NOTES FROM LONDON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7322, 7 February 1902, Page 1

NOTES FROM LONDON.

[FKOM OtTB CoRRESrOKDES?.]

,-,..■ - ; londch^ am- -|- :^ ;•ss£' seem' likely to be /%)b^&d^ bys! tlie Coronation until it is over and' done" with. Definite information as to festivities by which it •will be marked is scanty, but out of tho rumours, reports and' understandings, enterprising journalists extract an' abundance of copy.. One tells us that "Coronatia" will be a favourite name for daughters this year. Another, apropos of the assiduous hunting of the rabbit which feupplies the lining for Cor|sasqn. So'tes,: bursts into this neat little couplet .--hi*: tie "tDiiiooker": — -*■*

"Hail, day df buMung] ■Britain's gone *-hiwi)tnig, To find ngr peers -a rabbit-skin To view lire Corbnaibion in."

It is definitely settled that immediately r: »t the -close of the Easier services, . on April 1 to be precise, Westminster Abbey -will be closed to the public . and handed 7* "over to the Chief Commissioner of Works ~ to be transformed .arid decorated for the ceremony; • The ancient structure is likely to bj? somewhat the. worse 'for wear! when jbJI £h& standlß that vmust ■■■■- acconnnodafee '40p0 ? 'ij^ci&fors ' arei finally dismantled. Among those invited j srill be . the Lords • and C ommons, .Judges of the High Courts, Knights Grand Cross, i jLord. Mayors, Royal and State Officials and representatives of reigning families and foreign nations. Sir Frederick Bridge is to be responsible for the musical arrangements, and is to submit suggestions to the King. It is tolerably certain that the musical programme *will \>e a good deal shorter that it -was nt Queen Victoria's Coronation, when there Vrere four anthems, the Litany, Boyce's '. Te t>eum, the Hallelujah Chorus, and.seyerai other pieces. Doubtless Handel's , anthem " Zadok, the Priest," composed for George ll. 's Coronation, and used at every Coronation since, will be sung. on this occasion also. Probably the body of performers will be smaller than that in 1838, when there was a band of 117 players and • chorus of 288 vocalists'; the instrumentalists being dressed in scarlet uniforms, ■mth the male singers in surplices and the Women in' white dresses, and the whole party, being stationed on a special gallery or orchestra erected on the site of the pre- " sent organ, screen, but extending far into the nave. Nor are there likely to be any of the scandals in connection with the music that«xisted at Queen Victoria's Coronation, .when theEari Marshal had to pay £500 to redeem the .Aj^bey organ, as -it was claimed as a pe'rqnisite, and when thanks to the Court fiction that the Choir of' Wettmirister Abbey for this ceremonial became a Chapel Royal, and was under the control of the Bishop of London as Dean of the.Cbapel Royal, Sir George Smart was pitchforked into the office of composer, although • wholly unsuited to the post, and despite the fact that the Queen had expressed a well -merited preference for Sir Henry Bishop, composer of "Home, sweet Home."- Sir George Smart on that cccaeion sold some of the seats in . the choir and orchestra to outsiders wholly ignorant of music, and anxious only to see the ceremonial. Even the price Sir George asked was openly stated, namely £50 a seat. No doubt he considered it more or less a perqiirsitV for even the great Purcell sold -to. the public, seats in the organ loftin the Coronation of William, and Mary,' but -was promptly brought to book by the Chapter, who ordered that his salary shpuld • ce«a£e until he had paid back' tho money to the Treasury, which accordingly he did. Apropos of music,- it is hot yet settled whether we are to refer to the Kir,g i n the

National Anthem as " Our Lord the King,"- j " Our gracious King," or " Our noble King." j Some publishers appealed .to the King himself to fix the official version, but bis Ma- j jesty modestly refused to decide. A nnval review at Spitnead on or a.bout ] June 28 is to bs one of the Coronation i 1 pageants, and will probably quite eclipt* ' the greaf gathering of warships in 1897. The combined fleet is to anchor in. fcur lines, and the principal naval powers are to be invited to send a squadron each under the command of an Admiral.

