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FUNERAL OF MR COATES

SERVICE HELD AT MATAKOHE MILITARY GUARD OF HONOUR (P.A.) AUCKLAND. June 1. In the little churchyard of Matakohe Church this afternoon the body of the Rt, Hon, J. G. Coates was laid to rest in a grave adjoining that of his mother and father. Up on that hill, overlooking the rolling country of his boyhood home, and wide stretches of the upper Kaipara harbour, were gathered pakeha and Maori who had known him since his birth 65 years ago. They also gathered at the roadside, at farm gates, and at ( townships along the route, with heads ■ bared in respect. Shops were closed. At intervals along the road school children were lined up, The biggest of these gatherings was at Wellsford, J where high school pupils hundreds ■ strong lined the route for about 200 yards. ■ Arrangements were perfectly timed. The hearse bearing the coffin departed early from Auckland and was followed after an interval by the many cars of the official party. At 12 o’clock the hearse arrived at the Ara- 1 hura road junction, about a mile from I the churchyard. Here the coffin was transferred once more to a gun carriage, and the slow march to the graveside was begun. A long line of territorials formed a guard of honour, which was continued inside the churchyard by Home Guardsmen, Preceding the gun carriage,' with its coffin and its covering of a New Zealand ensign and a Maori mat, and the New Zealand officer’s hat and sword belonging to Mr Coates, was an escort of soldiers and the band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Alongside the gun carriage walked the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P, FVaser), members of the Cabinet, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S, G, Holland), and other prominent colleagues of Mr Coates, Then came the long procession headed by the representative of the Governor-Genera! (Air Commodore M. W. Buckley). At the gate of the churchyard the coffin was carried into the tiny church, where the first service, a private one attended only by members of the family, the Prime Minister, and the Governor-General’s representative, was held. The wailing cries of a group of Maoris heralded the opening of the official ceremony as the coffin was carried from the church to the grave. Before the recital of the burial service the Rt. Rev. W, J. Simkin, Bishop of Auckland, referred to the very high regard in which Mr Coates was held, not only in New Zealand but overseas. A firing party was ready. Three times shots rang out over the grave. Three times there was a wailing of Maori cries, and then the final sad notes of “Last Post,” For fully an hour after the ceremony, mourners filed past the grave to pay their last respects, and former servicemen. of whom there was a large muster in khaki and mufti, each dropped a poppy on the coffin, A statement concerning the arrangements for the funeral was made to press representatives subsequently by Mr Coates’s brother, Mr Rodney Coates, on behalf of the family. Mr Coates said that the Government in the first place had offered burial in one of the centres of population comparable with that of Mr Massey. The family, however, had expressed the wish that the interment should be at Matakohe. and that it should be as simple as the Government considered to be in keeping with the dignity of the State, and with respect for Mr Coates's services to the community, This re?;uest had been made in consideration or the bereavement and distress which the war had brought upon many homes.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19430602.2.17

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23963, 2 June 1943, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
604

FUNERAL OF MR COATES Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23963, 2 June 1943, Page 2

FUNERAL OF MR COATES Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23963, 2 June 1943, Page 2

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