8y... ALAN MITCHELL N.Z.P.A. Correspondent. London

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 November 1950, Page 5

8y... ALAN MITCHELL N.Z.P.A. Correspondent. London

rarely that others besides members hear these daily prayers. Another was to see Mr. Attlee rise to make the first speech in the new chamber, and yet another to watch Mr. Churchill set the House rocking with nis warm wit.

There was a distinct change of atmosphere between the intimacy of the new Chamber- with its comfortable temperature, aided by modem ventilation—and that of Westminster Hall. It has been found impossible to warm the ancient building with central heating—at least with any efficiency. So Lords and Commoners wore their overcoats and tucked them carefully round their legs as they filled up tne array of wooden chairs. Here wasx more than the atmosphere of a public meeting—but with a difference—as tweeds jumbled with black serges and occasional maskintoshes. Colour came with the arrival of the Yeomen of the Guard, in their scarlet and gold, to take up their appointed places round the Thrones, and with the golden tunics of the trumpeters of the Household Cavalry. It blazed up as warm yellow lights played on the long carpeted steps and the Thrones, catching the curtain at the end of the hall and. two golden lions bearing the coat of arms and animating the grey stone walls. After the processions of the visiting Speakers and officials, and those from the Lords and Commons, the Maces of both Houses, one laid before the Lord Chancellor and the other before Mr. Speaker, were covered against the coming of the King. Crimson draped the Lords mace, green the Commons. Big Ben Timing As Big Ben was yet chiming noon, ' the great doors at the end of the hall [ —they were carved from the wooden i piles of old Waterloo Bridge for the i Coronation in the thirties, and bear | the initials “G.R.” and "E.R.”—swung open, and Their Majesties, followed by their family, walked sedately down the freshly-swept aisle, the band of the Royal House Guards, grouped neatly in a corner, and which had been aiding the passing of an hour, now played "Green Leaves"—a favourite of the Elizabethans—and there was a ripple of movement as the Lords and Commons bowed to the King and Queen as they passed. Other moments for memory were when the King and Queen stood before their Thrones, and the members of their family were in position on either side facing inwards, the drummers of the band sounded a long sonorous roll before the National Anthem crashed out. So true was the timing that the officer commanding the Yeomen, who had tailed the procession, reached his allotted position as the’first note was played. It was a neat, clean-cut, picturesque scene. As Their Majesties faced the audience of 2000, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker below them to the left, and right, and, on raised platforms 1 above them on either side the representatives of the Commonwealth family. The three speeches, those by the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker, and the reply by the King, were heard clearly through the loud speakers lining the walls under the massive wooden roof —-innovations which would have caused William Rufus no small surprise, though he would probably have been more intrigued by the television and cinematic cameras, discreetly placed. Procession Finally, there was the procession down the aisle—the King and Queen, Queen Mary and the Princesses, smiling cheerfully, then the calm, purposeful tread! of the Yeomen, their faces impassive above Elizabethan lace ruffles. "Our new home," in the Mother of Parliaments, was well and truly launched by a family occasion.— Special N.Z.P.A. Service.