PEACE DAY IN LONDON.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 14959, 6 January 1919, Page 2

PEACE DAY IN LONDON.

CITY WILD WITH JOY.

GAY SCENES IN STREETS

■ KING CHEERED TO ECHO

"AULD LANG SYNE" AT PALACE

Sunday was full of strange voices. Every aeroplane that crossed overhead far up in the blue sky seemed to be carrying news of the signing of the armistice (writes the London correspondent of tho "Now Zealand Herald" in a letter dated November 12th). Every motor-cy^le and motor-car that throbbed past —these things are not very numerous nowadays—seemed to havo some special message for those who could read omens. Yet there was no impatience. The steady reports of disorder in Germany were a good sedative —something to go on with. Just a few suburban dwellers anticipated the lighting relaxations which wo were promised when peace was signed, and had their suppers with blinds raised. Monday was a typical early winter day. When I went into tho city the only flag flying was the banner of Australia, on the fine new buildings in Aldwych. It was just! one day out of hundreds the same —cold, drab, and inhospitable. Some hours earlier the armistice had. been signed,' and! in a hundred messes from end to end of the country the eagles of the Royal Air Force, now at the end of their long and gallant' campaign, celebrated the fact in the chilly dawn. But the general public* knew nothing. At 10.20 o'clock the Press Bureau gave but this:—"The Prime Minister makes the following announcement: The armistice was signed at five; o'clock this morning, and hostilities are to cease on all fronts at 11 a.m. to-day." This got abroad in tEe streets about ten minutes later, and from that moment the whole face of the city began to change. The streets were crotraed with people rushing to and fro and scrambling for flags. At ten minutes to eleven Mr Lloyd George appeared on the balcony at 10, Downing Street, "where a dense crowd was clamouring for him, and said a few words in his characteristic manner. He said that the war would be over in 10 minutes. It was a great victory, and they had earned a shout. He then retired within the window.

Meanwhile London was seething, tfvei'y window was thrown open, and every clerk, shop-assistant,, and typist and warehouseman in the metropolis rushed to the street. The footpaths became in a few moments hopelessly jammed, The news that the fighting would cease- at eleven got into the farthest cranny of the great city, and everyone was at attention when the moment came.

PANDEMONIUM BREAKS LOOSE

Excitement was intense. On the tick of eleven^ bang went the maroons from the police-stations throughout the metropolis. It is said that there were people in some of the suburbs who thought it was another air-raid, and ran white-faced to their doors to scan the sky for the destroyers. But in London itself there was not a soul who did not know that this was the moment for which all had waited for four long years.

When the first explosions \vent off, some stood still in the streets', and many raised their hats. By the time the secoud and third reports sounded, there was nothing but wiM cheering from street to street —a pandemonium of yells and shouts. It was useless to think of checking the outburst; and Avho would wish to ? From that moment London belonged to the pent-up emotions of a people that had neither laughed nor wept for four long years. At "no time had it been on the crest of elation; at no time in the depth of despair, and it had every right to let itself go now and commit such follies as it listed.

"You are well entitled to rejoice,'' safd the Prime Minister, as he emerged again from the window, and, with his wife on one side and Mr Bonar Law and Mr Winston Churchmll on the other, waited for silence to address the tumult below him. It was a. seething mass now, with a canopy of wildly-waving flags of all colours.

"The people of this Empire, "with their Allies, have won a great victory. It is tho sons and daughters of the people who have done it. Let us thank God.''

MR CHURCHILL CAUGHT.

Then he retired to the thousand toils of the day before him, and the crowd poured out of Downing street into Whitehall, and from Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. It cheered itself hoarse before the old Admiralty buildings and che War Office. In Trafalgar Square Mr Churchill was mobbed as he tried to get through in his motor, and had to make a speech. But few, if any, heard him, and lie was borne away when the mass surged along, waving his hat above his head.

