“ MISS CANTERBURY ” CROWNED QUEEN AT BIG ROSE FETE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18016, 29 November 1926, Page 15

“ MISS CANTERBURY ” CROWNED QUEEN AT BIG ROSE FETE.

PROVINCIAL BEAUTY RECEIVES ROSE BOUQUET Wearing a one hundred and twentyguinea robe and surrounded by pages in full court costume and pretty little maids-in-waiting, Miss Mavis Pyc.roft was, on Saturday night at the Domain Fete, crowned Queen of Canterbury beauty by the Mayor, Mr J. K. Ar- . cher. Led by two pages carrying court trumpets and a crown bearer carrying a coronet of beautiful roses on a red cushion, “Miss Canterbury” was greeted with applause a? she mounted the dais with six little'girls holding up the train of her luxurious robe. “Miss Canterbury” and her- maid of honour. Miss .Phyllis Mann, tool> up their positions side by side on . the dais. To their left was “Little Miss Christchurch..” and grouped around were the other little .finalists in the juvenile beauty contest, while the page boys occupied opposite corners of the dais. “BORN TOO LATE-" . Miss Maim stepped forward and' iri? trodueed “Miss Canterbury” to the Mayor, stating that she had been elected the first beauty of the -province by the people of Canterbury. “Miss P} r croft,” said the Mayor, “on behalf of myself and the residents of Christchurch and Canterbury as a whole, I have great pleasure in crowning you to-night Oueen of Beauty for the Canterbury province. I don’t want to awaken any regrets in your heart or in the hearts. of the Canterbury people, but I am sure we would -allhave been very glad if I could have crowned you ‘Miss New Zealand.’ “/ heard a gentleman say to-day at another function which I attended that his trouble was that he had been born a few years too late, and I think that had you not been born just when you were you would have been ‘Miss New Zealand.’ However, I want to say to you that you are to be envied for being so young. I wish I was your age. CROWNED. “T don’t want to make a speech; it is such a cold, wet night. It gives me tremendous pleasure to place this crown upon your head.” With these words the Mayor stepped towards the throne and crowned “Miss Canterbury,” after which he presented her with ,a beautiful bouquet with the Canterbury colours.. / Then he turned to Miss Phyllis Mann. “And this is for Miss Mann, lady-in-waiting,” he said, as he presented her with a bouquet. “I suppose you are waiting to be the lady herself next year. Wc have another beauty here tonight, too, a beauty of the present and a beauty of the future,” he said, turning to “Little Miss Christchurch.” “Hold her up so that. wc. can see her,” shouted someone in the crowd, and the little girl was held high in the air. “This little girl has been selected the winner of a beauty contest out of a very large number of entrants—one hundred and fifty—and it is no disrespect to the others to say that she deserved to win.” HER SPEECH. “Miss Canterbury” stepped forward to receive the tribute of the hundreds, who had turned out in the rain to witness the ceremony. “Speechl” demanded the.crowd, and “Miss Canterbury” made a speech. She said that Miss Mann and she liad enjoyed themselves very much, but were glad to be back amongst their many friends in Christchurch. “Wc feel it a great honour to be asked to such a beautiful celebration.’’ she said. “We thought it simply lovely to see so many beautiful children today, and so many beautiful flowers. To-day will be one of our most pleasant memories. I wish, to thank the people of Canterbury for the good time I have had and the Domains Board for their great kindness, and I hope you all will have a very merry time for the rest of the evening.”

“Miss Canterbury” was cheered as she left the dais.