HONOURING THE GLORIOUS DEAD

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 116, 13 November 1919, Page 7

HONOURING THE GLORIOUS DEAD

ARMISTICE DAY IN LONDON

SOLEMN CEREMONIALS,

. (CNITED PttBSS ASSOCIATION'.—COPIBIOHT.) (AUSTRALIAN - NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION) (Received November 13, 11 a.m.) LONDON, 11th November.

Parties of Australian and New Zealand veterans took part in the tribute of remembrance to-day. Following the solemnity of the ceremonials in the morning, the evening was devoted to rejoicings, every theatre in the West End was sold out, and all seats in restaurants booked. A great Victory Ball was held in Albert Hall, and there were many regimental gatherings, also reunions of Waacs, Wrens, Land Girls, and other war workers. Immediately the maroons were fired, the road of traffic subsided,into a great silence. Pedestrians remained standing bareheaded through the solemn impressive interval. There was an enormous crowd in Whitehall round the cenotaph, which is the Mecca on days of ceremonial. The base of the monument wae surrounded with beautiful wreathe. M. Poincare, a few momenta before 11 o'olock, placed a wreath at the foot of the cenotaph in the presence of members of the War Graves Committee and a guard of honour with arms reversed. Mr. Lloyd George, bareheaded, walked across from Downing-street and also deposited a wreath inscribed, "To the glorious dead." Business in the Courts of Juetice was suspended, and the lights lowered. The Chief Justice, rising from the Bench, said, "Let us stand, in-memory of the glorious dead." . Flags on public buildings were at halfmast, and the Last Post was sounded from the steps of the Royal Exchange. A great assemblage in front of the Man- [ sion House sang the Doxology. The staff of New Zealand House assembled in the main hall, and Captain Donne read the King's Message. Two minutes' silence followed. Sir Thomas ■ Mackenzie, High Commissioner, as a ' member of the War Graves Commission, attended the placing of M. Poincare's wreath at Whitehall. No ceremony, beyond the cessation of work, was observed at Australia House. AV'hitehall was impassable all day long. There was an amazing crowd at the cenotaph, and many bearing wreaths were compelled to pass the flowers over the heads of those intervening. . Lord Curzon, Mr. Winston Churchill, and many generals, admirals, and other not- i ables stood bareheaded beside the ceno- j taph during the interval of silence. Fifty thousand people participated in I the Salvation Army's simple • service be- j fore the Mansion House preceding the silence. A vast crowd on the steps of St., Paul's sang "0 God, our Help in Ages Past," and the National Anthem. The silence was impressively observed at Australian headquarters. Four buglers from the steps of the main entrance sounded the "Attention," and everybody halted and. stood at attention until the buglers' "All clear" broke the silence, »