THE PROCESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 140, 15 June 1893, Page 2

THE PROCESSIONS.

SCENE FROM THE OUTSIDE.

I am not quite sure from the accounts in the papers whether those sight-seers on the stands in Exhibition Road had nob a better time than those of us within. It must certainly have been cooler, and from the following extracts from Mr Senior's account in the "Daily News" there must have been plenty to see '■— After two hours waiting for moßt of the twenty thousand in the three stands, came tha first signs of the processions. There was some hand-clapping—nob very much—as the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs and the Under-Shorifls of the City of London drove up—the Mayor in his gorgeous coach and equally gorgeous robes aud with his mace - bearers and othor attendants rather too numerous for mention. The applause for Mr Balfour was far more general and more hearty than for the city dignitary ; Mr Balfour's may, in fact, be described as the fir3t ovation. " There is Lord Roberts.' a voice cried out, followed by a score of othor voices, from the large group in the main doorway, and tho clapping of hands, clatter of thousands of feab on the wooden floors, and waving of fchou'-anda of handkerchiofs immediately answered the announcement The hero of the famous march through Afghanistan, and of the obstinate fight nearer the southern Afghan cily from which he derives his honourable and proud title, bore the traces of hard work, physical and mental, under the Indian sun. Tha spare, short figure under its tufted cocked hat appeared, indeed, to be as nimble aa ever and as wiry as .ever. And the smallish, keen eyes had lost little of their old alertness, But the face was thinner and more- careworn than that of the Afghan war day 3, as we remember it ; and the hair, moustache, and whiskers have grown as white as they over will or can bo. However, the intrepid leader of that renowned march, and the hero of many battles, looks perhaps, young enough for an AngloIndian sexagenarian, who has been in the thick of so much hotworkinsomany regions between the Abyssinian heights and the HiudooCoosh. No incidentof the damonstration in the Imporiul Institute Road was bo pleaeentiy appropriate as the prom^fc, spontaneous welcome to Lord Roborts of Candahar. Noitlier the Judges, who drove up about twenty minutes past eleven o'clock, nor the Indian Princes, attracted any particular attention. Generally speaking, an Indian Prince is eoinowhat out of place in a Europoan ceremonial. He is pretty Bure to be an ungraceful walker; he looks best bolow a hovvdah on an elephant's back, or sitting cross-legged among tho silken cushions on a raised dais. The Maharajah of Bhownuggur, who had an interview with tho Queen tho other day, almost waddled from side to side us he wenb slowly up tho steps into the Institute, with his " huzooris" about him, all of them, Chief and all, shining in snowy white, find purplo and gold, and glittering with diamouda and other costly jewellery. Tho stoutish young Maharajah of, Bhownuggur vva<i arrayed pretty much in the same style an ho would bo sitting in a grand " durbar " in his littlo West Indian capital. Tiie large turban, with its uigrette, is the genuine Rajpoot headgear. Tho young Maharajah and" his fellow Chief, tho ruler_ of Gondal, aro of the progressive, reforming, Anglicising type of native Indian "indopent " ruler. Independent, let the-English reader observe, is little more than a courtesy adjuctive. In the whole of India there neither is nor can be a fully independent native ruler. He may havo power of life and death over his subjecta, but only ao long as lie exercises his power wisely. Evon his right of succession depends on his good behaviour; and the three princes who came up in yesterday's procession 'ire model princes. The Maharajah of Bhownuggur has introduced aconstitutional eystem somewhat after the English plan, into Ilia State. Ho is a philanthropist. He patronises literature and science, and he himself has had the benefit of an English education. A still more striking fruit of the English influence in India is to be scon in tho pursuits, the tastes, and tho achiovomonts of tho Thakoor Sahib of Gondal, to give him his proper title. He has had an admirable education. For a ruler of twenty-eight years of age, lie has done a deal of uaoful, honourable work. Perhapß the greatest of all his services to hia own State in particular and to humanity in gonera! is his abolition of what every European has hoard of as the inclusion of female Oriental life. Ho has abolished it, thafc is to say, in his own Court. Tho two chiefs already nnmed are Kajpoots of Western Indiu, Tho third, tho Chief of Cupurthala, is a Sikh of tho Punjab, and a truo ornumont; of the warlike nice who so bravely resisted the conquost and annexation of tho great province which a well-known Indian administrator has named " the sword and shield ot India." Among the distinguished people of whom nobody took any notice when thoy drew up in front.of tho Institute was the Archbishop of Canterbury. But there was some slight applause for tho Italian Ambassador, who camo up shortly after. Tho first among the Royal arrivals was the Duko of Tcck. Next came the Duke of Cambridge, the troops drawn up on tho oppofite side of the road presenting arms, and their colours being lowered. The Duke of Cambridge received some hearty cheers. There was no particular demonstration when tha Duke aud Duchess of Edinburgh arrived, like tho othor members of the Royal Family, in their State carriages. But the Duke and Duchess of Connaught were warmly welcomed with clapping of hands and a lively fluttering of handkerchiefs. "There goes tho hardest working officer in my army," Lord Wolseloy remarked to the present writer, in a window of the Abdeen Palace, Cairo, as the Commander, then Sir Garnet, pointed to the Duko, who was just thon crossing tho square. The soldier-duke appeared to be in tho beet of humour -as he well might be. Tho Duke of Fife reached the entrance and went in, almost unnoticed. Tho arrival of the Duko of Edinburgh preceded that of the Duke of Connaught; and that of the Duke of Fife proceded both. It was now a few minutes after twelve o'clock, and the vast assemblage was impatiently waiting for the arrival of tho Presidenb of the Institute, namely, the Prince of Wales. At last, after ttfe long spell of silence aud waiting, cheers were heard, coming from Queen's Gate, and in a few moments tho Prince of Wales' procession cßine up. Tho well-known diplomacy of tho Prince of Wales was now illustrated in a very interesting and attractive manner; for sitting opposite to him was the Duchess of Teck, while opposite the Duko of York, who was by hia father's side, was the Princess May. Tho twenty thousand pairs of hauds in the great stands —and, to judge from the volume of sound, tho twenty thousand pairs of feet—were at their work of acclamation as the Prince's carriage, with ib plainly und tastefully harnessed horses—four of them—passed slowly up in front of the Light Infantry and tbo Grenadiers presenting arms. The twenty thousand pairs of eyes were concentrated on tho Princess May—she is a popular favourite. Then followed a long spaca of silence and waiting—a tedious af ell, though now and again one felt_ profoundly impressed by the spectacle of the vast mass of gaily attired, motionless humanity in. its mammoth stand. At halfpasb twelve came the Queen's procession, stately and beau tiful. Firsts of all came the carriages with officials of the Royal household. Then a detachment of the Royal Horse Guards, in their flashing corselets and white plumed helmets and red uniform. Next came the Princess and Prince Christian in a spleudid carriage, drawn by four richly caparisoned horses. Then more Horse Guards, in their red coats and

