CORONATION OF KING GEORGE V.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1067, 4 March 1911, Page 10

CORONATION OF KING GEORGE V.

OFFICIAL ROUTES OF THE PROCESSIONS. GEEAT NAVAL REVIEW. AT SriTHEAD. Tlio following routes for the'procession 011 the day of the Coronation on June 22 and for the lioyal Progress o£ >thcir Majesties through London on June 23 have been approved by the King, and are now published by the Chief Commissioner of Police by desire of the Earl MarshalsCoronation' Day, June 22. From Buckingham l'alaco by way of: Mall, St.-James's Pk Parliament St., Horse Guards Arch St. Margaret's St, or Admiralty Arch Broad Sanctuary, to Whitehall, West Entrance of Westminster Abbey, ■ Returning by way of: Broad Sanctuary,-' "Fall Mall, St. Margaret's St., St. James's St., Parliament St.,' .•« Piccadilly,.. Whitehall, Hyde Park Corner, Charing Cross, •. •. .Constitution Ilill, to C'ockspur St., Buckingham Palace. Royal Progress,-June-23, ■ Buckingham Palace, .King William St., 1 " Constitution Hill, . Loiuloirßridge,' Piccadilly, ' "'Borough High St.; St. James's St., 'Borough Road, " • Pall Mall, WeStm'stcr B'geKd., Pall Mall East, .' Westminster, Bridge, Trafalgar-Sq. N sido Sf; Margaret's St., Duucnnnon St., ; r'ndParliainentSq., Strand,' . Parliament St., Fleet St., . .Whitehall, '. - Ludgatellill, Guards Arch St. Paul's ch'chy'rd . or Arch,' Cannon St., •_ --'The -MalL ■ • Queen' Victoria St,,;' ■ /Buckingham Palace. Mansion House, ■ ' ' •■■ : The Mall ~'Archway.. • It will be observed that'by (ho. inclusion o£ Constitution 'Hill, Hyde. Park Corner, and Piccadilly 'splendid 'facilities for sightseers aro. provided. The official; notice gives an alternative route for. the junction between, the. Mall, and Whitehall, "Horse Guards' Arch or Admiralty Arch." If tlio, approach to the Admiralty Arch at Charing Gross is cleared by the time, of the Coronation'.that way . will .be used, but the poiiit is still so uncertain that tho Coronation Executive Committee havo been compelled to leave it'in doubt' and to abide tho. issue, of events. ......

The procession on. Friday, June 23, will make the most striking .appeal .to -tlio spectacular eye,; although the wealth of, significance will attach, to,.the ..shorter; Coronation progress 011 the Thursday. The spectacle 011 tho Friday. is'to bo as ; brilliant as anything London has ever' scon —the Kins, the Queen, and their -Court, tho .Princes from foreign Courts, tho homo-"troops, the military detachments from'lndia and the Dominions, the sailors, tho marines, the colours, and tlio bands. Without a single break or stop, and at a walking pace, the procession will cover seven' miles of Central and South London, . a progress which will occupy at least three hours—for tho head of the' 'procession will be massed far up tho route before ;.tlie King-\and Queen enter-their carriage. j '

Naval Review. ' As this procession is .to bs° largely military in character, the chief part'of tho organisation rests in the hands of the War .Office, who aro co-operating with the India Office and the Colonial Office—with, of course, the King.and the Earl Marshal at the head of-.everything. As soon as the total number of Dominion troops has been . decided, the Colonial Office will arrange- with tho Governments as to the constitution and proportions, of the force. 'IJhe South African contingent, it is announced, will number -ICO. There will be no Australian contingent owing to the rece)it.'-latse'"es^sfi3H^i«t'S^sc4K(lel'cnSir i Fromjirst to last the best part of. the home .Army will be engaged in Coronation work during the great week—either in.;the ...procfssiDus-.-fpf;,.-which three - aro nljspwl.v. arranged, including tho visit to the Guild h'kll )7 in keening the lines 'of route, or in the great, review which is to be held in the Long Valley at Aldersliot. . A naval review at Snithead will be headed b.v all the available Dreadnoughts; it will display the most powerful fleet -that-has ever been assembled in a tide-' way. • - - Gala Performance. A* feature of the' Coronation festivities ' a . gala performance at His Majesty's Theatre, has been officially incorporated in tho scheme-.by the-Coronation Committee, in accordance, with a, suggestion made by the late Prince Francis of Teck of -which the King,- most graciously' approved. -.Tho , proceeds .will be ■ 'devoted to theatrical charities. '

The plan has 'met with the fullest appreciation;'-from ' tlie *■ -thentrical' profession. A general .committee includes all the representative; managerial members, and the executive committee is: Sir Charles Wyndham (chairman), Sir John Hare, Mr. George Alexander, Mr. Cyril Maude, Mr. Charles Hawtrey, Sir. H. B. Irving, Sir. Herbert Trench, Sir Herbert Tree (director), and Mr. Arthur Bouchier (organising secretary). Imperial; Decorations. Tho need of a distinctive arid. co-ordin-ated decorative scheme for the Coronation route has caused Professor Edward "Lanteri, the head of the sculpturo department of the Royal College of Arts, South Kensington, to suggest that it should be Imperial iii character. ' The 1 professor's proposal is that .the ■route should . be ' split up into • sections devoted to separate oversea Dominions, and that each, section.'should bo decorated with the colours of tlic Dominion it represents. It is suggested that' the sections should number four, divided as follow:—lndia, Canada, Australasia, and South: Africa. In each sectiop, Professor Lantori ■ adds, therp .might' be placed an allegorical piece of-statuary,. modelled in plnstfir':pf Paris,- representative of the main-features oftho Dominion.concerned, with a fifth' and larger group to symbolise the -/Empire: as a iwhole. ,

It •is also proposed that all the selfgoverning. States of .the-Empire and the Crown Colonies and dependencies should have allocated, to..their use a section of the Coronation processional route, to bo known as tho Empire Way, and that in this section symbolical arches bearing coats of arms and flags should be erected. Tho expense of' erecting and displaying each arch.should bo limited to «£IOOO, so that uniformity would be secured. After tho Coronation tho arches could bo -recrectcd at the Festival .of Empire at the Crystal Palace. '

Hotels and Seats. • Syndicates which erect stands for spectators are engaged in negotiations with the owners of eligible stands 011 the line's of route. "But,'' says the controller of a seats agency, "very-little has been accomplished yet. Owners and' lessees are 'opening their months too wide.' With the experience of the last Coronation to guido .lis wo know- what wo .can afford to pay*—ami most of tlicm ar'o asking too much; There were sorno unfortunate speculations in IAO 2. Tho market will have to settled' down before much business is done." . Hotelkeepers are anxious that there shall be 110 repetition of the mistake of 1002, when an erroneous report that all tho hotels were booked un sent visitors to the snasidp, to come up to town for a singlo day. "On that occasion," says an hotel manager, "we leased two private houses near, our hotel and staffed (hem with servants. Nobody came. We scarcely filled tho hotel. That was die result of tho prevalent Ix'liof tlint there.-was 'no room" left in London. There is always room in London for everybody who cares to come." A Novel ■ Suggestion, Arrangements arc already in hand on tho most elaborate scale for taking'moving pictures of the procession and ceremonies in connection with the Coronalion. Tt is hoped to get'a record in colour, the process being now practically perfect. Some operators are honing that I licy will be admitted even to tho sacred interior of the Abbey. In another department of modern invention an interesting suggestion has been sent to Lord Knollys, and by him submitted to the King. It' is that his Majesty should use the gramophone as a medium for delivering his Coronation address to his people in all partj of the Empire, *