"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 83

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

March 31.

A fierce blizzard and gals swept the Channel and coasts during the week-end. The gale blew from the north-east, with drifting snowstorms, and culminated in wrecks, disordered mail-service, and loss of life. The whole of the telegraph lines between London and Dover were down, except one, and hundreds of vessels of one sort and another took shelter.

The spring song of the birds has been hushed. It might be November —fog and frosty mist for days and days, and then, unexpectedly, one "day in seven, a sunny sky and mild air of spring. This is the great all-British shopping week, so long advertised, and so long anticipated as a demonstration that the British Isles can furnish all, or almost all, that we ought to ask, from a ■ lace handkerchief to a motor car. At the close of business last Saturday, most of the important drapery establishments of the West End and other parts of London were, behind the shutters, busily transforming every department into all-British, and on Monday morning British flags fluttered loyally in the very disagreeable wind over the business places of the best-known firms. Every sort of loyal advertisement and circular had been previously sent out to customers, and the crowds outside the shops at an early hour showed the curiosity of the public to ascertian if all that has been said in favour of allBritish was correct. Despite the fact that for the exception of one day the weather has been everything but conducive to loitering, the pavements in front of the windows have been crowded, and these windows where weavers produced before their eyes have attracted crowds all day long. In Kensington, High street, Oxford Circus, and other places, the flags flying' gave the places quite a holiday appearance. The character of the shopping itself was changed, for the assistants gave to the buyer and questioner alike a good deal of information concerning the goods, many of which, until now, it was thought Britain did not produce. For instance, most women believed that French veiling was superior to British make,, and that the gauze scarves, crepe de chine, dainty slippers and gloves, all came frcan France or Germany or America; but the labels on the goods, from the dainty trifles to the, most ocstly dresses, have dispelled the fallacy, and to see the actual spinning, knitting, and weaving has been of more ediicational value than columns of advertisements, In one window silk stockings were made by a man who had been engaged in the work all his life, as was his father before him; and in other windows were samples of fabric-making from the raw silk or wool to the finished article. The Lord Mayor, presiding at the inaugural ceremony of the movement at the Mansion House, said it is a most interesting experiment, and not an antiforeign, but a pro-British, movement, "Can it be wrong for us to show a preference for the goods of our own people?' he asked, and added, humorously, "Can itbe wrong to ask our people to do what I habitually do? When I got up reluctantlv this morning I left behind me Irish linen sheets and Witney blankets, I sought the aid of English soap and Irish towels, dressed in Scotch tweeds and English boots, and came down to a breakfast supplied wholly from British produce. In fact, so far as I know, nothing that I eat ' drink, or wear conies from outside the British Empire." That Germany has watched the movement with some anxiety has been manifest through the week by the criticisms which have come fronr that country But whatever the result of the week may be financially, it wilknot end with the week, for as an exhibition it has been most instructive, and it is quite natural that now the wide supply of allBritish goods is known, there wdl be a wide demand. Yesterday afternoon a display was eiven at Claridge's Hotel, which attracted a great many society ladies. The great reception room.s were converted into showrooms, and the visitors had the opportune tv of seeing the most exquisite dresses on'living models. Lady Maesie. Bloomfield, tho president of the "Ladies AllBritish Faric and Fa.-hions Association, said that the object of the reception was to interest women in the movement. Already there is a. long list, of influential namrs connected with the association, including the Countess of Aylesford, the Countess of Arran, and Lady Edward Churchill, and the Queen's well-known partiality for British manufactures will certainly have its influence. The throng of ladies who attended the demonstration at Claridge's were most interested in the display. The gowns were designed for the occasion bv tho leading London firms —gowns of all sorts of materials, and from many parts of Britain, from the tailor-made to the reception and Court dress. There were-tweeds from Manchester, buttons from Birmingham, satin from Bradford, net embroidered in gold and silver and liiac from Nottingham, ninon made in Essex, and lace from various parts of the country. The millinery, too. was exquisite. The veils, gauzes, and tulles were as delicate and beautiful as those made in France.

At Harrods there has been an exhibition during the week of all-British scent, which has drawn such crowds that a charge hnd to be made for entrance, first of a shilling, then of two shillings; but this no one grudged, as the money was all to go to the Middlesex Hospital, and the saleswomen of the scent were beautiful actresses, including Miss Pauline Chase, Miss Lilian Broithwaite, Miss Julia James. Miss Ola Humphrey. Miss Audrey Ford, and Miss Lily Sheoheard. The demand for all-British eau-de-Cologne by male Britons has been keen. Not

(Specially Written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

AN ALL-BRITISH WEEK.

all the customers will take thei rpurchases home.

