It looked in the morning as though rain might mar the afternoon's entertainment, but at 2 p.m., when the gates were opened the sun shone brightly and continued by its presence to keep things bright during the whole of the afternoon.
By 3 o'clock there was a very large number of people present, and the grounds were filled to an extent that caused the pleasant feeling of movement and dash, without which garden parties are apt to be boresome.
The lawns and shrubbery were beautifully decorated with bunting, and the presence of many tents garnished with coloured streamers, and bands gave an appearance of variety to the scene.
Attractive young ladies by the dozen, clad in white, paraded the grounds with favours, flowers, sweets, and numerous other articles for sale, and it was hard to resist their vivacious appeals.
Even the unwilling had to succumb with smiles, and for those who were out to spend - and there were many - a large array of side-shows offered full facilities.
Pleasant to relate, everyone did buy, with a lavish hand, and a smiling face, and the Belgian Fund, to which the proceeds go, should benefit exceedingly.
• The Railway Department has just taken delivery of the first Class B locomotive, built by Messrs Price Bros., Thames.
This type is somewhat on the lines of the original B engines working on the Hurunui-Bluff section.
They have eight coupled driving wheels of 3ft 6in diameter, and are fitted with superheaters.
The boiler pressure is 175lb, at which a tractive force of 20,944lb is exerted, compared with 18,550lb of the old type B's.
Fuel and water supplies of the same amount as in the original B will be carried in a tender.
Some 2250 gallon tenders being built in the North Island for the B locomotives are being run with the A compounds for express trains, enabling a longer distance to be covered between watering stations.
• There is an absence of news from Egypt.
It is extremely probable that the Australasian Forces and others are now on the way to the Dardanelles.
The bombardment of Smyrna by Rear-admiral Peirse's fleet has been in all likelihood a preliminary to the landing of a part of the Expeditionary Forces in that town.
Such a preceeding would constitute an attempt to evolve a flanking movement against the Turkish forces, the base acting on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles.
Most likely a part of the forces will be employed somewhere on the Gallipoli side, but where it would be difficult to point out, although at present anywhere would not be hazardous except on the isthmus between the Gulf of Saros and the Sea of Marmora, for there is a large Turkish force watching that narrow neck.
• Mr F. T. Poole, the proprietor of the Koromiko Garden, the show place of Molyneux Beach, had this season no fewer than 1200 visitors, whose names were recorded in the visitors' book kept for the purpose (says the Balclutha Free Press).
Amongst these were people from as far afield as Japan and the Straits Settlements, not to speak of the globe-trotter hailing from the United Kingdom or the great Republic of the West.
Mr Poole is at present engaged in trenching and bringing in more of the virgin bush in order to enhance the beauties of Koromiko. - ODT, 11.3.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
