AT OLYMPIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 149, 26 June 1934, Page 6

AT OLYMPIA.

PAGEANT OF SPEED AND SKILL. (By NE'LLE M. SCANLAN.) LONDON, May 17. To-day the King and Queen opened the Royal Tournament at Olympia. Sunlight shone through the high arched roof of this vast building. Thousands packed the tiers of seats around the wall, and the floor was. covered with a foot of earth. Half-way down one side wae the Koyal box, with its golden chairs, where the King and Queen eat with their suite around them, and backed by generals and admirals and a fine display of military and naval high authority. The tournament is for the encouragement of s,kill-at-arms, and the proceeds go to the charities of the various services. Each year this great, spectacular event becomes more popular, and something, of theatrical presentation enhances its appeal. , If one were to judge by the applause, tho most popular branch of service is the Navy, next comes the Highlanders, and then the Air Force. Everyone loves a sailor, particularly the small boys, who howled themselves hoarse with delight at every naval turn. Six-gun teams from the "Sphinx" Battery, Royal Horec Artillery, provided a musical drive. The Royal Artillery has eeen service in every part of the world where Britain has fought. Among the horses was Froggy, a veteran mascot of the 'regiment, now twentythree years old, and making its last appearance. After the performance he held a public reception in his stall, where hundreds of people took affectionate farewell of this old horse, now going into pleasant retirement. With six horses to each shining gun, and three men to the horses, they galloped through a most intricate series of movements, crossing, turning, making circles, weaving patterns, an exhibition which takes both skill and nerve in this necessarily restricted space. The gay uniforms, scarlet jackets heavily "frogged" with yellow, and Hussar hats' with red cockades, were very dashing and added to this breathless exhibition. "Window Climbing." Boys of the Koyal Navy provided an exhibition of skill and nerve in their "window climbing." Sturdy youths, fresh from the Training School at Portsmouth, and ready to be drafted to ships of the Fleet, they climbed ropes to a series of iron lattices suspended 50 feet above the arena. It was all done to music. Hand over hand, they climbed the ropes , with perfect rhythm. With their long blue trousers, and white vests, they worked themselves into "cross-stitch" patterns, like coloured threads on a coarse canvas. Every step, every' twist, every movement of hand and arm, was perfectly co-ordinated with tho beat of the nnteic. It was precise, crisp, flawless and fearless. It required muscular strength, yet limbs as supple as silk, mental concentration, and a nerve like iron. It was greeted with tremendous applause. , You may "tell it to the Marines," whatever that may mean, but the best piece of drill goes to their credit. I heard one old general mutter: "Splendid! Splendid!" M they finished. The Marines have evolved from the. old Pikers, and a most amusing contrast with tho modern regiment was the display of old-time Pikers, in their long mustard-coloured coats and Quaker hatfi, their officer's hat swathed in white ostrich plumes. He drilled them as they did in 1(100, with tho windy, wordy directions as to movements, and a prod, in the midriff straightened a line. With a sweep of his feathered hat, the officer exclaimed: "Greetings to you. Sire," while the Marine of to-day expresses himself in a sharp salute.

The youngest service, the Air Force, has won considerable popularity, and the display of fitness and precision given by those youths, whoso agee average 18 J years, and who had just completed three months' training, brought roars of applause. In their white trousers and sky-blue vest*, you saw the pick of England's young men in evolutions that have been designed to promote physical fitness with mental alertness. The Black Watch. Perhaps the great event of the day was the Black Watch through the ages. In 1723 some of the Scottish lairds who were loyal to the ruling House- were commissioned to raise companies of their clansmen, who were responsible for keeping the peace, as no man was permitted to carry arms after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715. They were known as the Watch, and owing to the sombre colour of their tartan they were popularly called the Black Watch. And though they had the title of "The Highland Regiment," the name Black Watch has etuck to this day. They fought first at the Battle of Fontenoy in 174.V, and we eaw what the regiment looked like in that day with their round blue caps and tiny red tassels. Next came the Black Watch in the uniform in 1815, as they fought at Waterloo. When it came to the Egyptian Wars, 1882, th<>y had added white helmets. Next came a party who had fought in the Great War, wearing a khaki overskirt over their tartan, with the 'heavy pack equipment, and steel helmets that modern warfare had necessitated. Following them, a regiment of the Black Watch in their full-dress tartan of to-day, with pipers and drummers, and all the thrill*that goes with the skirl of the bagpipes and the swing of the kilt. They are Royal Highlanders, indeed. Lord Hailsham, speaking, as Tie said, irresponsibly, suggested that next year, which is the silver jubilee of the King's Coronation, something might be done to include in this wonderful pageant troops from overseas. And why not?