TEN MILLION WILL CROWD INTO LONDON FOR VICTORY PARADE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 123, 30 May 1946, Page 5

TEN MILLION WILL CROWD INTO LONDON FOR VICTORY PARADE

(Spacial Correq>ondant—N.Z.P.A.) Reed. 7.40 p.m. London. May 29.

Ten million people are expected to crowd into central London on Victory Day, and the London Transport Board and London police and traffic authorities are making the fullest preparations to cope with the tremendous influx, with all the problems it entails.

Buses, trams and trains on will run special schedules all Vi The London Transport Board is additional buses and trams, and made by the police to control ti

The 8.8. C. is making the biggest effort iu the history of the corporation. Fifty special commentators will describe the processions and scenes along the routes. Descriptions of the celebrations will be broadcast to the vorld in 20 different languages.

During the night pageant on he Thames, betwen the Hungerbird *nd Vauxliall Bridges, a R.A.F. helicopter will hover over he river and a description will be broadcast from the machine and relayed through loud-speakers lining the city streets.

Led by a veteran Hurricane, survivor ot the Battle of Britain, 300 aircraft, including bombers and liighters, coastal reconnaissance, and latest Jets, will, fly in an aerial procession extending 60 miles at a height of 500 feet above London's roof-tops, to roar over the saluting base. The official programme for the dav has now been issued by the Stationery Office, and every school child in Britain will receive a special memento card, bearing a message from the King. The Royal Procession will leave Buckingham Palace at 10.10 a.m. and drive, via the Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road, Northumberland Avenue, Bridge Street, and Whitehall, to the saluting base in the Mall. His Majesty, accompanied by the Queen and two Princesses, wilt drive in a State landau, accompanied by an es-

a majority of the London routes .dory Day until, late at night, commissioning more than 1500 special arrangements have been iffic and parking.

curt of Household Cavalry. Before the arrival of the King, crowds near the saluting base will watch a marching display ot' massed pipers of Scottish and Irish regiments. A mechanised procession will follow a considerably longer route than the marchers, but the two parades will link up in Parliament Square and proceed together down Whitehall Io the Mall. The Allied Imperial Chiefs of Staff will drive along the route of the mechanised procession, arriving at the saluting base shortly before the King. All the United Kingdom, Empire, and many Allies will be represented in the procession, which will also include representatives of the civilian defence forces, including "Clippies” and canteen workers.

The only notable abstention will be that of the Russians.

The river display will be heralded ■by the arrival of the King at the steps liament. His coming will be saluted |£t the terrace to the Houses of Parauy eight searchlights and the playing lof the National Anthem on 500 loudspeakers. As the Victory contingents continue to arrive from overseas, the streets of London are regaining the air of a martial cosmopolitanism which characterised them at times during the war. Kensington Gardens is one vast tented encampment, and is steadily lining with troops from the four corners of the world.

Public interest in the celebrations, first inclined to be apathetic, is now markedly increasing, and window seats along the procession route are being sold at as high as £2O.