flash of steel, followed by the Horse Artillerymen from the colony of Victoria, the Cavalry from New South Wales, and the .small troop of cavalrymen from Madras and the Punjab. Immediately behind the Indian troopers came the Queen, in her State carriage, slowly drawn by the six cream-coloured horses. And behind the Queen, closing the procession, rode two more detachments of the Guards. The Queen's procession presented an extraordinarily fine and majestic spectacle as it proceeded slowly down the entire length of the Institute Road, amidafc tbe cheering of the vast multitude, every man in which stood with bis head uncovered. All tho preceding prodessions had stopped at the main entrance in the Institute Road. But the Queen's wont slowly round into Exhibition Road, and stopped at the eastern door. It was observed everywhere, after the Quean had passed, thab she looked remarkably well, and pleased \vith 0 the reception accorded to her. After the Queen's procession went by, there wa3, for the occupants of the grand stands and the spectators on the side paths, an hour and a half of waiting. During this interval the police rules as to the passage of the road relaxed to some extent, and the spectators swarmed out in hundreds, to look about them, and to mako a close study of the blue jackets, and the Colonial mounted men, and the Indians—the Indians and Colonials most of all. lhe eight Indian cavalrymen deserved all the admiration they attracted. Six, if not seven, of thorn were all of tbe Bengal Army, and either Sikhs, or Mahomedans from the Punjab border—the romantic land of soldiering in this p«o----eaic nineteenth century. Those swarthyskinned, dark-eyed, tall, athletic troopers, in their picturesque blue turbans, Sikhs and Mohammedans of the Punjab, wore good examples of what an eminent writer on military subjectH has lately called the finest cavalry in the world. The Australian cavalry contingent resembled, as regards uniform, bub excepting its colour, the Beraaglieri of Italy. The Australian uniform brown jacket and breeches, with red cerds and stripes, yellow waistbelts, brown, broad-brimmed felt hab (burned up on one side), with red band and dark plume, and brownish riding boots — was extremely tasteful and businesslike. It seemed an ideal uniform—for warm countries especially. These stalwart Australians, cavalry men and artillery men, who rode their horses to perfection itself, carried lances, with the orthodox red and white pennon. Truly, if these be specimens of our kinsfolk under the Southern Cross, the old Mother Country has reason to feel proud of her children.