Durbar Magnificence.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 18, 1 November 1911, Page 60

Durbar Magnificence.

INDIA'S GREAT PREPARATIONS WELCOME TO KING-EMPEROR. GORGEOUS PAGEANTRY. Since the issue of the Royal Proclamation on March 22 last, in which the King-Emperor declared his royal intention “to hold at Delhi on the twelfth day of December, 1911, an Imperial Durbar for the purpose of making known the solemnity of the Coronation,” tho preparations have been completed for carrying out on a scale of unparalleled magnificence one of the richest and most

sumptuous series of pageants in the gorgeous history of Hindustan. The draft programme for the Royal tour, from the departure of the P. and O. liner Medina from Portsmouth early in November to the final ceremonies in Calcutta in January, has now been drawn up at the India Office. The Medina will sail during the first week in November under the command of Rear-Admiral Sit Colin Keppel, and escorted by the cruisers Defence, Natal, Cochrane, and Argyll. A large retinue will accompany their Majesties, including most of the officials of the Royal Household Lord Crewe (Secretary of State for India), and possibly Lord Roberts. In all forty suites of rooms are being provided on the Medina, the King’s apartments being on the port side of the forward spar deck, and those for the Queen on the starboard side. One or two interesting functions will mark the passage through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. There will be an assembly of warships of the Mediterranean command at Gibraltar and Malta to greet the Royal travellers. In the Sues Canal it is also probable that the Khedive and Lord Kitchener will go on board the Medina to pay their respects to his Majesty. THE DELHI CELEBRATIONS. Bombay will be reached early in December. and the first important event of the tour will be the welcome given to the King-Emperor on his landing. No time will, however, be lost on the journey northwards, for the State entry into the ancient capital of the Moguls is fixed for December 7. This will be one of the most imposing ceremonies connected with the Durbar celebrations. Their Majesties will detrain at the new station of Selingarh, where in the surrounding camp will be assembled all the Ruling Princes and official representatives of every province, State, and agency in India.

His Majesty, according to the official arrangements, will himself ride through the “Shad! Darwaza,” or the King’s Gate, an historic passage used only “by the great Mogul Emperors. Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, and the members of his council will receive the KingEmperor at the Fort, the inner fortified citadel, which, till the mutiny, was the residence of the Emperors and the home of the dazzling Peacock throne, one of the wonders of the Eastern wovld. Here also, on the most historic ground in all India, "on the edge of that plain of Paniput, on which empire has more than once been lost and won,” the King-Em-peror will ascend his throne and will receive the homage of the rulers of over two hundred millions of his subjects. “If on earth there be a paradise, it is this, it is this!” is the proud inscription on the richly-gilded, lacquered and inlaid marble walls, and the scene that will unfold itself—as, in Macaulay’s phrases, “the turbans and the flowing robes, the spears and the silver maces, the elephants with their canopies of state, the gorgeous palanquin of the prince, and the close litter of the noble lady- . . from the halls where suitors laid gold and perfumes at the feet of Sovereigns” passbefore his Majesty will indeed be one of splendid magnificence THE GREAT CAMP. The festivities at Delhi will extend over a week, and the programme includes: Receptions of native rulers ami high Government officials, StJte banquets, a. great military review, a military tournament, polo and hockey tournaments, and an imposing State procession on the occasion of the people’s fete day. The illuminations, decorations, and firework displays are to be on a scale never before attempted in India and a prominent feature of the celebrations will be the part the children will take in the festivities.

Some idea of the-magnitude of the arrangements may Ire gathered from the following details of the Durbar camp. In all there are 437 camps, and the ground covered exceeds twenty-five square miles, accommodation being provided for 1 over 200,000 people. The whole of this vast space has been specially levelled and prepared, drainage and water supply sys. terns ami electric light installation laid down, and every part of the camp is connccted by light railways. A large central market and three subsidiary markets have been erected for the supply of food and other necessaries at ordinary prices, and in one way and another an army of over one hundred thousand men have been kept busily employed for tho past six months. In the presence of the ruling chiefs and.

