WHEN IT WASN'T MERRY.

Auckland Star, Volume 304, Issue 304, 23 December 1926, Page 4 (Supplement)

WHEN IT WASN'T MERRY.

Even a king cannot stop the average citizen of the Empire from enjoying his Christmas feast. Only once was it attempted, when William I. was crowned in Westminster Abbey in 100(3. So unpopular was his choice of date, which interfered with the enjoyment that was the people's legal right, that considerable rioting was caused. Peace above all things should reign at Christmas time. Yet, by a curious coincidence, many terrible wars have started on Christmas Day. After eating Christmas pudding, troops led by George Washington crossed the Delaware in 17G2 in preparation for a momentous conflict Great Britain was at war with Holland on the same clay two years later. _ British troops were in the field at Christmas time during the Ashanti wars of 1873 and 1879. The battle of Sherpur was won by Lord Roberts in 1879, and a year later, on Christinas Day, distressing news came to hand of the Boer attack at Btonkerspruit. Why should people expect to be admitted to a theatre at half price? That is what the management of Drurv Lane Theatre, London, were asking on' Christmas Day in 1762. For some unrecorded reason the audience expected a reduction in price, and when the management declined, lusty ones anion.; the"crowd stormed the theatre. The "Iron Duke's" Ordeal. Marked in a singular manner by many accidents, Christmas Day is now considered by superstitious 'people to be a bad day on which to travel. The Tay Bridge disaster, in which many people lost their lives, occurred on this day in 1879. Off the Kentish coast in 1880, the Indian passenger ship Juliana foundered. Ten years later the Shanghai sank in mid-ocean. .Many railway casualties have taken place on Christmas Day: but probably the worst recorded disaster was the explosion in Pontypridd colliery in 1885. A number of miners wen- entombed. A rescue party fought again-; the falling debris caused by the explo. ion and succeeded in reaching their comrades. History teems with notable .•vents that occurred at Christmas. King Stephen was crowned on that day. mid in 1058 Oliver Cromwell dispersed by force a number of church congregations in London. .lames the Pretender landed at Peterhead on Christinas Day in 1715. The weather on Christinas Day in 1837 proved a little too sou-oiu. >lc' for the Duke of Wellington. Wlll-i on a visit to the Duke of Beaufort, lie was snowed up in a wheat lield ncai Marlborough Downs. Some farm labourer? saw his plight, and with .shovels and picks dug the Duke out of his unpleasant resting place. ._._, .__