MEMORABLE SCENE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 857, 1 July 1910, Page 8

MEMORABLE SCENE.

THE KING'S FUNERAL PROCESSION. GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION BY A NEW ZEALANDER. [BY H. T. B. Deew.] % London, May 20. London, people say, has just witnessed a scene that has had no parallel in history no parallel in the greatness of its tribute, in -tho splendour of its pageantry, in its solemnity and nobleness—the immensity of the crowds who gathered along tho routo to observe, and give silent sympathy.

It has been a memorable morning, a lcd-lctter day for millions. People were out all night waiting along the routo of tho funeral procession. Before daylight, black lines of them three and four deep occupied all the frjmt places. At four a.m. I arrived at Hyde Park Corner, in time to take up a favourable position oil a mound immediately overlooking the road up which the procession would come. Half an hour later this mound was densely packed with humanity, whom trams, trains, tubes, buses, taxies, etc., were pouring into this part of London. Miles upon miles of people stretched thus. How many there weic it is difficult to compute. Policemen in their thousands v, ore present, and, as the morning woro on, soldiers, too, came marching in from their camping places in the park. A beautiful morning sun shed brilliance around.

■the colours of the regiment gleamed brightly as the broad lines of red threaded their way down among tho masses of sombre black leaving fringes, as they went, along each side of the roads. Tor two hours the regiments marched in and away. It kept tho jaded people interested. It seemed as if all regiments were represented.

.Spectators were arriving in throngs, endeavouring to find places in tho park, but becoming instead, an unmanageable excited mass. We watched them from our vantage ground. At length the police those wonderful, calm, resourceful LOll- - police-evolved order out of chaos, ana the road once more remained clear between its lines of red and blue. At 8.30 o clock the first collapse of a Spectator was recorded. Ambulance officers were seen carrying a woman across the clear spacc of the road. At first we counted them. Then the number became too great. Men with whistles stationed ill various parts signalled where "faints" occurred. At least five hundred men, women, and children, were carried or asiii ? cross to tho temporary hospital : and this was but one corner of tho route It was a trying ordeal. Only strong men can stand the strain of waiting all night tor places in a London throng. Besides a sol?mu crolvd > without joke,' awav 01 SODS t0 b6 ' P pass tilo timo

secn ? J e , d , an interminable wait. n came tlle sound of a gun-a signal. The cortege had commenced to move from Westminster Hall St ol « r,™3 ,!?„•' "™" ,ito "» n-ith°irri»n ary arras ' and st °od nf W,-ri vero hea<ls -milo after mile ,«7n? 1O H rilorS ' Ex .P t,ctnl "iy ffi'ows. iho licad of the procession, n mass of glittering scarlet and gold, at last appears through an archway, and slowly moves towards us, and past us. Then regiment alter regiment follows. How magnificent the specimens of soldiery how solemn the slow and stately tread. It is Britain s best offering. There camo the colonia representatives, and one reM?fnr°TT ° D i i'- OS at their with Major Hughes by his side, with possiblv other Ivow Zealand officers, were they disast ° f ail military, b* [P wnval of the gun-carriage and Ji»i»n" r - b' 1 Roberts, an adored debonair hgure, and Lord Kitchener, the c™"' h • g l oat ; see them people dangerously. and crowd sways tfts; iuvsjurrte'is 11ajesty, every head is bared; solemn silence reigns over the vast black mass. L\eryone can see it; evervone pays homage. It seems as if eveb"one now T r . forms he silent duty that has brought them there. It is a tense moment, the Chilian in the great event, a moment that comes but rarely more than once into any But swiftly, pulled by peerless horws the magnificent coffin, hidden in its flags and drapmgs, passes onward, borne on its gun carriage. 1,11 "The King!" i s now the mnrmur a murmur of expectancy, mingled with other cries of -'the Kaiser." The slrne H,l "(r re T- Pn °.? bcfore min Eled; but then the lung" was he who now lies I Ca i n ° Pr - Kin " Geor S« looks ho™ nr? "bservant on his splendid > T-" carries himself like a true soldier-King. It is wonderful how popular feeling has turned lately in his fa. Sh- th 6 ° CC , a i ion a difforenfone, uiiohtj cheers would now 'greet him McS'ion T%» er V^ iH k M P for anothe r occasion, rhe, Kaiser rides fittingly at the head of the foreign Kings, whose glittering array stretches out impTcS sively behind. Upright, soldierly, kingly the proud representative of a trreS net of , aU ,- with a M*scioSness of the tribute his people pay in ™t P 7i?t UC of F ere ' Cn foHo * th^ great list of kings, riding silently, ali' E ' eem5 ' humbly. They pass' onl\c l' < T-'" " 10 Pacemaker to Idll I : estl ?S-p lace - -Perhaps thev will seek inspiration and resolve at his Pr "J c f; many noble representahies of kingly houses, members of all the great houses of Europe are behind them, whoso brilliant uniforms and & US They a also remark " able dis " Then comes the long line of gilded t rawn b - v "wwificraUv capariamed horses. In the first rid/s Ihe Royal widow, her sad countenance easily disccrnable at tho window. Tho crowd would show her some special tribute, but can only give gaze for gaze yet nevertheless all social stations are brushed aside, and general heartfelt sympatny goes out to the chief mourner of tms great day. Queen Mary's carriage comes nest, and behind it many others conveying dK tinguished personages. > In the are tho Hiph Commissioners of Canada Australia, and New Zealand. Then ' asrain, diplomats—a brilliant body in glittering, gilded uniforms—more soldiers, carriages, mourners, until at last the great procession has all passed on its way. All that the world calls great and noble has passed before us. i4arely, indeed, does mortal look upon such a scene.

The minute gun throbs away, the wail oil! 16 c aTl V 5 Wl> fted from the distance. Iho funeral tram shortly afterwards leaves Paddington Station with its precious burden to convey it to Windsor whore m the Chapel of the Kings it shall rest.

As (he crowd quietly and orderly breaks lip and moves slowly away the toll of the church bells is heard calling people to quiet services in memory of Dim who has just passed.