CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue VI, 9 February 1901, Page 274

CHRISTCHURCH.

Dear Bee, January 30. This has been a week of mourning. Immediately after closing my letter last week the dread news of the death of our beloved Sovereign came to hand, and never before have we suffered such a shock. Christchurch could only- be compared to a watch with the mainspring broken. With one consent, even before the Mayor’s request for the citizens to close, shutters were going up and people closing their doors. Hotels even had closed doors, flags at half-mast, and the tolling of bells, with knots of mournfullooking people discussing the situation, completed the scene in less than an hour after the news arrived. The Exhibition closed for two days, with the exception of the Art Gallery, which remained open free for the public to place wreaths at the foot of the Queen’s picture, which was draped in black. We have grieved with our Sovereign in her sorrows in a national way, but her death we deplore more in a personal way. She has even at this distance endeared herself to her people in a way that is quite indescribable. Her beautiful life will always stand out as an example for all time, and as a nation we should be quite content with her successor and his council. “Long live the King.” There are no festivities to tell you of; everything has been postponed, and the theatres were closed tor one night. On Saturday, at the Exhibition, Mr E. W. Seager, assisted by

Mra Marsh, gave an illustrated lecture ou the life of the Queen. The sheet for the views was draped in black, and the first picture, a good one of Her Majesty, was shown while Mrs Marsh recited Tenyson’s “Ode to the Queen,” the orchestra in the distance playing the “Dead March" in “Saul.” The weather, too, has bee* shedding “tears from heaven,” for almost a whole week, and nearly every one shows some sign of oatward mourning, if not entirely in black. *

The return of our troopers was much saddened by the news which greeted them as soon as they entered the first New Zealand harbour, to know their much beloved Queen, for whom they had braved so much, had passed away, and they were no longer “Soldiers of the Queen.” Troopers Wilson, Flavell, and Dickson, of Canterbury, have remained chums throughout, and have returned without a scratch, and are now styled “The Three Musketeers.” Nurse Peter, who, with Nurses Webster, Hiatt, and Littecott of the Christchurch Hospital, were chosen by the Government, and left just a year ago for South Africa, has returned by the Orient, and her friends are delighted to see her back again. The other three nurses went to England with the troopship Simla.

DOLLY VALE.