18 INCHES SPACE EACH

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1937, Page 14

18 INCHES SPACE EACH

ABBEY MEASUREMENTS Each peer and peeress attending the Coronation ceermony in Westminster Abbey will be allowed an inch more seating space than spectators of lower rank. Members of the peerage have been allotted 19in by the Office of Works. Others, both inside the abbey and the 80,000 specially invited guests who will occupy grand stands outside and on the procession route, will be permitted to occupy only 18in of space An Office of Works official said: “We are giving peers and peeresses an extra inch to allow for their flowing robes. They will be given chairs so spaced that each occupant will have 19in of sitting room. Our architect and his staff, after working it out most carefully, have decided that they cannot concede another fraction of an inch to anybody. But there should be no discomfort.” Every plank used in the grand stands will, during the days preceding the Coronation, be marked off in 18in

divisions. Workmen in a “seating test” discovered they could sit in comfort on 18in of space. Dressmakers and Court tailors differ about the adequacy of the Office of Works “yardstick.” One dressmaker said: “It is not enough. Many women have 20in hips. With men it is the shoulders that take up room.” Other dressmakers considered the Office of Works space rations ample. Football clubs are experts on the problem. They have to pack thousands of people into their grand stands every week of the season. An official of the Arsenal Club said: “We also adopt the 18in plan. It works only in theory. The Arsenal ground should hold 72,000 people in comfort, but that comfort begins to disappear when 60,000 people have passed our turnstiles. The fat person will seldom make way for the thin. Heavily-built people refuse to be packed like sardines.” Many theatres allowed ISin to gallery patrons before the introduction of the tip-up seat. Coronation Day will see mass feats of endurance.

An official of the College of Arms said: “If the procedure of the 1911 Coronation of the late King George is followed, abbey spectators must be prepared to sit still and silent for anything up to eight hours. “Ushers have been warned to be in their places at 5.30 in the morning. The ceremonial will probably begin at 10.30 and will not finish until about

Outside spectators must be prepared to remain in their 18in seats even longer* to see the return procession.