MR. SAVAGE'S BURIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23619, 1 April 1940, Page 11

MR. SAVAGE'S BURIAL

AUCKLAND MOURNS PROCESSION TO GRAVESIDE GREAT CROWDS LINE WAY In the golden sunshine of a late summer afternoon, the mortal remains of the Rt. Hon. Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand, were laid to rest yesterday in the vault at Fort Bastion, overlooking a blue and peaceful sea. The flashing bayonets and service uniforms of the armed escort, the interludes of native ceremonial and the burial service, carried out in accordance with the ancient, rites of the Roman Catholic Church, all combined to make an occasion of impressive solemnity. The humble spirit of the man whose memory was being honoured found its true reflection in the hushed and reverent crowd of at least 200,000 people who lined the route of the funeral procession and thronged the green slopes around the burial ground. The city was the centre of the nation's mourning. After a funeral procession from Parliament Buildings in Wellington on Saturday, the casket was carried northward by special train which halted alt intermediate stations, where thousands of people paid their tributes of gratitude and affection Ito the memory of the late Prime Minister. When the train arrived at Auckland yesterday afternoon the casket was placed on a gun carriage. Preceded by an armed escort, the funeral procession commenced its eight-mile journey to the heights of Orakei. On the green headland that is Fort Bastion, the cortege made its way through a hushed crowd, and then the casket was borne to the catafalque, where the burial! service was conducted by Bishop Liston. The casket was then raised for the last time to be carried through an avenue of : wreaths into the dim quiet of the burial chamber. Below, on the waters of the harbour, Auckland's fleet of pleasure craft rode at anchor with their pennants at half mast.