CORONATION SEATS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 96, 20 October 1936, Page 16

CORONATION SEATS

THE QUESTION OF COST

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, September 26.

Plans are being issued of the stands to be constructed in front of Westminster Hospital, from which the Coronation procession on May 12 may be seen approaching arid leaving Westminster Abbey.

There will be 2037 seats, of which 1000 have been taken up by the Governors of the Ifospital. The hospital authorities, who are selling and allotting the seats direct, are dealing with 800 early applicants, whose seats have to be selected before new applications can be dealt with. Seats for which application can be made range in price from- 10 to 50 guineas. There are a number at 15 guineas and £25.

Seat-holders will be the hospital's guests at breakfast and luncheon. The whole of the proceeds of the stands willgo to the fund for rebuilding the. hospital and its medical school.

In the highest official quarters, it is stated, exploitation of an historic occasion is resented, and it is likely'that more seats than usual will be provided by the Government Department. •

At King George's Coronation the Office of Works provided 46,000 seats, mainly in Parliament Square, Whitehall, the Mall, Constitution Hill, and Hyde Park. This number is almost certain to be exceeded next May.

The "Daily Herald" announces that between 40,000 and 60,000 seats, many of' them in the best positions, are to be provided" at a maximum cost of about £2 ; 2s;each. Most of them will cost even less—and- the majority will be available to the public. This is the answer to the people who are charge ing as much as £350 a day for a flat.

Official quarters believe that if people refuse to pay "fantastic charges" there will be a general reduction in prices long before the Coronation takes place.

The "Daily Herald" was informed that the cost of providing seats in spe-cially-erected stands does not exceed £ 1 a seat. "At the same time, we think that anybody, who can afford to pay for a good seat: should, make a contribution to a charity," said an official.