It is a marvel where the people came from. A few minutes later I walked along the Strand, and had the greatest difficulty getting along. By this time everybody was everybody's friend, la ms had poured out of their offices Without hats and climbed on to any and every motor or taxi or 'bus that was <>o-:-ng slowly enough. For awhile.the 'bus conductresses did their duty-noblv in a struggling and cheering mass of people Ihe tops of the 'buses became the best possible points of vantage, and every seat was soon taken by people who remained there all the morning, and well cm into the afternoon, travelling from end to end of the route, and cheering every vehicle that passed. Half-a"-'.tny.en men stood on the canopy over the driver, -and generally halfi-a-dozen on tne steps. Army waggons were loaded down with girls from bonnet to tailboard. Even horse-vans were stormed by the crowds, and the drivers, without any goods on board at all, merely-kept f ffi f ? .moving alon S with the traffic and looked fatalists. Coalcarts that, had cropped their loads bore soiled masses of men and soldiers and girls v £ mldren» standing shoulder to shoulder.

ALi, RULES TO GO BY THE BO^RD. Private motors were stormed in the same way, generally by bevies of office girls or canteen assistants and proceeded oil their way, or on somebody else's, with loads four times in excess of tlieir limit. Policemen on point duty smiled and waved their arms copiously* to sfiW '■ tnat 'air regutotions AVen/'/sujspendei : •and all rights ..of property were null and ; void. iLvory vehicle in London -belong;ad to whoever liked to climb into it. i On foot crowds and regiments and battalions of the unlisted legions tramped along, soldiers arm in arm with o-irl clerks, officers arm in arm with privates < before the day was much farther advanced. By half-past eleven o'clock everyone was intoxicated -with excitement. . First soldiers and then commissioned officers began to exchange hats with the girls on their arms. What looked funny at 11.15 was a single Australian soldier wearing somebody's hard hat instead of his own. By half past eleven it was almost funny to>,see soldiers wearing their own hats."** Dress regulations- went -by the board. .Tommies shook hands with officers, both smiling genuinely. Every '"bus and. taxi and motor that came along now had people clinging also to tEe springs and running board, and rows of them sitting on the hoods, the girls wearing the? soldiers hats and officers and men.■•loth wearing female head-dress. By this time things had gone so far that I found the first New Zealander defying . th© aress regulations. He was of Ihe . t ■•■."■

artillery, .md had permitted his girl to take his hat.' Australia had gone much farther-and faster iti-the general demoralisation of discipline. *■• No'season in London ever experienced such .a multitude'of-traffic. Through the whole triumphal way by Oxford •street, Regent street, Piccadilly, Strand, Fleet street, Holborn, antT then again in the west, the streets and the shop fronts were alive with people. To add to the gaiety, flag-sellers sprang out of the earth yid clustered on the kerb, and overhead joyous typists scattered hundredweights of leaflets and torn-up paper liko propaganda on tho Rhine.

Motor horns hooted and whistles shrieked, and the crowd cheered and cheered again whenever they .passed another vehicle.

At the Mansion House the Lord Mayor was about to.take his seat for the first time when the news of the armistice cfimc. Sir Horace Marshall, with his '\rife. stopped out to the '"balcony, and in a few words, called for cheers for the victory and for a new resolve for the reformation of the country after peace.

AT BUCKING HAM PALACE

At Buckingham Palace, when the guard was being changed at 11 o'clock, the King came out on tho balcony in admiral's uniform, accompanied by the Queen, carrying & small Union Jack, and both waved and bowed tlieir acknowledgments, and came out again and again as the crowds grew and insisted on seeing them. The King and Queen, with the Duke of Connangbt, the Duchess of Ai'gyil and others cf the Royal family, came out on the balcony again and when the noise had died down the.King said a few words: —

./'With you I rejoice and thank" God ■for.the victory.-which the Allied armies have won, and brought hostilities to an end and peace within sight." Jiist after noon, the crowd at the Palace was greater than ever. In the forecourt were columns and ranks of nurses, V.A.D.'s, and female war-work-ers of all classes, and at one end a jrroup of American solctiers with their flag. Many bands were also there. Outeido tire railings the crowd stretched all ncross the memorial garden and round the statue of the Queen, which the Kaiser, with his royal officiousness, assisted King George to unveil some years ago.

