Farewells are often sad, but in Gisborne they can also be hilarious affairs. The other night Wards Transport staff members gathered to say cheerio to one of their number, Reg Howe, who with his wife and four of their family, is leaving Gisborne to take up dairy farming at Reporoa, near Rotorua. For a moment, as the firm's managing-director, Mr J. O. Musgrave, made a presentation to the guest of honour and wished him well in his new life, there was a serious note in the evening, but for the rest the laughs came thick and fast in a programme which had Reg playing his bagpipes, all the men dressed in women's apparel, and a sheik and his harem bidding the guest a tearful farewell.

For the record, Reg has been with Wards for 14 years. A keen piper, he was largely responsible for forming the Gisborne Highland Pipe Band.

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