Topics of the Day.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 1, 5 July 1911, Page 44

Topics of the Day.

By Our L ondon Correspondent.

AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. LONDON, May 19. THE first of the great ceremonies of the Coronation season was enacted this week, wtih all the pomp and splendour of pageantry that London loves so well and achieves so admirably. This was the unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial, in the presence of King George, his cousin (the German Emperor), and a brilliant assemblage representing all sides of the nation’s public life. Immense crowds, numbering upwards of 100,001), gathered in the Green Park and St. Ja'mes’ Park, and at every point from which a view of the Memorial could be obtained. Most of them had to be content with a distant view, for only the privileged ticket holders could pass within the police lines, and come within close view of the ceremony. But the slopes of the Green Park formed a natural theatre for many thousands. They formed up, tier above tier, from the bottom of the slope to the top, and the broad roadway that leads from Piccadilly down to the Memorial was terraced in this fashion along its entire length. The roof of Buckingham Palace itself was crowded with sightseers. Full of brilliant colour was the scene

in front of the memorial The sunshine flashed on the gilded figure of Victory that surmounts the monument, and brought out in vivid tones the masses of scarlet and blue, violet, white and black in the brilliant array of soldiers and guests. Even the gloomy background of Buckingham Palace served to throw into stronger relief the myriad colours of the uniform and summer dresses. Conspicuous at the base of the Memorial were the Gentlemen-at-Arms in their scarlet uniforms and white-plumed helmets, the King's Indian orderlies in their picturesque attire, and the beautiful blue uniform of the detachment of the German regiment of dragoons, of which Queen Victoria used to be Honorary Colonel. But. brilliant as the details of the picture ■were, it was the general effect, rich in colour, beauty and significance, that held the eve and made the scene so memorable. ’ The ceremony was brief, but very dignified and impressive. When the profession from the Palace, headed by the King and the Kaiser in the uniforms of British Field Marshals, had reached the da's, Lord Esher presented an address to His Majesty. “Every corner of your Majesty’s British Overseas Dominions and Colonies’* ran the address, “have Contributed to the Fund wc were ap-

pointed to administer. The Memorial will stand for ages to come as a conspicuous mark of the bond of brotherhood binding the Empire together.” King George in his reply also emphasised the Imperial character of the great memorial. “This monument,” he said, “represents the tributes of races and regions more various in character and circumstances than have ever been combined before upon a common purpose.” Followed a brief dedication service, which ended with the well-known hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” The vast multitude joined in the singing of it, and the effect was thrilling and majestic. Then came the dramatie moment of the ceremony. The King touched a button, the curtain which veiled the Memorial parted and fluttered to the ground, and the noble statue of Victoria, seated on her throne, sceptre in hand, was revealed, amid the cheers of the multitude. At that instant, too, the Royal salute crashed from the guns in St. James’s Park, sending a great flock of birds scurrying across the skies. As the reverberations of the cannon died away, the King called to Mr. Broek, the creator of the monument, and bade him kneel, and the sculptor - rose Sir Thomas Brock. Then came the march-past of the troops, a pageant of flying standards and nodding plumes, with the light of a sum-

mer sun glittering on polished weapons and accoutrements. When this was over the bands struck up “God Save the King,” and the Royal procession reformed and filed round the monument back to the Palace. So ended a great and memorable pageant.

WHITE CITY RE-OPENS. Mr. Imre Kiralfy, the organising genius who brought the "White City” into being at Shepherd’s Bush, has been stirred to greater activities than ever by the competition of the Festival of Empire at the Crystal Palace. Yesterday saw the opening at the White City of the Coronation Exhibition. It aims at illustrating the resources

of the British Empire, the commercial an<l industrial greatness, the world-wide influence of the British race. In cunning panorama and deft pictorial illusion are reproduced far-distant scenes in the dominions overseas and the Eastern Empire. Here is the famous Taj Mahal, seen by moonlight from the river. Here is Hong Kong, rising from the harbour to the Peak. A real Niagara pours over the precipice in the Canadian building. New Zealand also lias a real cataract to show —the Wairoa

