LONDON TRIBUTES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19893, 22 March 1939, Page 5

LONDON TRIBUTES

CHEERING CROWDS PRESIDENT OF .FRANCE RECEPTION BY KING DRIVE THROUGH CITY JOINING OF FLAGS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. March 22, noon.) LONDON, March 21. Thousands of people cheered the arrival at Dover of the President of France, M. Lebrun, and Madame

M. Lebrun. Lebrun. They left for London by a special train. The King and Queen welcomed Monsieur and Madame Lebrun at Victoria Station. Thousands cheered along the route to Buckingham Palece. The King wore a field-marshal's uniform. The Queen wore a suit of new mayflower shade of lilac. Her hat was surmounted by an "ostrich feather. Destroyers and Royal Air Force machines met M. Lebrun's ship in mid-channel. Battleships and shore batteries fired a salute at Dover, where M. Lebrun was welcomed by the Duke of Gloucester and the French Ambassador, M. Corbin. The London route along which the visitors drove was decorated with Union Jacks and the Tricolour. That the visit of the head of a sister democracy should have fallen in t(hes3 critical" days for'the nations that prize liberty has invested the visit with an altogether special significance. The recent events added a dramatic intensity to-the warmth of the welcome accorded the French President and the spontaneous enthusiasm of the crowds continued In evidence throughout the day. Thus when MLebrun and Madame Lebrun were driving to Marlborough House in the afternoon to visit Queen Mary, people surged into the roadway and the car was brought to a standstill as -men and women pressed around cheering wildly and waving miniature British and French flags* At the Institut Francois, South Kensington, the visitors beard the building declared open by the Princess Royal, who is a co-patron of the institute with M. Lebrun. This evening the King and Queen gave a State banquet at Buckingham Palace in honour of the French President and Madame Lebrun. This was followed by a reception. The French .Foreign Minister, M. Bonnet, accompanied M. Lebrun and will have opportunities of personal discussions on the international situation with the British Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax.