In 1924 Anniversary Day, the 84th anniversary of the founding of the city of Wellington, fell on 22 January, a Tuesday. The main focuses of anniversary day in the capital were the annual regatta for the nautically minded and the opening of the summer racing carnival at Trentham racetrack for those fond of horseflesh. The capital's womenfolk were encouraged to outfit themselves grandly for the occasion, as this advertisement for racewear in the Dominion indicates:
(The IRD's inflation calculator estimates that the Shantung silk frock at 37/6 above would cost $225 today).
The Dominion also reports on the sailing trophy awarded as part of the regatta, the Sanders Cup, which was first given in 1921 in honour of the Great War hero Lt-Cdr William Sanders VC DSO. Sanders, the only New Zealand sailor to win the Victoria Cross, successfully drove off a German U-boat on his first mission as captain, but lost his life to another U-boat a few missions later. The Sanders Cup is still competed for today and is the oldest sailing trophy still awarded in New Zealand.
The Dominion's editorial is chiefly concerned with political events in Britain, and focuses on the imminent formation of Britain's first ever Labour government, led by Ramsay McDonald, within hours of the publication of the article. The editorial takes a sceptical approach to the new administration:
As it is at present organised, the British Labour Party includes, with men of comparatively moderate views, a number of extremists whose talk and ideas are those of the Moscow International. These extremists are, as a group, actively belligerent, and habitually regard all strikes as right and all opposition to strikes as wrong. They are an integral and not by any means unimportant element of the Labour Party. Hitherto they have been at least tacitly accepted in that character by the leaders and representatives of moderate Labour, but a searching test such as the railway strike may provide is not unlikely to demonstrate that the two wings of the Labour Party are incapable of working whole-heartedly together.Elsewhere, the Dominion reported on a fine night's entertainment had the previous evening at Wirths' Circus:
The Flying Lloyds gave an exhibition of triple somersaulting, double twisting, and reverse flights, done at a height of twenty feet from the ground, the like of which has rarely before been seen in Wellington. They fully merited the thunderous applause with which their turn was greeted. Equally dangerous and calling for the utmost degree of skill, as well as application of nerve and strength, was the turn of Evans and Perez. To climb up a 80-foot pole balanced on the shoulders of a man, and from the top do hand-balancing feats is not an everyday accomplishment, and the spectators literally held their breath.
Tickets to the circus located at Cable St ranged from three to seven shillings (plus tax), with children half price.
History: Wellington Anniversary Day 1850, 22 January 2015
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