KING’S CORONATION

Evening Star, Issue 22626, 19 April 1937, Page 9

KING’S CORONATION

NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT WELCOME ARRANGED FOR ARRIVAL Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, April 16. Mr W. J. Jordan has invited all New Zealanders in London and neighbourhood to join him at St. Pancras to welcome the military contingent, which will be headed by two bands from the London Command, and will march to Wellington Barracks. It is understood that difficulty has developed regarding tho, route. New Zealanders are desirous that the troops should march past New Zealand House in the Strand, necessitating progress through one of the busiest quarters, but tho police feel that such a march at midday would cause very bad traffic congestion. Accordingly permission has not yet been granted. MARCH ARRANGED. LONDON, April 17. The police have arranged for the New Zealanders to march down the Strand on April 19. THE SOUTH AFRICANS KNEE BREECHES FORBIDDEN. JOHANNESBURG, April 17. The South African representatives at the Coronation have been forbidden to wear knee breeches and silk stockings, __ COMMERCIALISATION OF EVENT SAN FRANCISCO, April 17. Lord Marley, in an interview, warned Americans to shun the Coronation unless they want to he overcharged for hotel accommodation, seats, etc. He bitterly criticised the general! commercialisation of the event in an effort to make profit. REPRESENTATIVE FROM PITCAIRN BALBOA, April 17. Isolated and historic Pitcairn Island will be represented at the Coronation by George Young, a great-grandson of Edward Young, midshipman of the Bounty at the time of the mutiny. Young, who is 61 years of age, boarded the Arawa at the island, helping to row out one of the famous longboats and then scaling up the ship’s side on a rope like a man half his age. He was horn and bred on the island, and has never before been further than Tahiti and New Zealand, the Hatter visit being in 1927, when he underwent at\ operation. He wfill stay in England for five weeks before returning to Pitcairn Island. EARLY MORNING REHEARSAL WATCHED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE. LONDON, April 18. (Received April 19, at 11 a.m.) Large crowds witnessed the first rehearsal of tho Coronation procession. Early trains and buses brought thousands to the route, and when tho old gold coach rolled into Dean’s Yard shortly before 6.30 a.m. the people stood 10ft to 12ft deep on the pavements on both sides of the road. Trafalgar Square was a mass of people, and other parts of the route were packed. The rehearsal procession itself was a phan-tom-like affair. Its eerie air of 'Unreality was accentuated by the silence of the crowds, who could hardly be expected to cheer luggage brakes. The first part of the procession moved off at 6.45 a.m. It consisted of 11 semistate landaus, representing the carriages of the Prime Ministers of Britain and tho dominions. Then came the escort of Household Cavalry and three brakes representing the procession princes and princesses. Next came the Queen Mary procession, represented by four brakes, preceded by a mounted band of Household Cavalry, and followed by the Royal Escort ,of Life Guards.

All the troops were in khaki. The gold coach was drawn by eight Windsor greys, with four postilions and longcoated footmen walking on either side. Behind the coach was the Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry. Tho procession took 25 minutes to pass a given point, hut the timing is of no significance, as tho procession was only a skeleton of that on Coronation Day. LATEST APPOINTMENTS LABOUR MEMBERS’ DRESS PROBLEM SOLVED. LONDON, April 18. (Received April 19, at 10 a.m.) The latest appointments in connection with the Coronation ceremony include Mr Jordan and Mr Bruce, respectively to carry the standards of New Zealand and Australia. The other High Commissioners will carry their own dominion standards. The Marquess of Cholmondeley will carry the Royal Standard. The King’s 10 pages, who will carry the train, include . Earl Kitchener, grand-nephew of the famous field marshal, who recently succeeded to the title, Lord Haig, Earl Jellicoe, and Viscount Lascelles (son of the Princess Royal). The sis ladies who will bear the Queen’s train include Lady Iris Mountbatten, a cousin of the King, and Lady Elizabeth Percy, daughter of tho Duchess of Northumberland. Mr Attlee has solved the problem of many Labour members of the House of Commons and others who feared that the order to wear evening dress with knee breeches would prevent their attendance at the Coronation. Following the concession that morning dress or dark lounge suits could be worn Mr Attlee advised their adoption. Women are wearing morning dress, with a scarf instead of hat.