NEW YEAR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 3 January 1928, Page 5

NEW YEAR.

CELEBRATIONS AT HOME. A QUIET TIME. LONDON, Sunday. Tiie Ncav Y'ear Avas heralded Avith quietude in the heart of the Empire, OAving to the wretched Aveatlier. Snow, sleet and rain prevailed throughout. In London probably the smallest crowd on record gathered outside St. Paul’s to hear the great bell strike midnight. The underground railways, omnibuses and tramways prepared to cope ivith a rush, but a snoivfall early in the evening kept many by their home fireside, content to listen to universal Ncav Year greetings by Avirelcss. The temperature rose slightly, Avhich turned the snoAV into slush. Then the frost returned.

One of the most notable celebrations Avas the midnight service at York Minster, Avhich took tiie form of a thanksgiving for thirteen hundred years of Christianity on that hallowed spot. The Archbishop unveiled a. stone inscribed “627-1927 Deo Gratia.”

Groups of English-speaking foreigners staged fake religious meetings in the neighbourhood of St. Pauljs to make a mockery of the> Avatchnight serA'ices held throughout the country. These scenes of hooliganism Avere resented, and in one instance the police intervened and took the ringleader to a police station. WILD ORGY IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Sunday. Despite extraordinary efforts made to minimise Ncav Year Eve celebrations the city indulged in the Avildest orgy for many years. The Mayor issued an edict ordering all places of amusement to lie shut at 5 o’clock iu the morning and the prohibition forces padlocked cabarets and night clubs. In one case under the old Moonshine law they removed all the furnishings and smashed up the premises of one of the most expensive places here. NcA’ertheless the greatest croAvds in the city’s history are reported, and reservations at theatres, restaurants and other amusement places Avere at a premium.