This episode ended with "Auld Lan^ Syne." .

When the Royal party joined hands m the time-honoured fashion the crowd went almost mad. Everybody followed suit. Well-dressed ladies found themselves hand-inJhand with munitioners and carters. Once more the National Anthem was sung, His Majesty standing at the salute.

KING AND QUEEN UNGUARDED.

An hour or two later rain came on, thoroughly wetting any who were not prepared. But it made no difference to the enthusiasm of the throne; throughout the streets. They still shouted and hugged and cheered, and exchanged clothing, and stormed the motors and lorries of others.

, About four o'clock when the rain was at its worst, the King and' Queen, with Princess Mary, and a naval aide-de-camp, left the Palace in an open* carnage without any escort, and drove through London. With only two mounted policemen ahead to maEe way for them, they drove through the streets at little more than a walking pace. , The crowd soon learned of this, and they had a tremendous ovation Men women and children hung to" the carriage as it passed. As the hours went by one could see traces of the day of merriment on all hands Busses and motors, quite unaccustomed to the loads they had been carrying, were lying up on the. roadside some of them with wheels off. The Ptreets were a litter of confetti, and forbidden waste of paper. Shutters were up everywhere, not because the tradespeople were afraid of disturbance, tut purely because there was nobody to serve in the shops, and iSSrJ^ 0' tlMS°rt «»*«

LIGHTING RESTRICTIONS RELAXED.

Towards evening the crowds in town were greatly reinforced by others comma: m from the suburbs; and still the din K-enu on, but now in a more restricted area. Towards dark, too, a new interest came into men's lives. It was understood that lights would be up again, and all aay industrious gangs of men were seen bringing forward great arcs and facing them to. Standards) xOiiok for these many months past have been dark find cheerless. There was no restriction on lighting, and it was quite an exnerifince to drive through streets once more smiling. A stowaway was found on board the! steamer Salvor-a few hours* after the* yes*el left Papeete bound for WolW-j ton where she arrived recently.) iathetic circumstances- attach to the* ease (says the "Dominion"). The irre-f gular passenger was a smiling, intelli-5 gent Tahitian, of between five and six years of age. When taken before the captain he told, in broken English a sad story. His parents- and all his relatives died of influenza during the epidemic, and homeless and alono he decided to steal away to sea, for he was wise enough to know that on account of ...his tender years he would be given no employment. As the Salvor had been considerably delayed at the Island port she came to her destination with the "prisoner." He was dressed for a tropical climate, but was given a warmer outfit at Wellington. The' little fellow made himself a great favourite with all on board, and was brokenhearted when he was transferred to the Navau to be taken back' to his country. - .

I learn from Nice (says a writer in tho "Pall Mall Gazette") that M. sKann,. a Polish savant, who is a soldier in the French Foreign Legion, has invented an apparatus by which he hopes to restore the sight of men who have lost their sight through wounds.' The apparatus is in., the form of a! mask, or half-mask, which is placed i on the face of the blind man, and con- j nected by wires with a portable elec- j tvical induction apparatus. Lenses, I total reflection prisms, a camera filter | ing the light rays, and phosphorescent I plaques complete the apparatus. The: I : principle of the invention is prcgros- ! sive re-education, varying in period' with each siibject and the length of ;• : time which the blindness has existed. ! Blind men who have been subjected! to the experiment for a few hours daily ' have successively perceived, instead of the yellowish grey tint which habitu-i" ally replaces sight: (1) All the colours of the spectrum beginning with red : (2) natural white light; (3) shadows/ and their objects in this light. At New Brighton on Anniversary Day, while two young women were sitting on the sands, one of them saw a lady's band-bag lying close at hand without anyone in charge of it. On opening it she discovered a bank book, with £350 to credit, a l*oll of notes, and some silver. Later in the afternoon (says the Chmtchurch "Sun") she noticed two women apparently looking for something. She spoke to them, and ascertained, that the lady, to whom the.property belonged had not noticed her loss „ until she had returned. to the city, and then carao back at once to look for her bag; The woman who found iffe bag* returned it to the thankful owner. Her -reward was a curt "thank you."