The Waikato Times MONDAY, MAY 3, 1937. COMING EVENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20184, 3 May 1937, Page 6

The Waikato Times MONDAY, MAY 3, 1937. COMING EVENTS

For weeks past people from all parts of the Empire, and from many foreign countries, have been making their way to London. Only the smallest percentage of the visitors—and those for the most part official representatives—will catch even a glimpse of the historic Coronation ceremony, but most of them will have located some vantage point from which to watch the great procession pass through London from and to Buckingham Palace. This week will see London more truly than ever the centre of the Empire and the interest and excitement will grow as each day passes. A century ago Queen Viotoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey and it took months for the news to reach the outposts. On this oocasion reports on each stage of the preparations are being cabled round the world, and people will be able to follow, by means of the wireless service, the progress of the great procession and listen to the actual ceremony. That must form a strong bond, bringing peoples overseas closer to those in the Motherland and to one another. The Coronation of King George VI. will be, to a greater extent than ever before, a demonstration of imperial unity, for the Crown is now the symbol of all that binds the overseas units to the Mother Country.

The preparations for the day appointed must involve an amazing degree of organisation. There will be official representatives present from nearly every country in the world. They must all be received and arrangements made for their Evidently the greatest care is being taken to ensure that the ceremony in the Abbey will be as perfect in the matter of preparation as is humanly possible, and at the numerous official functions in connection with the Coronation such matters as precedence will have had the attention of experts. It has been said by a distinguished foreign diplomat that no nation can manage these big functions as efficiently as can the British, and a Coronation is easily the most exacting test to which the responsible authorities can be subjected. Meantime people are pouring into London in a constant stream, and it is expected that next week there will be no accommodation available. Many overseas visitors intend to make large liners, anchored down the river, their headquarters, and among them will be many of the 150,000 Americans who are expected to visit London to witness the event. About the streets of the vast metropolis today roam men from all parts of the Empire, including no doubt many who last paraded there in the great march past of the military units at the close of the war. Strenuous years have passed since then but the unity that withstood the test qf war has proved of sufficient strength to come through the stress and strain of the years of readjustment, and the Coronation will demonstrate to the world the strength of an Empire.