NEW YEAR WELCOMED

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20694, 3 January 1939, Page 6

NEW YEAR WELCOMED

HAMILTON STREETS QUIEC LITTLE BOIBTEROUE RKVBUJM ABSENCE OP VANDALISM Chimes from the Cathedral cloak and the less melodious whistling of trains In the Frankion Junction yards ushered in the New Year in Hamilton, but as usual the passing of the old year in the borough was the subject of private celebration rather than public festivity. There was absent from Victoria Street the hilarity of Friday night and crowds were only to be found in the various dance halls, but that the advent of 1939 was being celebrated generally was evident from the sounds of merry-making coming from homes all over the borough. Music and laughter held sway until a late, or rather, an early hour and many of the Caledonian brotherhood were early abroad on the business of “ firstfooting.” With the relative quietness ef the streets there was a corresponding absence of the boisterous element among the revellers, and no reports of wanton damage have been received by the police. It was noticeable on Sunday morning that a number of front-gates had jumped their hinges during the night and that the umpire's stand on one tennis-court in Hamilton East had turned upside-down, but as far as could be discovered, no serious vandalism occurred.