FUNERAL OF KING GEORGE VI

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26657, 16 February 1952, Page 6

FUNERAL OF KING GEORGE VI

Silent Remembrance Yesterday

CHRISTCHURCH PAYS LAST TRIBUTE

‘For ttvo minutes yesterday Christchurch and the res't of Canterbury remembered their dead King. Thousands of people paused in their morning tasks to pay silent homage to a beloved and courageous Monarch who was going to his last rest. In the two minutes from 11 a.m. all work in the city ceased. Obedient to the wailing signal of a fire siren machines in factories were silent, the clatter of oflice typewriters stopped, trains, trams, and buses came to a standstill wherever they were, and the city was hushed for the last tribute.

When the silence ended the citv came to noisy life again. Trains, trams, and buses proceeded on their way, office and factory workers returned to their desks and benches. Then guns in Higley Park thundered a salute minute after minute, and the great bell in the tower of the Christchurch Cathedral tolled 56 times to remind people of the years of a Royal life that had ended.

Cathedral square, heart of the city, was the setting for a solemn scene that had its counterpart in many parts of New Zealand where people gathered to pay homage. There several thousand citizens were grouped in front of the west door of the Cathedral. In the crowd were housewives with baskets and parcels who had paused in their Friday morning shopping, businessmen, office workers, traffic inspectors, old men, and young children. On hotel verandas and the roofs of tall buildings round the Square people stood waiting for the Chief Post Office clock ana the fire siren to signal 11 a.m. In the west porch of the Cathedral were the Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfar’lane. M.P.), the Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Feast), members of the City Council, Captain R. Newman, officer commanding the Canterbury division of the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve, Brigadier J. T. Burrows, commander of the Southern Military District, Group Captain A. B. Greenaway, officer commanding the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram, and representatives of the National Council of Churches. They remained there during the silence. Factory sirens gave early warning of the silence to workers just before the last trams and buses entered the Square and a few cars and taxis were still moving. The crowd was practically motionless when the fire siren signalled 11 a.m. Men removed their, hats, many stood to attention, and women bowed their heads. The silence was unbroken except for.the crying of a child and the sound of the footsteps of an elderly man who chose to walk away as the two minutes passed. Then the first gun boomed from the battery in Hagley Park, the tolling r>the Cathedral bell began, and people moved slowly and thoughtfully about their business. In a few minutes the Square was the same as it is on anv busy Friday morning. Broadcut SM-vlce

In many homes women stopped their housework to observe the silence and listen to the short memorial service conducted by the Bishop of Christ-St-IVA ,? eV ’ A ’ K ’ Warren) al station 3YA in the presence of the religious advisory committee, which represents other denominations. This serWBS heard by listeners in other * Canterbury and on the West Coast, for it was also broadcast bv Stations 3ZB, 3XC, and 3YZ. A congregation of more than 1000 Pe°Pl* s h . eard the broadcast of the service In the Cathedral and also a re hSiu lng M 0/ the tolling of the muffled nfl 1 % ,^ a P y o ?te e workers went to K»rv£?ni. edr n 1 for the servic e and ob also th/ enC ®> there ' 11 was heard also by the crowd in the Square as a S'porch er had been Placed in the hSs7nd S r^l^ O^7 b 0 / n«ri BtC^ rcl >J Cath edral choir were i*s ed - The hymns, “The Kina of Love My f> Shepherd Is” an d “Abffie wffh Me, were favourites of the King and UntoteM.^ 11 Lift U P- MineSyes tecause ’ i Was s P eciall y chosen countryside. hlS 10Ve ° f the En * lish we S shall i st a w e J W ° minutes ’ silence Soverergn in the grave, Xt in sure eternal fiffi ” ° P Vk lhe «surrec?ion te -tty; «">« who" took W up rhall’ a ?h’T ted^n S^fl«s bU servlc^ h We f hall think of the head of a family showed complete integrity® o? family

We shall think of a tvnical Fntriieh aven's Of hum at Christmas times hfZ 3 coming right into our hole’s sneakino to. us words which gave couraal in ? fr ’^ te, lh d ? nd uncertain world® of w!r th lnd O h his . leader ship in time a . ’ he and his Queen gave us confidence and strength bej hey were 80 completely’ reA? e h ted ’ ? dmired - and loved? Wethink creasXte°h? iS thr ?„ ne of Sf’rvicT'incrcasingiy he won the hearts of his ?nen; and we shall think of the sjmplicity of his majesty. sfc5 fc AS' hl!

Service at Windsor We may all stand at the Kina’s grave to-day ff we wish. Although In the lovely Chapel of St. George at Windsor there will be a scene of X J t G-tiC to describe it in P°5 ts words, ‘amid the lofty pillars and ‘b e , bra nching roof where light and shade repose and music dwells’ and where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault the pealing anhem swells the note of praise ’ yet there will be held the same simple service as might be held for you or

'1 W ?. brou « ht . nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry lorri ]n h a th Ut f‘ v 1716 Lord gave and tb e L O me h of th the k I^ n rd a . Way ’ bleSS<?d be the

“Our King was a practising Chrisa h nd n he lays aside his earthly and enters the presence of X, Klng 0f 4 Kings, to stand as any other man to give account of his stewardship. That belief is not only our ?’, it was his. He lived and died him h S n fa T th ’a reSt e tornal grant unto shhie upo^hi : m may PerPGtUal light in‘Z?e g nc t e e we W wiirpray’’ member him; Observance in Other Places Beyond Cathedral sauare the same reverent silence was observed by people in shops, offices, and factories, i L n e - st roets. Some retail shops dosed their doors, and in one large establishment the staff listened to the broadcast of the memorial service In another a warning bell sounded and the staff stood silent at the counters some with half-wrapped parcels or pieces of material in their hands People at morning tea rose from their seats in the tea-room and joined in the silent homage. In the fruit and produce markets, always noisy places during the auctioning, there was impressive silence Auctioneers stepped down from the ? rostrums and stood with the buyers More than 500 workers in a clothing factory observed the silence, while kn’tting machines, sewing machines and dyeing machines stopped. In a factory where biscuits and sweets are

made the baking of biscuits and the boiling of sugar and glucose were stopped, and the flourmill ceased its continuous automatic production. No aircraft landed or took off at the Christchurch international airport during the two minutes’ silence. The Skymaster VH-EBK with 43 passengers for Melbourne was at the end of the runway awaiting the signal from the control tower to take off. Nearly 200 men in the engineering and maintenance workshops at the airport stopped work when a siren sounded at II a.m. and visitors to Harewood stood bareheaded and at attention during the two minutes’ silence. Three minutes Inter the flight controller spoke over the radio telephone to Captain J. M Hampshire, captain of the aircraft Easy Baker King,” giving him permission to take off.

. For Riccarton the siren at the Addington railway workshops where nearly 1100 men ceased work marked the beginning and end of the silence. In the port of Lyttelton the siren of the steamer express Rangatira signalled the Stoppage of work on the w?to^ ro « t- In the town the Mayor oMhJ'r vHeu rigg n and^ e offlce ’to ff L y! te lton Borough Council stood outside the council chambers during the silence. When the two minutes had passed children of the Lyttelton Main School sang the National Anthem. a U the Christchurch pM { na ! y and Post-primary State and private, joined their parents in the silent tribute to the King In “£ 00, L there were toorf serwith addresses by the principals. Otheis listened to the memorial sermi C nutes. SlmPly St °° d Silent for the two