'IN MEMORIAM' OPEN-AIR SERVICE IN HYDE PARK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 172, 23 July 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

'IN MEMORIAM' OPEN-AIR SERVICE IN HYDE PARK.

The open-air service held in honour of Mr Gladstone in Hyde Bark on Sunday afternoon was a rather impi-es-sive affair, thanks in no small measure to the glorious summer weather obtaining. The assemblage round the six waggons which did duty as platforms was one of the largest ever seen in the park, but it differed in several essentials from the demonstrations

one is accustomed to see in the neighbourhood of the Reformers' Tree. The crowd was more compact than usual, and the mere curiosity-mongers which form so large a percentage of the ordinary Hyde Park demonstration were not particularly in evidence. It was indeed clear from the entire absence of even a suggestion of rowdyism that most of the people which formed the crowd that stretched from Marble Arch" to the Tree had gone to the park intending to do honour.to the dead statesman. Moreover, a very large percentage of those present exhibited tokens of mourning, though in many cases it was contii.d to a white rose—the flower which ardent Liberals design to use in the future as admirers of the late Lord Beaconsiield use the primrose.

The six platforms were of course totally inadequate to the needs of the crowd. On the fringe one could barely hear the voice of the speakers, let alone catch their words. And so many who had gone to take part in the service soon abandoned the hopeless task of listening and became mere spectators. As such many of them preferred to sit upon the grass, and before the service had been in progress five minutes several acres of green sward were occupied by recumbent humanity. These ' the hawkers, who it was hoped would keep away, assailed with requests to buy a variety of memorial cards and other mementoes. Their voices were more subdued than usual, a fact which was counted to them Cor 'sympathy' by some people, but I fancy the softness of their invitation to invest in a 'Memorial card o' the Granolman, price one penny,' was due to the fact that hawking is not allowed in the park, and noisiness might have brought the police down on them. The service was simple—a few hymns, the Lord's Prayer, short addresses, and the Doxology. The first hymn sung was Newman's 'Praise to the Holiest in the Height,' the second 'Days and Moments quickly flying,' the third Isaac Watts' 'Oh, God, our help in ages past,' 'Rock of Ages,' and a Welsh Doxology were sung as well. All were favourites of the dead statesman.

It had been announced that several choirs would be present to lead the singing, but apparently they got lost in the' crowd. At any rate there was no unanimity in the vocal efforts of the multitude, and the effect was therefore disappointing, except when the throng lifted np its voice in 'Oil. God, our Help.' Of the addresses given by Mr Lloyd George, M.P., the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, and others nothing need be said here. The crowd listened in sympathetic silence, save for an occasional subdued murmur of approbation at some particularly touching tribute to the dead stateman's memory. After the opening hymn and the Lord's Prayer the chairman of each platform asked permission to dispatch a message of sympathy to Mrs Gladstone in the following words: 'Dear Mrs Gladstone, —The sentiment pervading the great throng assembled here this afternoon is one of keen sympathy for you and yours in the death of your noble husband. As chairman at the different platforms we express to you, on behalf of those who are now sin-rounding us, our condolence and our unanimous wishes for your own personal welfare in your hour of tribulation. We beg to oxpress to you our appreciation of your devotion to the great leader of men, and we pray that God, in His infinite love, may ever be your comforter. — Yours, in solemn sorrow.'