the high officials of every Pro vinca State and Agency, from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean, and from the lx>rders of Beluchistan to the Bay of Bengal the Durbar itself will take place °ou December 12. To attempt .to describe that brilliant ceremony would prove an impossible task. Without doubt it will be one of the most gorgeous and magnificent spectacles ever witnessed in ’the gorgeous East. The chief event of the day will be the reading by the King Emperor of a Royal Proclamation, in which it is expected that certain “boons” or “ concessions ” will be made to the Indian people, in the form of some remission of taxation, release of prisoners and so on. Simultaneously the Royal Proclamation will be read in every town and village throughout India. In a “resolution” just issued by the Government It is stated that it is the wish of the Gov-ernor-General that the general holiday should be concentrated on the 12th—.' “ that some formal celebration of this unique occasion slrould, as far as practicable, be held in every village of the Indian Empire.” With this object it is directed that the Royal Proclamation, which' will be communicated to every local government and administration, shall be publicly read by the head man of every village, and “that a portrait of his Majesty shall be supplied to the reader of every proclamation in each village, who should be directed to exhibit it to the people assembled at the time.” Further, the Governor-General trusts “ that the feeding of the poor, athletia sports, entertainments to school children, displays of fireworks, etc., will be encouraged by local generosity, so that the celebrations will be of such a nature as to bring home us far as possible to every subject of his Majesty, young, old, rich and poor, throughout the country, the great event of the first personal visit of a King-Emperor and of his consort to his Indian Empire in order to announce to his Indian subjects the solemnity of his Coronation.” At every local durbar, by command of his Excellency the Viceroy and Gover-nor-General in Council, certificates ar» to he presented in the name of the King. Emperor to native Indian gentlemen who have rendered any conspicuous public service. A salute of 101 guns will also be fired wherever possible, and the order has been given that all the Government and public buildings throughout India shall be illuminated. An Investiture on the 14th and a large conferment of honours will bring the Delhi programme to a close. Then the King-Emperor goea tiger-shooting ta Nepal, and the Queen proceeds to Agra. The musical arrangements for* the Durbar ceremonies are worthy of the importance of the occasion. Under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Somerville, head of the Royal Military School of Music, and Major A. J. Stretton, M.V.0., Musical Director of the School, there will be a massed band made up of seventeen bands from each British cavalry regiment in India, with twenty-two must eians of every regiment of infantry, British and Indian. CALCUTTA’S WELCOME. After his hunting trip in Nepal, the King, accompanied by the Queen, goes W Calcutta, where the splendours of tba Delhi Durbar will be repeated. According io the official programme sanctioned by the Bengal Government, their Majesties will arrive at Howrah station at the beginning of January, and then proceed to Princeps Ghat on one of tho vessels of the Port Commissioners, escorted by. a flotilla of ferry steamers manned by the Port Defence Volunteers. At Princeps Ghat there will be a brilliant reception by the Government, and the Calcutta Corporation will present an address. Their Majesties will then dr.vs in procession to Government House, at" tended by an imposing escort, throe 11 stfeets which will be most georgeou. y decorated and lined by 25,000 scho.l--children, each of ■whom will be provfi't with a flag designed by the Maharaj ih of Tagore, containing the Star of Ind'S and other devices on a light blue ground. On the day following their arrival their Majesties will bold a Court, whien Is expected to be one of the most brill:* ant functions of tho tour, and the oth'd chief features of the programme of festivities is a huge children’s treat the Pageant. Four lakhs of rupees bars been subscribed for the entertainmci'-# of the children and decorations and illw< urinations. But the great thing here is the Padant, whieh Mr. Frank Lascelles is g« I,I S

out to organise. A huge amphitheatre has been erected, and the scenes that will be witnessed will rank amongst the most dazzling ever seen in the Orient. The period of history covered will extend from the seventeenth century back ip the remote past. The procession alone will be four miles long, and will include 200 elephants,.and as many camels and dromedaries,, and there will he no fewer than 6000 performers, all attired in the most picturesque costumes of Indian history.

The celebrations at Delhi, Calcutta, and Bombay will be on a more elaborate scale than anywhere else, but throughout the length and breadth of India every little community ds making a united and enthusiastic effort to make the day the most memorable of their lives.