A QUIET INTERLUDE.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14099, 19 July 1911, Page 12

A QUIET INTERLUDE.

THE EMPIRE AT ST. PAUL'S.

OVERSEA MONUMENTS

trHOU OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, June 9. From the rush-and-tumble of tho week, most of the oversea delegates stole an hour yesterday to accept tho invitation of Archdeacon Sinclair to vwit St. Paul's Cathedral, and inspect a few of the monuments there, which particularly commemorate Empire lives and Empire events.

The great church waa closed to the publics—it was after-hours —and as the party walked through from spot to spot, tho voice of th© revered guido was drowned now and again by tho loud peals of tho organ, practising the music for the Royal service after the Coronation.

Just inside the main entrance is the beautiful chapel, which has recently been dedicated, by the assistance of Queen Victoria and King Edward, to the knighta of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, knights decorated, for the most part, for work done in the cause of the Empire beyond tho shores, of England. In stones of the floor aro tho anna of those who havo already passed away, and on the walla far above ar© the banners of tho living, added to whenever death makes a vacancy. Sir John Forrest's was erected there with ceremony a, few days ago. Th© stalls wore erected by tho Knights of th© Order, and the reredos is the gift of the senior, Lord Strathcona.

Passing down the nave, tho way is fianked on one side by HoLtnan Hunt's well-known picture, "Light of the World," which haa been seen in every -white Dominion, and on th© other by tho monuments of fir John Moore, Nelson, Howe and other heroes of ait tmsujspecting ago of Empire. Close hy Sir John Moore's, group is the handsome, though smallish, brass which commemorates the deaths of oversea soldiers in South Africa. It is th© work of the Prinoees Louise.

Below in the crypt the objects of oversea interest are more numerous. There is Sir John Macdonald, the celebrated Canadian Premier, dose to him is Mr Justice Dalley, given place of honour aa the first to suggest the (tending of Australasian troops to assist in a British war —when the New South Wales regiment fought in tho Soudan. The Press correspondents 'who fell in the Soudan, and Archibald Forbes, aro also there, not to omit the recentlyUnveiled tablet to the first of all, W. H. Russell. Towards tho western end, not far from the great gun-metal funeral-oar. is the grave of Sir George Grey, marked by a fine bronze slab. An inferior marble table* of the Pro-Consul is on the wall close at hand, and across the aisle is that of Mr Seddon. Both Sir Joseph Ward and Dr. Findlay spent some time inspecting the latter, and both are well pleased with tho sculptor's work.