JUBILEE DAY

Southland Times, Issue 25275, 3 May 1935, Page 7

JUBILEE DAY

FINAL ARRANGEMENTS. CHAIN OF BONFIRES. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, May 1. It is announced that the programme for Monday’s Jubilee celebrations will be carried out as arranged, regardless of the state of the weather. If it rains, however, the King and the other members of the Royal Family will travel to St. Paul’s Cathedral in closed instead of open landaus. The weather to-day was cheerless and wet, but there was very little diminution in the crowds thronging London streets, particularly on the procession routes, to see the decorations, and there were exceptionally large numbers outside Buckingham Palace throughout the day. The final military arrangements for Jubilee Day, including the drafting of contingents to the number of 14,000 to line the procession route, were approved by the King. Nearly 12,000 police will be on duty in Central London on Monday. The sites for London’s 27 bonfires, of which the one in Hyde Park will be lighted by the King at 9.55 p.m., have been chosen. Altogether, in a complete chain throughout the country, there will be 1750 fires. Four thousand guests, representative of all parts of the Empire, have been invited to take part in the St. Paul’s thanksgiving service.

TRAFFIC HELD UP STREETS THRONGED AT MIDNIGHT (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, May 1. There were amazing scenes in the West End at midnight when hundreds of thousands of people were still thronging the streets to see th§ decorations. Traffic for one period was at a standstill along the whole length of Regent Street and along Oxford Street as far as the Marble Arch. BOYS’ RELAY RUNS MESSAGE FOR THE KING. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, May 2. The Duke of York was the central figure at a Boys’ Brigade demonstration in the Albert Hall. He received an address of loyalty to the King which 2000 Brigade members brought to London in relay runs all day and all night from John O’ Groats, Londonderry and other corners of the United Kingdom. The message included references to loyal homage by thousands of Brigade members in the dominions. The picturesque and attractive plan carried out by The Boys’ Brigade in celebration of the King’s Silver Jubilee aroused great interest throughout the Empire. For 25 years of his reign his Majesty has been the patron of this, the pioneer of all existing boys’ movements, and the congratulations of the boys of the Brigade to his Majesty on his Silver Jubilee have been expressed in a unique way. Five copies of a “Jubilee Message to the King” were conveyed by boy marathon runners from John O’Groats, Londonderry, South Wales, Penzance and Lowestoft to London. Each message was carried by a continuous series of boys acting as “bearers of the message.” Each bearer was accompanied by two other runners, one of . each side, acting as escort to the message. The escorts did not carry the message itself, except in an emergency due to the failure of the bearer. By night bearer and escort were provided vzith warning lights, and there was adequate supervision by night and by day. With the exception of halts on Good Friday and on Sundays, the message proceeded continuously. The boys concerned were specially picked from the 8.8. companies in the towns on the line of route, preference being given to holders of the King’s Badge. There was keen competition among the boys to be chosen for the honour of carrying this historic message, 'ogether with the roll of bearers to be signed by each bearer. This roll of bearers was to be signed in the presence of an officer by each bearer on receipt of the message. The northern message travelled 1000 miles, being the first to start and leaving John O’Groats on Tuesday, April 16. The north-western message left Londonderry on Tuesday, April 23. The southern message started at Land’s End on Friday, April 26; the western message a' Neath, South Wales, on Monday, the 29th; and the eastern at Lowestoft on Tuesday, the 30th. The total distance covered by the 8.8. mar'•athon runners was 1700 miles. The carrying of the message on the five routes was so timed that London was reached by all five messages on the evening of Wednesday, May 1, when the runs finished in the arena of the Royal Albert Hall during the Silver Jubilee display of The Boys’ Brigade. The Duke of York was chairman on that occasion, and the five copies of the message were then to be formally presented to his Royal Highness for conveyance by him to the King. Some districts arranged that the boys who carried the message throught their own locality would journey to London on May 1 to see the arrival of the last bearer at the end of the final stage.