VAST ASSEMBLY

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

VAST ASSEMBLY

EIGHT MILE ROUTE PASSING OF CORTEGE TOUCHING INCIDENTS After tlio casket had been placed j upon the gun-carriage outside the railwar station the cortege, to the roll of muffled drums, soon set off on the last stage of the funeral journey. A subdued word of command, and the gun crew sat rigid on the tender. Another order, louder this time, and the escort, with arms sloped, moved smartly to the head of the procession before slackening to the slow march of ceremony. _Witli bayonets glistening awl uniforms of navy blue, khaki and lighter blue patches of colour against the dull clothing of the massed mourners, they led the solemn march to the deliberate tones of the "Dead March in Saul." Behind the guncarriage followed the first of a cortege of several hundred cars. Mourned in Silence Beginning the eight-mile journey to Bastion Point, the cortege moved at a crawl, passing through a vast assembly that mourned in silence. There was 110 demonstration of emotion, the mere presence of such a multitude being ample sign of the country's grief. With the escort dismissed at the foot of Queen Street, the funeral procession was able to travel a little faster, but never so rapidly that the crowds were unable to catch a glimpse of the ilagshrouded gun-carriago and the flowers that hid a following truck. In the heart of the city, as at the Railway str.tion, thousands stood quietly behind the line of soldiers and cadets as the procession passed. A tribute that touched the hearts of all who saw it, and one that in his lifetime would have delighted Mr. Savage, was that of the aged and infirm. Careful organisation had reserved for them a special place, and 011 chairs set 011 the pavement outside the Town Hall hundreds of old folk, some in deep mourning, and many in failing health, awaited their friend. To them the loss was personal and intimate, and in their determination to do honour to the memory of one they loved many had waited hours. Blind Boy Told Not all had dry eyes. A frail, whitehaired woman, dressed in the formal mourning of a generation ago, waved a black bordered handkerchief as the gun-carriage passed, then turned to a friend to say: "He was a great man." And old heads nodded their agreement. Near by was a lad in his teens. He was blind. Beside his wheel-chair dwelt a vhite-faced woman, his mother perliaps, and through her eyes he ■ saw the sorrowful procession, for she told him in simple words how Auckland was mourning New Zealand's loss. The dimming eyes of a dozen or more who knew Auckland when it was young missed no detail of the scene. Long after the gun-carriage had gone they remained standing, heedless of the chairs provided for them, staring the length of Queen Street, their silence moro eloquent than words. Passing the Hospital Beyond the city limits there were still thousands to line the route. Over the heads of nurses who filled the footpath in Park Road, patients well enough to reach windows of the Auckland Hospital watched the long procession. Jn Carlton Gore Road there was only sufficient room to allow the cortege to pass, and another dense throng awaited it at Newmarket. Children were in their hundreds in all sections of the crowd. On every by-road adjacent to the funeral route, thousands of motor-cars were parked, bumper-to-bumper, and as often as not on the footpaths to enable others to be admitted when space was limited. Thus it was that very many people saw the procession pass, before driving by back roads to 'Bastion Point, there to witness the interment with all the solemn rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Harbour Panorama

Patterned by the countless wreaths, a carpet of flowers, red. white and blue, spread before the vault, awaited the thousands who converged on Bastion Point across the heights of Orakei. Below them was the panorama of the. harbour, on which 200 of Auckland's pleasure-boats rode at anchor,, sails furled and pennants or ensigns at halfmast. A passing freighter, inwardbound, dinped her Red Kns-ign, to join in the trinute that came from the sea. Overhead a solitary aeroplane circled to shflw her silver wings. Long before the mounted policemen heading the funeral procession > appeared over the top of the hill, a hush enveloped the vast crowd. A quiet that deepened told of the approach of the cortege, and the mourners stood as they realised suddenly that the end of the journey was near.