COMMEMORATION WEEK.

Evening Star, Issue 10342, 16 June 1897, Page 4

COMMEMORATION WEEK.

PARADE OF EX-SERVICE MEN. A parade of men who have served in the Defence Force in the colony or the Imperial Service was held in the basement of the Garrison Hall last night. The ex-Imperial men were first paraded, and thirty came forward. We are informed, however, that the secretary (Mr D. Henderson) has received about 100 names, and it is expected that all these will put in an appearance at the parade on Tuesday morning. The old volunteers were then called on, and about 100 formed up. Over 200 names, however, have been handed in to the secretary. Both companies were drilled in forming fours for a brief space uuder Lieutenant M'Callnm. Addressing the men, Lieutenant-colonel Callan informed them that it had been arranged that on Tuesday they should meet in Bond street, opposite the Supreme Court, at half-past ten. He hoped the attendance would be much larger than it was that night. The men would then receive rosettes and other insignia, after which they would be marched to the Triangle to take up the position allotted to them in the procession. He hoped that all those present would, in the meantime, look about them, and, ii possible, get two or three others to come forward with them on Tuesday. The only thing that was wanted to make the parade a credit to the ex-Imperial men and the old volunteers was that they should turn out in large numbers. Lieutenant-colonel Callan will be in command of the parade, Captain Davis (16th Foot) will have charge of the ex-Imperial men, Major S. N. Brown will command the ex-volunteers, with Captains Kirkcaldy, Haig, and White, and Lieutenant J. B. M'Callutn will act as sergeant-major. The ex-Imperial men will take up a position in front of the ex-volunteers, and exofficers will form a supernumerary rank. The Citizens' Band will lead the company in the procession.

OLD TIME PRICES. At the coronation of George IV. great a3touishment was expressed at the extravagance of paying from £') to £lO for a seat, as wa3 done in a number of instances. This was certainly a great leap upwards from the time of George 11, when the highest sum given was only 10a 6d. At the time when William 111. was crowned the price of a good seat was ss. Aud going back to Charles ll.'a reign we fiud that a sight of the show was valued at only half a crown. One shilling was the nuderate charge to view the coronation procession of James 1., while in Queen Elizabeth's time a seat could be had for sixpence. One would say that a charge of this amount could scarcely be beaten for moderation. But it was high compared with what the subjects of earlier monarcha were willing to give for a view of Royalty. In Henry VIII.'s time the price was only 4d ; at Henry V.'s coronation it was only 2d; at the accession of Richard 11. it was the extremely modest sum of Id ; while in the time of Edward I. a seat, such as it was, fetched no more than |d. So that the price paid for a single window in the route of the approaching procession would have enabled all London to be comfortably seated to see the procession of Edward I.

At Ravensboume beacon fires are to be lighted on the hill at the back of the township, also on Signal Hill and St. Leonards Hill. Three hundred medals are to be presented to the children of the district in commemoration of the period of Jubilee, and it is intended, in order to raise funds to purchase these, to hold a concert in the local hall on Friday evening next, when a strong •hoir, under the baton of Mr Hawcridge, will produce a musical piece entitled ' The Revenge,' descriptive of an incident in the passage of the Spanish Armada. The medals will be presented to the children by the Rev. Mr Ash, chairman of the School Committee, at a free magic lantern entertainment on the 25th inst. The Industrial School children will join in the school demonstration at the Octagon, and their Fife and Drum Band will play the iumateaof the institution and the Caverslnm School children into town. The inhabitants of Shag Point intend to light a monster bonfire on the summit of Shag Point, and the local School Committee will present each pupil with a suitable medal as a memento of tho occasion. . The produce of the loc.il petroleum spring is to be used in connection Mith the New Plymouth illuminations. Members of the Retailers' Association close on Tuesday ouly. The Highcliff School Committee will present a Jubilee medal to each of the pupils of the school. The programme for the schools' part in the demonstration ha 3 been dtcided on. Each school will march to its allotted position on the west side of the Octagan, in front of the Town Hall, at 10 am. .While the children are assembling the Kaikorai Band will play national airs. At half-past ten the band will play the 'Old Hundred' (A flat) once through, and the children—it 13 estimated there will be 4,000 —will then join in singing the doxology. The Kaikorai Band will play ' Rule, Britannia.' The band will also play the National Anthem, during which the Royal Standard, recently presented to the City by citizens who have served in Her Majesty's naval and land forces, will be hoisted for the first time at the Town Hall. Three verses of the National Anthem will be sung (key A flat), and three cheers will be given for the Queen, accompanied by the waving of flags. Mr K Stratton will lead the band, and Mr A. M. Braik will conduct the children. It has been decided to have bonfires on the night of the Jubilee celebrations on every volcanic cone around Auckland. The record reign is to be celebrated in Christchurch in a thorough manner. A procession of trade societies, fire brigades, local bodies, etc., in the morning is to pass through triumphal arches, erected by the City Council and fire brigades, en route to the show grounds, when 1,500 children will sing the National Anthem in the grand stand. The precession will then disband, and military sports will occupy most of the day. The illuminations in the evening will be on a large scale, and promise to be far and away better than those at- the Jubilee celebrations in 18S7.