PARIS MOURNS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10854, 25 March 1929, Page 5

PARIS MOURNS

MARSHAL FOCH S HOUSE FILLED -WITH SYMPATHISERS.

TWENTY THOUSAND FILE PAST BODY. *'

United Press Assn, by El. Tel. Copyright (Australian Press Association.)

PARIS, March 23

j All day long the line C renelle, where Marshal (FochV house is situated, was filled with sympathisers. In the afternoon the public* was admitted, and 20,000 filed past tho body*. - At the head of the coffin there are the -inter-A Hied ; standard and Marshal Foclßs flag as generalissimo of . the* Allied armies, which was kept beside him throughout his Illness . At the foot there are three batons belonging to the offices of marshal el France and field-marshal of Britain. A cushion beside the coffin contains French. British and other decorations. The whole city is in mourning, flags being half-masted on every budding. ■ * - *;- Tlu* funeral day will be the official day of mourning. The Stock Exchange and -State theatres will close. 'Thousands signed a register at Marshal Foch’s house.

One of the mourners who signed was the mother of eight sous, all of whom were killed during the war. She now mourns with the whole of France for the great commander who .saved her country.

; A schoolboy signed on behalf of bis. mates. ■Lady Haig sent a lovely wreath of laurels and poppies, with affectionate respects “to. the comrade of my husband.”

Sir Granville Eyrie i.» going to Paris on Monday to represent Australia at the funeral.

FUNERAL SERVICE TO BEGIN TO-MORROW MO RNING

.MARCH PAST OF ALLIED TROOPS

M. POINCARE TO DELIVER ORATION

Untied Press Assn, by El. Tel. Copyright

(Australian Press Association.) (Received March 24, 5.5 p.m.) PARIS', March 23

Tho capital will see another march past of tlie Allies on Tuesday, not in the full flush of triumph, as on July 14. 1010, hut in sad remembrance of their great- leader. Full details of the funeral are not yet announced, hut it is understood the body will he transported privately on Sunday morning to the Are de Trioinphe, where it will remain un-til-Monday evening, when it will lie taken to Notre Dame, and placed in the centre of the. nave. The funeral service will begin at nine o’clock on Tuesday and will last about an hour, after which the cortege will 110 formed, including foreign delegations and contingents,* and proceed to Les Jnvalidcs, whore M. Poincare will deliver an oration. Then the troops will march past. All regiments in Franco will ho represented. The body will rest not in the chapel, hut in tho rotunda dominating tho tomb of Napoleon.

SOLEMN MASS AT WESTMINSTER ■

PRINCE OF WALES REPRESENTS KING

United Press Assn, by El Tel. Copyrighi

(United Service.) (Received March 24, 5.5 0.m.) LONDON, March 23.

The whole Empire was represented at the solemn requiem mass held at Westminster Cathedral for Marshal Foch. The Prince of Wales wore the uniform of a colonel of the Grenadier Guards and represented the King. He knelt alone at one side of the catafalque, on. which lay the tricolor and the field marshal’s plumed hat, baton and sword, recalling that Marshal Foch was a British Field-Mar-shal. Mr Baldwin occupied a similar position opposite the Prince of AYales. Tho front portion, of the nave was filled with representatives of the. Navy, including Lord Jellicoe, the Army, Air Force and all departments of civil life. Sir-James Parr represented New Zealand. The catnedral was packed, those present including British Legioners, and French ex-service men, of whom the disabled clustered about the tricolor and banners. When tho mass was concluded. Cardinal Bourne, accompanied by four . Roman Catholic Bishops and numerous clergy and the choir, 'marched in procession to the catafalque, where Cardinal Bourne recited appropriate portions of the burial service and pronounced tho absolution, during which the Prince of Wales remained kneeling. Within a circle formed by members of the procession about the catafalque, buglers sounded “La Retro ite” the French equivalent to “Tho Last Post” and the organ played the Dead March from Saul, as« Cardinal Bourne, the Prince of Wales, and other distinguished mourners went in procession from the -cathedral. Sir James Parr Major Owen Mead will represent New Zealand at Marshal Focli’s funeral.