Falls, a gold-dredging scene, Mount Egmont, with Maori buildings gabled and carved, and the four chief cities of the Dominion —Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Sydney Harbour is reproduced in the Commonwealth building; so art a Melbourne park, a Tasmanian gold mine, and pastoral scenes. And so on right round the Empire. An interesting section of the Exhibition is that devoted to the Press of the British Empire. Many important journals in London, the provinces, and the Dominions overseas are represented here. The New Zealand section includes the “Auckland Star,” “New Zealand Weekly Graphic,” “New Zealand Farmer,” “New Zealand Times,” “Lyttelton Times,” “Chi.istc'h ;rch Star,” and “Canterbury Times.” Many curiosities of journalism have been collected. Mr. Punch’s famous round table, for instance, the first rotary printing press ever made, a volume of the “Farthing Post,” and the earliest old wooden handpresses in existence. A romantic feature of the first rotary press is that it was never patented, the inventor (Mr. Nelson) refusing to have it protected, with the result that it was copied in every country in Europe. What an enormous fortune was thus lost can easily be imagined. Sir E. Shackleton has contributed copies o-f his Antarctic newspaper, printed during his “Farthest South” expedition, and General BadenPowell has sent a complete file of the “Mafeking Gazette,” which was issued, “shells permitting,” during the famous siege of Mafeking. Original sketches by war correspondents, cartoons by Sir F. Carruthers Gould, Sir John Tennial and other eminent artists, and manu-

scripts of famous authors, such as Rudyard Kipling, Conan Doyle, and Marie Corelli, figure in this unique collectioi? of newspaper exhibits. On a table by the New Zealand newspapers is a phonograph which will recite speeches specially contributed by’ the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward), on “The Press of New Zealand,” “The Value of Cable Communications,” and “The Scenic Glories of the Dominion.”

Three thousand paintings and three hundred works of sculpture adorn the galleries and sculpture hall of the Fine Art section. No fewer than 22 Royal and other societies are presented here. The section devoted to Science includes a seismograph for recording earthquakes and volcano eruptions in any part of the world, and a wireless telegraphy apparatus.

The Festival of Empire at the Crystal Palace will attract its tens and hundreds of thousands, but so will the Coronation Exhibition of the White City. The former has the prestige of Government patronage, but the latter enjoys the greater accessibility for the multitude. In any case, London is so crowded with visitors this summer that there should be ample room for both of these great exhibitions within its spacious domain.

LAFAYETTE'S EAST ILLUSION. A startling discovery was made at th* eleventh hour regarding the ideutity ofi the charred corpse found on the stage after the Empire Theatre fire at Edinburgh, and which was “positively identified” as that of Lafayette, the illusionist, by half a dozen people, who had known him intimately, and had assisted in his stage productions. The body was duly cremated in accordance with Lafayette’s wish, and th® ashes placed in an urn, which. on tho morrow was to be placed between thel paws of the embalmed remains of the artist’s favourite dog Beauty in the magnificent niasoleum erected by Lafayette in Maryhill Cemetery. At the last moment almost Mr. Lafayette’s solicitor, who had had some doubts as to the correctness of the identification, because certain valuable rings always worn by Lafayette were not oh the fingers of the corpse when fonnd, insisted that a further search of thq ruins of the stage should be made. Hd pointed out that since the fire nothing had been seen or heard of Richards, ths man who acted as Lafayette’s double. He had undoubtedly been on the stagq when the fire broke out, and as no corpse had been discovered which in the least resembled Richards, there must, the) solicitor urged, be another body conceal* ed somewhere in the building. So a further search was instituted, and at length another corpse, practically unscathed by fire, was found at the! bottom of the pit into which the counterweight of the iron fire-proof curtain sinks when the curtain is raised. Thero was no manner of doubt whose corpse; it was. It was Lafayette’s. His features were practically untouched by fire, and on his fingers were the two valuable) diamond rings his solicitor had expected to find. There were other details in the dress he wore, and physical peculiarities observable, which left no possible doubt as to the identity of the body. Lafayette’s death must have been st lingering and terrible one. Baffled in hia attempts to escape through the stage, door, he himself had insisted on being locked lest some Paul Pry should use them for the purpose of getting a peep) at his secrets, he had slipped down into the pit, doubtless in the hope of discovering a subterranean exit. There was none, and there he had lain with thei fierce flames roaring over his place of refuge, and rendering the pit an oven, in which he was slowly stifled and baked! to death. Horrible as was Lafayette’s fate, and; pathetic the mistake made, it seems in the fitness of things that the malt who mystified so many in life by his “ doubles ” should provide a final illusion in death.