The plans for the Coronation grow more and more interesting to those who read '' of them, and more and more arduous tasks for those who plan and those who 1 execute. The King is one of the hard { workers, for he is, personally, taking an active part m all the business that is I going forward for his crowning. He is I very fit, and every morning early, when the weather will permit, his Majesty may ;be seen riding in the park. He is growi ing very near to his subjects since King j Edward's death, for the fierce light that ' is around a throne reveals a man whose purpose is to do as well as to command, and whose attitude is "come on," not !" go on." It is no mere of .state that takes his place in King George's workroom, every morning, and supervises and directs to the smallest detail the multitude of affairs that are daily demanding attention. It is said that he has brought the methods of the battleship, into Buckingham Palace. No one idles there now. A prompt and decisive attention to duty is the atmosphere of the present Court,' and the Court nests are by no means easy to fill. The King expects every man "there to do his best, and ha himself is the leader. He sits at a : large writing-table, with- speaking tubes and a telephone near him connecting with Crown departments and with the working j room of Sir Arthur Bigge, which is below | that of his Majesty. Everything in connection with the Coronation is submitted to the King, and without fuss he quietly deals with a tremendous number of matters and people every day. In few words big questions are settled. His Majesty has seen every name on the list of colonial and foreign guests, and has assigned to eacli his place at the Coronation. Many a clerk, idling at his desk, and perhaps : dreaming himself ill-used that he should I |have to work for his living, would receive 1 a shock if be were expected to do half ' the work that is done by the King. And : Queen Mary in her own sphere is none the less busy. ! During the last few weeks their Majesties have visited a number of public inj stitutions —museums, picture galleries, i model dwellings, hospitals, etc., —and one : day the King and Oueen, accompanied bv Princess Mary and suite, visited the General Post Office, and there saw the wonders of the modern postal and telegraph, systems. They showed the greatest interest in the telegraph department, with all its wonders, and Princess M.ary was delighted when the Telewriter Company's instrument sent messages from a distance, and saw the pen writing, guided bv an invisible hand. The operator at the other end of the wire drew a picture in ink of a man and a woman, which was reproduced, much to the astonishment of the Royal partv. In the cable and foreign sections, where communication with the . Continent is centred, their Majesties were ' much touched by greetings coming -through from Italy, France, and Germany, and, i nearer home, came many messages which the King and Queen and the Princess , read as they came through, and to j which they instantly replied." Their Maies- ' ties expressed themselves most gratified by and interested in the cordial greetings. ' and all that they had seen, and desired that their thanks should be conveyed to the whole staff. While in the public department the news rot about, and as their Majesties had made a condition that I there should be no cessation of the public business, hundreds of people found themselves in immediate need of stamps. I The r-i.mes of seven of the eicrht pages who will carry the King's train at the Coronation are officially announced —Lord ; Hartingdon, son and heir of the Duke of j Devonshire : Lord Cranborne, son and heir I of Lord Salisbury • L~>rd Rom.illv : M.wter i Edward Geirpe Knollys : Master Victor Alexander grandson and second i heir to Lord Suffieid ; Master Anthonv Edward Lowther. nephew and second heir to Lord Lonsdale ; and Master Walter Campbell, only son of Sir Walter Campbell, a groonT-in-waiting to the Kin". I Modern Society gives some interesting details about these boys : Lord Hartmgton is a lad of 15, but will be 16 before the great ceremonial. Be has not yet mads history, but his record at Eton is good, and he -will one day be fit for his future great inheritance. Lord Cranborne is the doyen of tho pages, a.s he is 17. aud seems, young as lie is, to have the brains for which tho Cecils are famous. He likes a oounitry life, and prefers Hatfield to London. Lord Romilly is ia boy of 12, who succeeded to his title when only six, and lost his mother not long afterwards. She was Miss - Violet Grey-Egerton, a sister of Sir Philip Grey-Egerton. and her short life had a touoh of the romantic. She had beauty and charm (things that are by no means identical), was engaged to three different men one after the othei% and at. last made a runaway marriage with her first love, the late Lord Romilly. She walked out one morning with her maid, and was married in a church in London. Master Edward Knollys is a godson of the late King and of his present Majesty. Ho' was 16 last January, and when he retires will have had seven years' office at Court, where his father has been for a lifetime one of the most conspicuous figures. It may not he j generally known that when King Edward ; had no special engagement he would teleI phone to Lord Knollys saying that he would like to dine quietly with him in his own ■ rooms in St. James's Palace. j Master Lowther is a- boy of 14, and has ■ been brought up m an atmosphere of sport I and of smart society. His father, Mr Lancelot Lowther, is a keen shot, a fine rider, and. I a well-known figure at all the best ra.eeI meetings. His mother is a very piuetty I woman, who talks aaid shoots well, and, like her husband, rides to hounds in daring fashion. She is especially clever at " potting " rabbits and partridges. But she. is of animals, and treats thern with immense kindness. Master Victor K&rbord is 13 years old and belongs to a family of courtiers. Hia grandfather, Lord Sufiield, and his grand- | mother, the late Lady Suffield. were for mosA , of their livea in the Royal Households, and.

