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Welcome > LOCAL STORIES > Shenanigans

Two small local scandals of a similar kind are here reported. One occurring in 1912, the other in 1915.

The first comes from NZ Truth, 04 May 1912. It comments on the scandal which was aroused when a party of men and women got stranded on Ward Island in the harbour, well into the night. To make things worse, two of the women were barmaids! I've clipped out the headline, cartoons and captions.

The full article may be read here, where the newspaper gets a lot of mileage out of both the situational comedy as well as lampooning the social mores of the day.

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Six stalwart sons of Neptune

Agreed to have some fun;

A yachting beano they arranged,

And asked some girls to come.

Our artist here depicts the boys

Extending an "invite"

To go a-sailing for the day-

They said nought of the night.

 


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At the yacht's side we see them meet

With hampers fruit and milk,

The gents a-wearing their short pants,

The ladies not in silk.

The Ethel set her sails quite gay,

Eight merry souls aboard,

Across the harbour they made way

To the island known as Ward.




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A white squall came and played up well

The boats were soon adrift;

We see them on Ward Island,

To where they had to shift

Cave-dwellers they became that night,

And told some stories queer;

The funny thing they tell us

Is that there was no beer!

 

 

The scanned article below is from a regular column the Evening Post which ran for many years written under the byline "Boathook". Boathook wrote on the gossip in yachting circles, concentrating on affairs at Clyde Quay. This one is from 06 February 1916.

I don't know about the reader, but if I was a young lady up for a bit of wooing, I think I'd rather a warm yacht in town than amongst the damp, prickly gorse of the town belt!

Or on Ward Island for that matter, particularly during a Southerly squall.

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