THE CORONATION CELEBRATIONS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1902, Page 4

THE CORONATION CELEBRATIONS

We are glad that the Citizens' Committee have definitely decided to make the entertainment of the children a leading feature in the Coronation celebrations. How this may be

most effectively achieved has yet to ibe determined, and the matter was not advanced very much practically by the meeting of teachers yesterday. The season of the 3*ear puts the adoption of an outdoor display, unless in the shape of fireworks at night, quite out Of the question. To gather 10,000 children in the Domain at midwinter Would be almost criminal. Even if the Coronation day happened to be fine, we could not hope for a dry turf, nor would it be possible to prevent children assembled on the damp ground fr.om sitting down. To watch

any sort of display on a cold winter day is' a cheerless sort of entertainment; 'but beyond that the consequences to many of. the children thus exposed might be most disastrous.

The scheme for covering Queenstreet, between Victoria aridWellesley streets, with canvas, decorating the interior with evergreens and bunting, and making the huge tent a rallying place, where the children could receive light refreshment, and be drafted thence to entertainments at various places of amusement in the vicinity, was worthy of a good deal more support than it receivtd. The proposal presented no great difficulty in its execution, and it had the saving charm of novelty. The. suggestion that to collect money for a children's feast would constitute charity is absolute nonsense. There is no more charity about that than in collecting money to give departing contingents a free luncheon, or to entertain a popular politician or general at a free dinner. If the citizens chose to make the children, as a body, their guests for the day, as well as to provide them with tickets for free shows, the most; aggressive stickler for personal independence should have no hesitation about accepting- the honour. Money is collected for every Sunday School treat, with its abnormal consumption of buns and ginger pop, and we. never yet heard it suggested that the participants were objects of charity. To Entertain the city children en masse in Queen-street would be very much more impressive than to give them entertainments in their own schoolrooms; and as for gathering * the children together for the purpose of hearing orations upon loyalty from the mouths of teachers and tub-thumping local orators, the author of this brilliant conception must have, altogether lost tbuuh with boyish, notions of fun. The description given by "Kapai" in another column of the village rejoicings in England at the late Queen's coronation shows that Englishmen under-; stood these things a.good deal.better sixty years ago than their descend-' ants in Auckland do to-day... The. chief, objection to Mr. Tibbs'. scheme is the cost, for we do not! attach much importance to the dan 1 ger from the weather. Queen-street is well Sheltered, and with the support of the tramway poles already erected there should be no serious difficulty about sustaining the canvas in any wind 'short of a tornado. The circumstances are unique, and will probably never occur again so long as Auckland is a city. Carried out successfully, this novel entertainment woulS have attracted attention all over the world,, and would have lived for ever in the memory of every child participating in it. But in the face of the antagonism of the Mayor, who seemed to be in a singularly pessimistic mood last night, and with the great majority of the teachers unwilling to undertake the control of the thousands of children assembled, the scheme is perhaps better abandoned. We cannot, however, see it set aside without regret, and are sorry that the headmasters assembled did not manifest a greater enthusiasm and readiness to act as marshalls. With the monster tent divided into sections, representing each school, and the distribution of tickets for the various amusements made subject to good behaviour, the maintenance of order ought not to have overtasked the capacity of our State schoolmasters. '. The" meeting last night has cleared the jvay of the Celebration Committee to this-extent, that it has demon-, strated the impracticability of any programme which requires for its achievement great enthusiasm and combined effort on the part of the

teachers. The suggestions\ left, as the outcome of the discussion—namely, free tickets to a series of entertainments, a bag of lollies, and a handsome Coronation card—are excellent, if not very ambitious or original conceptions. By delegating the work of collecting money vaguely to "the ladies" the meeting relieved itself of a load of trouble. Whether a sufficient, number of the fair sex will be willing to shoulder the burden thus thrust upon them remains to be proved, but the object is one that should appeal strongly to their sympathies, and we hope that when a meeting is convened with this object it will be animated by a more ardent spirit, one less easily daunted by imaginary difficulties, than was manifested last night. We hope, too, that the response on the part of the public will be' general and generous. Every parent should feel a personal interest in the movement, and be willing to cast his mite, however small, into the treasury.