he will, no doubt, follow in their footsteps. Lord Suffield acted as Permanent iLord in Waiting to the late King Edward, and only left the Koyal service whan he was past 80. Master Victor Harbord's mother was Miss Evelyn Wilson-Patten, an heiressdaughter of the Dowager Liady Headfort. He is a godson of the late Queen Victoria. Master Campbell has also lived much in a courtly atmosphere.. His parents reside at Holly Grove, in Windsor Park, and do some pleasant entertaining. THE CORONATION SERVICE. The .authorised form and order of the Coronation service has been issued in preparation for the great ceremonial at Westminster Abbey on June 22, of which I take extracts: In the morning upon the day of the Coronation early oa.re is to be taken that the ampulla be filled with oil, and, together with the spoon, be laid ready upon the altar of the Abbey Church. The Archbishops and Bishops' Assistant, being already vested in their copes, the procession shall be formed immediately outside of the west door of the church, and shall wait till notice is given of the approach of their Majesties, and shall then begin to move into the church. The King and Queen shall in the meantime pass up the body of the church, into a,nd through the choir., and so up the sta.ir3 to the theatre; and having passed by their thrones, they shall make their humble adoration, and then kneeling at the faldstocls set for them before their chairs of estate on the south side of the altar, use some short private prayers; and after, sit down in their chairs. The King and Queen being so placed, i»h« Archbishop shall turn to the oast pa.rt of the theatre, and after, together with rho Lord Chancellor, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord His?h Constable and Earl Marshal (Garter King of Arms preceding them), eh-aU go to the other three sides cf the theatre in this order—south, we&t, and north—-and at every of the four sides shall with a loud voice speak to the people: and the Kinaf in the meanwhile, standing up by his chair, shall turn and show himself unto the people at evc.ry of the four sides of the theatre as the Archbishop is at every of them, the Archbishop staying:

Sire, I here unto you King l George, the undoubted King of this Realm: Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?

The people isignify their willingness and joy by loud and repeated acclamations, all with one voice crying out, God save King George.

A fanfare of trumpets is followed by the Litany and the opening part of the communion service, Gospel, and Creed, and then will follow a short sermon by one of the bishops. Then the Archbishop, approaching the chair on which the King i<» seated, asks :■ " Sir, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?" and his Majesty, answering, " I am willing." he then rises out of his chair and proceeds to the alta*, the Lord Chamberlain going; before him bearing the sword of state, shall go to the alter, and there being uncovered, make his solemn Oath in the sight of all the ueople, to observe the premisses: laying his right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the great Bible (which was before carried in the procession, and is now brought from the altar by the Archbishop, and tendered to him as he kneels unon/the stepsh paying these words: " The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep. So help me God. Then the King shall Idas the Book and sign the Oath, then return to his chair, after a prayer. The Kino-, rising from his devotions, having been disrobed of his Crimson robs by the Lord Great Chamberlain, and having taken off his ca.D of state, shall <ro before the altar, supported and attended as before. The King shall sit down in Kino: Edward's chair (-laced in the mide'r, of the area over against the altar, with a faldstool before it), wherein he is to be anointed. Four Knights of the Oiarter "shall hold over him a rich pall of silk, or cloth of gold. The Dean of

