ALONG THE ROUTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 77, 1 April 1940, Page 9

ALONG THE ROUTE.

REVERENT CROWDS.

UNFORGETTABLE SIGHT.

LONG LINES OF PEOPLE. Xever will the hundreds of official representative mourners privileged to ride in the funeral cortege yesterday afternoon forget the experience of passing tens of thousands of people standing reverently along the eight miles' route from tin- railway station to ]!astion Point. Xothinjr so impressive, and on such a large scale, ha* been seen in thi« country before. Overlooking the railway station were thousands of people on the slopes U'low Anzac Avenue; Bench Road and Customs Street Kast were deeply lined, and, :is the cortege turned into Queen .Street the *]>cctiu-k> was such that those in the- airs realised afrenh how deep was tlie affectionate regard in which the late Prime Minister was held by the public. The lining of the first section of the route, from the station to above the Town Hall, by men of the Navy. Army and Air Force contributed materially to the iinpressivvueos of the scene. It was noticeable, too. that at various points' where soldiers or Air Force men stood' singly or in pairs, they remained rigidly at attention, despite the fatigue which this position must have caused. People were four or five deep in the less congested parts of Queen Street, and ut some points, euvl\ as the Victoria and Welk-slcy Street intersections, there were solid blocks of a thousand or more. Nurses in Blue. At no part of the route was there inore. than eight or icn yards unoccupied, even Orakei Hoart being uniformly lined with residents of the locality. There were m> 'incidents." Throughout the Bad journey one saw only reverent lines of people. The head of every man was bared, despite the heat of the Jatu summer afternoon. Old-age pensioners in the enclosure, so thoughtfully provided by the Mayor. Sir Ernest "Davis, | outside the Town Hall; returned soldiers, wearing medals, standing stiffly statuesque at attention on Oaf ton Bridge; the blue and white of the nurses paraded outside the Auckland Hospital, the. snowy coats of hospital orderlies at the main gate; and the mass of people on Mount Hobsoij. were particularly remarked.

It seemed that every motor ear in Auckland was in use. ' From the air it was noticeable that all the streets adjacent to the route, particularly those off Kemuera and Orakei Roada, were crammed with ears. On those sections of the route where ears were admitted they were, parked almost wheel to wheel, and in some places had been driven up on the footpath that there might be more space. Slopes Black with People. After seeing so many thousands all along the route, it was astonishing to those in the leading cars to find that the slopes behind Bastion Point were black with people, who had gone early to tho headland to be sure of a place for the burial service. Deep and genuine reverence for a man well beloved wfls the keynote of the occasion.

One of the day's features was the welltimed marshalling of the cortege, supervised by Mr. Arthur Mulligan, of the Internal Affairs Department, and the capable handling of traffic arrangements by the police and traffic departments iu the city and suburbs.

Behind the scenes, the Public Works staff rose to the occasion in highly meritorious style by their expeditious and capable preparation of the Bastion Poiut grounds at a moment's notice.