About noon a large number of people began to assemble on the Victoria and Rattray street wharves to greet the representatives of the Special Service Squadron, HMS Dauntless and HMS Dunedin, as they arrived, and although there was quite a while to wait before the leading vessel, the Dunedin, was sighted, an eager watch was kept for her appearance. The luncheon hour of the high schools was extended by half an hour to give the pupils an opportunity to see the vessels and business firms also observed a prolongation of the dinner period. As soon as the time of arrival of the cruisers was definitely known, the Education Board got into touch with the various schools and informed them. The headmasters instructed the children as they left for lunch to assemble afterwards at some suitable time and place so that they might go in a body to meet the visitors at the wharf. Consequently a very large number of children took an enthusiastic part in the welcome at the wharf. The pupils of the outlying schools were subsequently dismissed for the day, but those from the schools close at hand marched back to their schools. Most of the business premises flew flags and the town generally bore an unusually gay appearance, in spite of the dull weather and the cold south-west wind. The ringing of the Town Hall and the Fire Brigade bells announced that the warships had been sighted off the Heads, and after this the crowd at the wharf swelled until it numbered several thousands. The police had a difficult task in endeavouring to control the large crowd, many of whom swarmed through the Harbour Board sheds on to the space reserved for the berthage of the vessels, but two or three determined constables at each end kept the frontage reserved for the senior ship clear. The Dunedin came into view round Black Jack’s Point about 1.15pm, and was berthed three quarters of an hour later, while half an hour after the Dauntless, which is the senior vessel, followed. The St Kilda Band played a number of patriotic airs, and the Dunedin’s band followed with several bright selections. The Mayor, accompanied by a civic committee boarded the senior vessel and met Captain Round-Turner and Captain Ramsay, who are in command of the Dauntless and Dunedin respectively, and extended a welcome to them.
Cheers for the fleet
The arrival yesterday of the light cruisers Dauntless and Dunedin, the contingent of the Special Service Squadron now in New Zealand waters detached to visit the port of Otago, is an event of uncommon interest. The might of the British navy is particularly typified in the magnificent battleship HMS Hood, and in HMS Repulse, which during the past few days have been the cynosure of all eyes at Wellington. But the light cruisers do not lack reflected glory as participants in an Empire naval tour that is destined to be historic. The Dauntless and the Dunedin are, as it happens, fine ships of their class, but in what they represent, they become momentously symbolic and are commensurately welcome. The British navy has never before been so represented in this part of the Empire as it is at the present moment, and may be never will be so represented again. The armaments of the world seem to be just a little more in a state of flux at the present day than ever before, and there is no telling what the future may bring forth. — editorial — ODT, 1.5.1924
Compiled by Peter Dowden