Westminster, taking the ampulla and spoon from off the altar, shall hold them ready, pouring some of the holy oil into the 'spoon, and with it the Archbishop shall anoint the King in the form of a cross. Then tlie King kneels for the bless. ins of the 'Archbishop. This prayer being ended, the King shall arise and sit down again in King Edward's chair, while the Knights of the Garter give back the pall to the Lord Chamberlain; whereupon the King, again arising, the Dean oi Westminster shall put upon his Majesty the _ colobium sindonis and the supei'tunica or close pall of cloth of gold, together with a, girdle of the same. Then the King's heels are touched with spurs brought from the altar, and the Lord Great Chamberlain girts him with the sword of justice, saying: " With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God, help and defend widows and orphans." Then the King, rising up, shall ungird his jrvtord, and, going to the altar, offer it there in the scabbard, and then_ return jmd sit down in King Edward's chair: and the peer who first received the sword shall offer the price of it—namely, 100 shillings, and having thus redeemed it, shall receive it from the Dean of Westminster, from off the altar, and draw it Dirt of the scabbard, and carry it naked before his Majesty during the rest of the solemnity. The investment •of the Royal robe of cloth of gold follows, and the handing of the orb, the cross, the ring, the sceptre, and the glove precede the crowning. Then the King, sitting down in King Edward's chair, the Archbishop, assisted by other bishops, shall come from the altar: the Dean of Westminster shall bring the crown, and the Archbishop, taking it of him, shall reverently put it upon the King's head. At the sight whereof the people, with loud and repeated shouts, 'shall cry, "God save the King'; the peers and the kings-of-arms shall pht on their coronets; and the trumpets shall sound, and by a signal given, the great guns at the Tower shall be shot off. Immediately after the choir will sing, "Be strong and play the man: Keep the Commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in His ways.'"' The' Bible is next presented, and after the Archbishop has pronounced a solemn benediction shall the King ~o to Iris throne, and be lifted up into it by the archbishop and bishops, and other peers of the kingdom; and, being inthronised, or placed therein, all the great officers, those that bear the swords and the sceptres, and the nobles who carried the other regalia, shall stand round about the steps of the throne; and the Archbishop, standing before the King, shall say: ". . . the Lord God Almighty establish your throne —that it may stand fast for evermore, like as the sun before him." Before the assuming of the Royal robe is a supertunic, of which an authority says: This may best be described as a short surplice of the finest white linen can:-brie, the material for which is being woven in Ireland. It is on© of the oldest of Church vestments, and went out of use in early tinies when the dalmatic was introduced, and afterwards insisted upon by Pope Sylvester. It may be interesting to add that the lace •with which ihe colobium used by Charles II at his Coronation was finished coat what was then the Lavish price of 18s a yard. Over the linen vestment are placed tho supertunic, the pallium, and the stole. KingEdward had his own pallium, which was woven in Essex, the material being cloth-of-gold, and the Indian lotus appealed' in the design for the first time. But the owner of the pallium which was used by George IV has offered this interesting relic of history to George V, who has accepted it with much pleasure. The supertunic is sometimes, but not very correctly, called the tunicle. It, differs from the colobium in having shorter sleeves and a shorter skirt, so that the white lin<.n shows up at each extremity. The tuniclo was really the vestment of a sub-deacon in the early Church, but the bishops annexed it, and made it very gorgeous. In the famous Pqrchas judgment it was declared to be an illegal vestment in the English Church. The pallium or mantle is the symbol of Imperial power, being the coveted vestment in the Western Church for an Archbishop. It is the outward indication that the crowned King is Fidei defensor. In Tudor times it was embroidered with golden eagles, but the . Royal pall was stolen during the wars of the Commonwealth, and a. new one had to be made for James 11. This was of gold and purple tissue,* with large gold flowers and small silver ones, all edged about with purple. The Georgian pallium is of gold, ■with the rose, shamrock, and thistle joined together with green tracery. The young Prince of Wales, aged 16, has left Dartmouth Naval College for food, and is at present at Buckingham 'alace with the King and Queen, he having served his four years of naval training. Before leaving Dartmouth be j>erformed his first official duty, and made his first speech, on the occasion of presenting a silver oar to the Mayor of Dartmouth, at the old Guildhal of that borough —or, arther, restoring the silver oar to the Mayor and Corporation as a symbol of former rights possessed by the Corporation in connection with the bailiwick of the water of Dartmouth. The bov Prince's speech was short, and it is said that he looked rather nervous as he made it in a clear voice as follows:—" Mr Mayor, — It gives me great pleasure to present to you the silver oar, and I thank you and all the inhabitants for your kind welcome to Dartmouth, where I have spent two such happy years."