CORONATION WEATHER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22685, 24 March 1937, Page 13

CORONATION WEATHER

TEN TO ONE AGAINST RAIN TEA PARTIES IN STREETS LONDON. March 22 Insurance companies are laying 10 to j one against wet weather at the Coronation. Business is brisk. The organisers of sports and street tea parties, and owners of blocks of grandstand seats, are insuring against rain, but cinema proprietors against fine weather. Tea party insurance is a novelty. These parties will be arranged for children in their own streets by private subscription and will last all day. They will include races and games. SPECIAL STAMP ISSUE PHILATELIC INTEREST THEIR MAJESTIES* PORTRAITS LONDON, March 22 The Postmaster-General, Mr. G. C. Tryon, informed the House of Commons to-day that he had arranged for an issue of a special lid Coronation stamp. The Coronation stamp, for the first time in the history of Britain, will bear portraits of both the King and Queen. It will be the same size as the King George V. Jubilee issue in 1935, and the same colour as the present lid (brown). ARABIAN RULER VISIT TO BRITAIN HOUSES FOR LARGE PARTY LONDON. March 10 The Imam Yahya Yemen is coming to London for the Coronation, complete with a household consisting of 75 women, 10 eunuchs and 20 special servants who are always at the Imam's beck and call. His representative has already arrived and is searching for a large house for the Imam and half a dozen other houses for the harem. The Imam has never before left his native land of Arabia. There is another reason for his visiting London besides the Coronation. He is anxious to make contact with the British Government and to establish a Legation in London, bringing his country into diplomatic equality with his powerful neighbour, Ibn Saud, who is already represented. PORTRAIT OF KING QUEEN MARY'S INTEREST PROGRESS WATCHED KEENLY LONDON, March 19 Queen Mary spent an hour to-day at the studio of Mr. John St. H. Lander, the artist who is painting a portrait of the King in his Coronation robes. It was not the first visit Her Majesty has paid to the studio, as she has been watching keenly the progress of the portrait. The Queen turned over old sketches made for a similar portrait of George V. and after a critical study of the King's portrait, said: "It is a very good resemblance. You have made him look much younger than he is, but I think that is all to the good."