THE FIRST REHEARSAL

Taranaki Central Press, 19 April 1937, Page 5

THE FIRST REHEARSAL

CORONATION PROCESSION LARGE CROWDS IN LONDON. Thousands Arrive by Early Trains. Press Association —Copyright. Received 10.15 a.m. London, April 18. Large crowds to-day witnessed the first rehearsal of the Coronation procession. Early trains and buses brought thousands of people to the route, and when the old gold coach rolled into Dean’s Yard at Buckingham Palace shortly before 6.30 a.m., people people stood twelve feet deep on the pavements on both sides of the road. Trafalgar Square was a mass of people, and other parts of the route were packed. The rehearsal procession itself was a phantom-like affair. Its eerie air of unreality was accentuated by the silence of the crowds, who could hardly be expected to cheer luggage brakes. The first part of the procession moved off at 6.45 a.m. It consisted of eleven semiState landaus, representing the carriages of the Prime Ministers of Britain and the Dominions. Then came the Escort of Household Cavalry, and three brakes representing the procession of the Princes and Princesses. Next came the Queen Mary procession, represented by four brakes, preceded by a mounted band of Household Cavalry, and followed by a Royal Escort of Life Guards. All the troops were in khaki. The gold coach was drawn by the eight Windsor greys, with four postillions and longcoated footmen walking on either side. Behind the coach was the Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry. The procession took 25 minutes to pass a given point, but the timing was of no significance, as the procession was only a skeleton of that which will be witnessed on Coronation Day. The latest appointments in connection with the ceremony include Mr W. Jordan and Mr S. M. Bruce, who will carry the standards of New Zealand and Australia respectively. The King’s ten pages who will carry the train include Earl Kitchener, the grandnephew of the famous Field Marshal, who recently succeeded to the title; Lord Haig, Earl Jellicoe, and Viscount Lascelles, the son of the Princess Royal. The six ladies who will bear the Queen’s train include Lady Iris Mountbatten, a cousin of the King, and Lady Elizabeth Percy, a daughter of the Duchess of Northumberland. LONDON BOUND. Arawa Arrives at Panama. Press Association—Copyrigbi. Balboa, Aril 17. The Arawa, bearing the New Zealand Parliamentary Coronation delegation and the New Zealand cricket team, arrived at Panama to-day at.c-r a pleasant voyage. Delightful weather was experienced on the voyage from New Zealand, and the cricketers frequently practised during the trip and were also prominently active in deck sports and gymnasium activities. Isolated, historic Pitcairn Island win be represented at the Coronation by Mr George Young, a great.greatgrandson of Edward Young, a midshipman on the Bounty at the time of :he mutiny. Mr Young, who is aged til, boarded the vessel at the island, helping to row out one of the famous longboats and then scaling up the ‘ship’s side on a rope like a man half his age. He was born and bred on the island

and has never been further before than Tahiii and New Zealand, the latter visit being in 1927, when he ! was operated upon by Sir Donald | McGavin. of Wellington; He twill ■ stay in England five weeks before re. I turning to Pitcairn. I