PROCLAMATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 6

PROCLAMATION

CEREMONY IN BAHAMAS

THE NEW KING GEORGE V!

In the little square, facing the Post 1 Office in Nassau, Bahamas, a crowd ( of negroes assembled. Some of the j women wore gaudy refinery, al- \ though barefooted. The men wore their Sunday best, which in many instances was a coat or trousers, . cast aside by white masters. Some were < in dirty, tattered clothes, as if they ; had suddenly interrupted daily tasks 1 to be present. . I A platoon of black troops, the entire standing army, marched into the . square and formed up in line, two - deep, led a band, a' home-made affair, in home-made costumes. They ] faced the statue of Queen Victoria. Next came the Boy Scouts, a black 1 troop leading, whose drum-major made you forget that his shoes did not match , his flopping hat. . As they were forming up, an Amen- ' can Press correspondent, seeking a n clearer view, started to cross the i square, in front of the Scouts, who were standing at attention, with broom 1 handles for guns. He was halted, 1 formally and politely by a black police . officer, who said, "Please do not pass in front of the parade, Sir." Then all was tense and still. The hush covered the town, from the ancient fortress to the still more ancient watch-tower which the' pirate, Blackbeard, built on its topmost eminence. The note of a bugle sounded. A motor-car arrived. From it stepped a tall, distinguished figure, dressed ( in j white —the Governor, Sir Bede Clif- , ford. ' The band played the National An. them. As the first notes sounded, a big game ropster, held in the arms of a : barefooted black boy on the inner circle of the crowd, commenced to crow. "Shut yo'mouth," said the boy, twisting the bird's neck. The tiny ebony representative of a great Empire, of which this is one of the smaller out- , posts, watched the scene before him. The anthem concluded, the Governor inspected the parade—Boy Scouts, their broomsticks at the "present | arms," and their elders, the Colonial ; Guard, with their Enfield rifles. The Governor was whisked away in his motor-car, which flew the Union affile Provost-Marshal appeared on the balcony of the Post Office, and read : the proclamation, that Edward VIII : had abdicated, 1 nd that George VI was now King. Three cheers were lustily given. The parade marched away. The crowd shuffled off. The tasselled wagon with .the shaggy little ponies resumed its clop-clop along the narrow street. The diving boys went back to the harbour to dive for shillings and dimes. The straw venders cried their wares. George VI was King of England and its Dominions and Colonies of which this The Bahamas was a proud member. :