CEREMONY ON MONDAY

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26651, 9 February 1952, Page 6

CEREMONY ON MONDAY

ARRANGEMENTS IN WELLINGTON

READING OF ACCESSION PROCLAMATION

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Feb. 8. It is expected that thousands of people will gather in the grounds surrounding Parliament House on Monday, when the Governor-General (Lord Freyberg) will read the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth H’s accession to the Throne.

The ceremony will be one of the most dignified and spectacular seen in Wellington for many years. According to present arrangements, which are unlikely to be changed, the Governor-General and Lady Freyberg will leave Government House at 11.30 o'clock on Monday morning, with a police pilot car escort, for Parliament House. At 11.35 a guard of honour, comprising two officers and 100 rank and file, under the guard commander. Lieutenant J. Morris, and furnished by the Army Schools, Trentham, will be mounted opposite the main steps to Parliament House. The guard of honour will be led by the band of the R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Ohakea. Their Excellencies will arrive at 11.40 a.m. at Parliament House, and his Excellency will take the Royal salute and the band will play the first six bars of the National Anthem. After he has inspected the guard of honour, his Excellency and those in attendance will ascend the dais.

Five trumpeters of the R.N.Z.A.F. band, who will be in position on the balcony overlooking the steps to Parliament House, will then sound a fanfare. Then his Excellency will read the proclamation. When he concludes, another fanfare will be sounded and a Royal Salute of 21 guns will be fired from Point Jermingham. Royal Salute Bv Guard At the same time the guard of honour will Rive a Royal Salute and the band will play the first verse of the National Anthem, at the conclusion of which the guard and others taking part in the ceremony will “remove headdress” as his Excellency calls for “three cheers for her Majesty the Queen.” After all headdress has been replaced, their Excellencies and their personal staff will enter their cars and move slowly away as the final Royal Salute is given. Again the band will play the first six bars of the National Anthem, and the ceremony will conclude. When their Excellencies arrive at the entrance to Parliament Grounds, the New Zealand Ensign will be lowered and his Excellency’s flag will be broken on flagpoles flanking the dais. On Monday afternoon, the GovernorGeneral. the Chief Justice (Sir Humphrey O’Leary), and members of the Executive Council will swear the Oath of Allegiance to Queen Elizabeth IT. The Chief Justice will administer the oath to his Excellency, who in turn will swear in Sir Humphrey O’Leary. His Excellency will then swear in the members of the Executive Council. all of whom are members of the Cabinet.

Absentees will be the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), who is in London, the Minister of External Affairs (Mr T. C. Webb), and probably the Post-master-General (Mr W. J. Broadfoot), who is receiving medical treatment at Rotorua.

The administration of the Oath of Allegiance is a renewal of the previous oath taken by Ministers of the Crown and by members of Parliament.