Warrnambool Standard (Vic. : 1872 - 1879 ; 1914 - 1918), Monday 3 January 1916, page 2


NEW YEAR'S EVE. Brightly illuminated shops and promenading crowds were the main featdres of the scene in the chief thoroughfares of the town on New Years' Eve. The presence of the Town and. Citizens' Bands provided additional gaiety in the form of lively and patriotic selections, thus ministering to the enjoyment of the public in a manner that was fully appreciated. After the shops closed the vigil of seeing the old year out was undertaken lv a large number of rpeople and. tlit church bells calling worshippers to the wa.tch night services imparted an air of solomnnity to rthe proceedings. 'lhe passing of another year is geneiratly accompanied in theo minds of nm<st. people with a certain of feeling of regret and solemn leavotaking, hut the year 1915 died withou? t much sentinient of this nature. .t had been a year of cruel edaughtar suffring ald saodness to'a ,ast n.atnber- of tiople, and its demise was hailed rwith the dl:w ning of a new hopefulness for the future. There appeared to be more thai, the usual tegree of ?nrnrtlh in the exchange- of good wishes for the yanr 1916, and wimhen the Bands heralded thle birth of the New Year with the National Antihem. the good old air was taken up bk the crowds int the streets with a degree of enthusiasm that indicated British determination to orown the year with victory over the Empire's foes.