The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1902. THE KING'S DINNER TO THE POOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11715, 19 August 1902, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1902. THE KING'S DINNER TO THE POOR.

On Saturday, Juily sth, the King entertained over 50,000 guest* from the ranks of labour and poverty in the great city of •London1. The Prince and1.. Princess of Wales and others of the- Royal Family were present. Many of the nobility and leading citizens of London took part in waiting1 upon the diiners1. At Fulhaxn,, 14,000 sat down together, and could be seen by the Royal visitors at one glance, an army of happy men and women, who received them* with a cheer that the King would hear of not without emotion in his sick chamber. His> Majesty wasy during the day, constantly made acquaintedl with the progress of the proceedings in various quarters of the great town, and the meseug"e from his heart wasi received! and his health drunk not only with cheers but with tears. Joy i« naturally emotional, and great joy oftener leads to tears thanto laughter. Nothing in the King's life, in the estimation of tlie poor, has more tiouchingjly evinced his solicitude for their happiness than the dinners of that July Saturday. His Majesty hoped to have been present at several of them. The people do.not the less estimate his untiring effoits for the hospitals and other institutions in their favour when they think and speak of these entertainments; but they feel that they have com© closer to him1, that they 'have touched hands'with him now that they have, as it were, broken bread together at his table. The people are the mainstay of thrones and government®, and the nearer tne great ones! of the earth get to> them;, in their daily life, the letter for both), and the stronger-the Imperial idea, which is the mainspring of British power, and; under the British) flag, tlie best assurance of peace and the surest moftff of civJilisatioiv all the world over. Tlie King's Dinner passed off under the most favourable auspices. The weather, that all important factor in holiday making, was the best that oouild be desired —a genial summer's day tempTred by a lighe breeze; the dinners, many of them served in pleasant parks and gardens, were .generous, and1, in some districts, almost sumptuous ; the entertainments were given by the pick of the profession; and above all, the King's guests sat down with the knowledge that his Majesty was at length

officially stated to be out of danger. The

absence of the King1, who had hoped to make a tour of the M-e'tropplis, was the only serious drawback; but though his Majesty could only be present in spirit, he was represented in person by various members of the Royal Family, including the Prince and Princess, of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Ciomnaught, Princess Louise (Duchess of Fife) and the Duke of Fife, Pr'nces* Louise (Duchess of Argyll) and the Duke of Argyll, Princess Henry of Battenbur,g, Prince and Princess diaries of Denmark and the Duchess of Albany. That so huge an entertainment should have Been carried through in sc- complete a manner speaks well for the organisation through which it was effected. Decentralisation, of course, was the principle adopted. Acting directly under tlie King's commands1 was a central committee, composed, of the Lord Mayor, as chairman, and the Mayors of the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs'. But when these had fixed upon the proportion of diners to be entertained in each district arid had allocated the necessary funds out of the £30,000 which Ms Majesty placed at, their disposal, the details of the programme were carried through) by local committees in each borough, which in gome cases, again deputed! details to the sub-committees in each ward. While this tended to smooth working, it also involved a considerable difference in the menu at the various places of entertainment. Thus, while some of the humble guests Mat down to hot roasts and potatoes, with removes of cold meat and salads* others had, perhaps, only cold meat with bread and pickles. The question of alcohol, again, was one on which various committees took different views-. In Battersea, Poplar, and Wand«worth, for example, the authorities firmly, if politely, refused the generous .offer of Messrs. Bass .and Co. to supply beer to all who wished for it; and in Deptford a.so beer was absent, though the committee acted under compulsion rather than for preference, owing to terms imposed in connection with the loan of certain halls. In other boroughs teetotalers and non-teetotalers wei« divided as the sheep from the goats, while in other localities beer was provided, with discretion, at all tables. A Coronation cup was supplied by Messrs. Doulton and Co. to each of the 500,-000 gueets, together with a

card and the King's box of chocolate. By a happy arrangement the guests were rot at once dismissed to their homes, when they were in a genial frame of mind, induced by a .good dinnei', but an. entertain.'-me-nt of the best passible kind was provided for all. Innumerable hands were suppied by the L.C.C, while well known vocalists', pianists, actop?, actresses, and music hall performers came forward with the utmost generosity to place their services at the disx>osal of the Entertainment Committee, which, with Mr. H. E. Moss, of the Hippodrome, at its head, was able to make euch an apportionment of talent to each borough that every gathering of guests was well served. Among those who volunteered were Madam© Belle Cole, Madame Nordica, Madame Suzanne Adams', Miss Marian Mackenzie, Mr. Tito Mattel, Mr. W. Ganz, Mr. Theo. Bonheur, Miss Marie Lloyd, Miss Vesta, Tilley, Miss Louie Freear, Mr. Dan Leno, Mr. Herbert Campbell, Mr. Harry Randall, Little Tich, Chirgwin. and otliersi scarcely less well known. To give some id!ea of the magnitude of the undertaking, it may be mentioned that at Fuilham, where 14,000 people were entertained in the Bishop's Park, the seats, if placed end to end, would have reached from the Strand to Hammersmith, the tables measured no less than 2£ miles, while five tons of potatoes had to be boiled at an adjacent brewery, and conveyed to the park in casks specially sealed to keep thiemt warm. Th«i London papers teem, with interesting details of this great feast, which, as one journal remarks, was (perhaps the largest thing of its kind since tihe (nraltitudteis were fed on the banks of the Sea of Galilee.