THE CORONATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 960, 28 February 1911, Page 4

THE CORONATION.

INVITATION TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. The Prime Minister has received the following cablegram through the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated London, February 24th : “ The committee of both Houses of Parliament, representative of all parties, wish to convey to you a formal invitation to eight members of the Dominion Parliament to be their guests in London at Waldorf Hotel from Saturday, June r7th, to Saturday, July rst, inclusive. This period includes the week in which the Coronation is fixed to take place. “ Applications have been made for the Earl Marshal to assign them places in Westminster Abbey. As it is anticipated that those accepting this invitation may desire to prolong their visit in order to see something of this country, the committee hope to be able later on to extend the invitation for one week in order to enable visits to be paid to the more important English towns. It is not possible to speak with certainty on this point at present. “Owing to the exigencies of space, it is not possible to include in the formal invitation to the Coronation and subsequent festivities the wives and daughters of the members invited. At the same time the committee will be glad to provide hotel accommodation for one lady, being wife or daughter, and in respect of each member that information be sent, to reach here by March 24th, giving full particulars as to the expected number of ladies coming, and whether wife or daughter in each case.

“ In order to avoid misunderstanding and disappointment, the committee wish to state this clearly, that though they can only recognise members themselves as theirjformal guests, they will do their utmost to make the visit, not only of members, but also of the ladies accompanying them, as pleasant and agreeable as possible.—(Signed for the committee) “ Chairman.” replies erom m’s.p. asked for. Interviewed by a reporter in regard to the above invitation, Sir Joseph Ward said : “ I am sending a copy of this message to all the members of the House of Representatives, and asking them to telegraph their replies. I recognise that the time in which replies have to be in London is short, and that it does not give much time for consideration by those to whom the message is being sent. It is proposed, in the event of acceptance by members of the House, to extend it to five Government members and three Opposition members. It will be noticed from the cable that this invitation extends to the time named, during the visit to Loudon, and does not, of course, include the cost of passage either way. Personally, I shall be exceedingly glad to see members of the House avail themselves of the invitation, and I hope that the full number mav be able to go to London.