Tile Good Hope, the Caipe'e gift to the Navy, is to 'lave a prominent place, ajcd at the head of the Dfinci-paJ line of ships is to be moored H.M.S. London, which is now being completed for sea at Portsmouth. On this fine battteship the Prince of Wales on the day of the review will hoist hjis flap as Admiral of the United Kingdom, and take rupreme command of the huge gathering of warships. His immediate subordinates will be Admiral Sir Michael , Gulme-Seymour, Vies- Admiral of the United Kingdom, and Admiral Sir E. R. mantle, Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom. . : NEW YEAR HONOURS. Certain gentlemen in your colony, who read with feelings of disappointment the King's Birthday honours' list, may not be greatly pleased to hear that /New Year's Day was drawn blank so far as K.C.M.G.'s and other alphabetical marks of Kingly appreciation were concerned. For years no such thing has happened, and no official explanation is forthcoming os to why it was i thought good to allow the fount of honour to run dry this year. . Probably, however, the reason is to be found in the mere accident Of dates. The late Queen's Birthday being' on May 24, it was that the conferment of hon,o.ur3 in»bulk should be madVlni ithat anniversary and on the first day of the new year, and the lists were thus divided by roughly half a year. King Edward's Birthday being on Nov. 9, it would be obviously inconvenient to issue a list of honours again so- early as^ Jaii. 1. It will probably be found ultimately that a- good many of the events hitherto, celebrated on May 24- will be transferred to Coronation Day, June 29.

THE ROYAL VISIT. •■m^fevr Zealand's Premier is the latest to to the " St James's Gazette" lus impTCSsicns of the effect of the Royal' visit. That it. will strengthen materially: the bonds that unite the colony to the Mother Country goes, in. his opinion, without saying. The men who have helped to build the Empire are sure to stand by tho •Empire in prosperity and adversity. The American builders were very badly treated, ani they "cut the painter," hivfd off, and j&jjlU't^ great nation for themselves. The. builders have all they want— ;ifir^Bd'om within, protection without ; "cut the painter" is not in their vocabulary." That visit now stands in our records as the last of the pleasant series cf facts which distinguish the appreciative period of British statesmanship sharply from the very different : epoch in which the Americas' were thrown away. : .

Mr: Seddori shows how- much, better Lord Normariby gauged, the . public opinion of the colony than those visitors who declared: that "the first war would kill loyalty, and the first reverse): would .-' out the. painter.'" »%fxß^W&~sosUq^Jth^lid^ror--manby was right 'in 1 his guarantee oi. .coir oaiat loyalty , anc! the loyal-profesSions that abounded in the addresses to the Royal pair were guaranteed by performances. Tim loyalty which has rushed to the battlefield has the right to proclaim, itself genuine. . After describing the fervour of that loyalty demonstrated during the Royal tour, regardless of expense, Mr Seddon thus perorates: — "It lias been demonstrated that our people regard the Enipire, which they have proved their readiness to maintain, as a' great system, of liberty and universal justice unique in the world's history; that they have the, deepest personal regard for the Royal House, which is the political symbol of that system; that nothing but overwhelming force can ever break 'the crimson thread of kinship' which binds us to it." • COALING STATIONS. Sir John Colomb, M.P. , has addressed to the First Lord of tho Admiralty a lengthy memorandum on the question of garrisons for coaling stations now under the consideration of the Admiralty and War Office. Sir John argues that the effect likely to be produced by artillery fire on moderatdy-defend-ed positions, in proportion to the ammunition consumed, reduces almost to a minimum the risk, of attack by warships on such positions. Sir John therefore cihsiders that we hay« exaggerated the risk, $md overdone fortifications of coaling stations. An outbreak of war should noi find our admirals without a force at their disposal, exclusive of the complement of their, ships. Sir John's view is that they should be able to look to the colonies for producing such a force in war. The Naval Contingent furnished by Australia for China illustrated,---6n a small scale, what could be done. He does not believe any colony would form a marine artillery, reserve, but ihixe would be great readiness, he believes to form a reserve to do precisely the game work, provided the force be called naval, and be dressed as blue-jackets. This ■ policy would, he urges, produce a colonial auxiliary naval force available for tho release of the peace garrisons of coaling stations in time of hostilities.