Avas not halfway along the- eastern line of tents.

To particularise the stalls or tents would hare been impossible. There might have been a hundred tents and marquees of one kind and another, among them the Kose Show tent, towering in .size, and possibly establishing a Dominion record. The people came' in apparently without any very definite idea of seeing this or that exhibit. but there were many special attractions. starting with tho decorated motor-car procession, going on to the spelts meeting, which occupied . the whole' day, and being diversified with concert programmes, Maori displays and the like. A fleet of boats on the river, manned by members of rowing clubs,, made regular trips for .a. small consideration, and canoes on the lake did a good business. In tho afternoon the llose Show claimed a continuous throng of visitors, and through all the tea ice-cream touts did a steady volume of trade. If there one lasting impression of tho whole effort H was the ideal advantage that ChriMtchureh possessed in its' riverbank site for a carnival of the'kind, and one could only hope that the result would be a huge sum for the Patriotic Fund. AMONG THE STALLS.

There wore so many touts, villi so much in them, that represented, the work of loving hands for months past, that it would be difficult to go into details on the- seoro of mere size. But it had to bo confessed that without the co-operation of the churches the carnival would hare been reduced by half in the area of its tents. The churches had offered their unconditional assistance regardless of art union scruples, and they had entered into the proceedings with the full strength of their organisation. Their tents were the largest and most heavily .stocked, and had unlimited numbers of helpers. Among tliem the Mayflower tent of the Congregational Church was particularly attractive, all the waitresses being dressed in Mayflower costumes, grey with white cuffs and collars and caps. The Salvation Army conducted the children's creche, where the babies were minded, and a greater novelty was provided in the rest tents,' conducted by .Mrs/Beauohamp Lano, where for a small charge one could sit down comfortably in an easy chair out of the wind. A big Christ-mas tree was conducted by the Misses Sorensen, but there were other smaller trees in other general tents. The committee wishes to acknowledge the sen-ices of the following firms m transporting the Maoris and their v. hares from TuahiwiNew Zealand Express Company, A. J. White, Ltd., W. B. Scott and Co., Kihblewhite and \anghan. and the f{ink laxi Companv, Ltd. '

ACRES OF CANVAS IK NORTH PARK. GREAT EFFORT FOR PATRIOTIC IKS.