THE CORONATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 296, 9 May 1911, Page 8

THE CORONATION

GOLDEX IEAII FOR LOXUOX. Coronation year will be literally a golden year for London. Even now, though Coronation Day is not Until June il, there are indications that a harvest of wealth will be garnered in London. All purse strings will l>e loosened; money will be spent in millions. The Royal and Government expenditure on the Coronation ceremonies and festivities will probably reach £300,000. Power to spend £185,0*00 is taken under the current estimates, and Earl Beauchamp, who is the national host, in succession to Mr. Hareourt, has a balance in hand from last year. The Imperial Conference will absorb a considerable amount, and a large proportion of the sum granted the Chief Commissioner of Works will be spent in fitting up Westminster Abbey. The expenditure from his Majesty's privy purse will be, it is estimated, not less than £IOO,OOO.

The population of a great city will be added to London for the Coronation period. There will be nearly 100,000 visitors from the Lnited States, according to an estimate of an oflicial at the American Embassy; Australia is sending 10,000 guests, Canada 8,000, and the other states of the Empire many more thousands. From all countries of the Continent hundreds of visitors will come, while the influx of visitors from the provinces is sure to be enormous. It is thus no exaggeration to assume that money will .be spent freely, and all this in addition to the extra expenditure of Londoners themselves in seeing and enjovin<* the festivities. " °

iSome idea of the scale upon which money will be spent is provided by the present price of seats and windows to view the Coronation processions. 000 GUIXEAS FOR A WINDOW.

' For the day of the Coronation procession itself," said a West End agent, '"we have let several window.? at 600 guineas. For one flat in Pall Mall 10(10 guineas is the price asked for June 22 and 500 guineas for the day of the royal progress through London on June 23. Single seats on Coronation Day range in piice from five to twenty-five guineas, and the lowest price we have for a window is thirty-five guineas." "We know of many American multimillionaires who are coming to sec the Coronation." said the head of an American agency, and they will spend money kyishlv. Fifty pounds a head will, I think, be a very fair average of the amount spent in London by the Americans who are here just for Coronation time." Upon this basis the 100.000 Americans may spend in London no Lss a sum than £5.000,000. Hotels are asking high prices for their accommodation, but despite this many are now fully booked up. "Several hotels," said one manager, "will have a turnover considerably in excess of £IO,OOO ,hiring the term of Coronation rejoicing." The restaurants and caterers are expecting enormous business. Theatre proprietors look for record takings. Business houses in the West End are al-i ready experiencing a ''boom" in trade, while the motor-car and omnibus companies anticipate that the total takings, of previous seasons will be small in'proportion to the receipts of this historic vcar. .

GREAT IN'I'U'X FROM OVERSEAS. E\eiy ocean liner that arrives in .in English port upon any day from the end of this month until the'third week in June, no matter from what corner of the globe she comes, will be filled to the utmost of her passenger-carrying capacity with visitors anxious to take a part in the festivities and functions of the Coronation period.

l."pon this point oflicials of the most important steamship lines all agreed. Ihey are united in the opinion that London during this Coronation summer would see such a gathering of people from overseas as has never before been approached. '-London,'' said one shipping manager, -lias no conception yet of the thousands of visitors who will knock at her door."

More than twenty great ships will, when the great rush commence* in Mav sail each week from American and Canadian ports crowded with passengers bound for England. Each week from that date some 8,000 visitors from the other side of the Atlantic will step ashore in the Old Country.

"The advance .bookings have boon enormous, ' said a Cunard official. "Soon it wi 1 not I,e possible for love or money to Ret a bertb m a liner reaching this side in time for the Coronation." The White ■Star hue is running the Adriatic as a special Coronation ship for those who haw to postpone their departure from -New iork until a later date. The Adriatic will sail from New York on June 12 and laud her 800 Coronation passenger, early on the morning of June 20, with one el cm- day to spare before the dav -. une 2-. when the King and Quee'n 1 be eiowned at Westminster. J'or Americans who must remain in the Mw u • last moment tlu .Mauretania is timed to make one of J u ' l ' ()I ' ( l-''reaking rims. .She will drop out of the New \orlc harbor on Wednesday, June H. and by her wonderful speed "ill reach I'ishgiiard on June 20. Accounts of record bookings are -riven W the officials of the lines running to rndia, the tar East, Australia and New Bl i ip of the orie,it line which .sails from Australia and reaches Ijoitdon before the Coronation will liave every berth taken. The l\ and 0. Company states officially that their booking are "very heavy." The New Zealand ' hipping Company is running ail extra ship so great is the number of New Zeaand people who want to be Home for tin; Coronation,

PRKPAWNY! I'Olv PROCESSIONS. An army nf workmen will I>r employed mirini; the next tlireo mnoths in preparnig for tin,' several royal processions. •Stands are to .|>e put up in hundreds of places, Imt it is only for tiie Coronation procession on June 22 from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey that very nigh prices are probable. The route taken on the way to the Abbey is not only abort, hut the jivailable space is small owing to the streets through which their Majesties are to pass being chiefly devoted to Government oiiiccs and clubs. Windows in •such places as the llor.se Guards, the War Ollice, (iwydyr House . the Treasury. Home Ollice, and Local Government Hoard Ollices will be reserved for peonle connected with the Government service. there are very few private houses on

the route. and for these competition is now becoming keen. An agent stated that a price of £3OO per window holdin',' from six to ten persons is being asked in \A liiteliall. The only space available lor siaiid.s is al>o Crown ground and will be occupied by structures put up by the Office of Works. .Stands are to be erected by Earl Beauchamp's Department on the Horse Guards Parade, but they will be reserved for the Admiralty and'the War-Office. Westminster Hospital is building a stand which will occupy the whole front of the institution. The hospital faces the western entrance to the Abbey and overlooks the place where the annexe is to be built. There the King and Queen and the 'Peers and Peeresses will alight on their way to the ceremony. The money obtained is to be devoted to the fund's of the hospital. There will be about 2000 seats, two rows being reserved for the governors and committee. The price arranged at present is five guineas to twenty guineas per seat, including breakfast and luncheon. There are to be from seven to ten seats in each row. Prices are not to be cheap for the return procession, which is by way of the Mall, St. James's street, Piccadilly, and Constitution Hill. Five guineas a seat is the lowest sum demanded at present. The royal progress on the following day traverses a route seven miles long, and prices for windows and places on stands will be much lower than on Coronation day.

30 MILES OF PROCESSIONS, More than thirty miles of London streets are to be traversed by the King and Queen in the splendid festivities of May and June, and at the lowest estimate there will be ample room upon the pavements alone for 5,000,000 loyal spectators. As the vast work of organisation progresses it. becomes more and more striKinglj' evident that no such season of glorious pageantry has ever before been in prospect in the Empire capital. Leading up to the climax of the Coronation on June 22 is an array of royal ceremonies. On May 12 the King and Queen drive to the Crystal Palace for the opening of the Festival of Empire. A few days later comes the visit of the Kaiser and Kaiserin for the unveiling bv the King and Queen of the Victoria Memorial in the Mall on May 17. the assembling of the Imperial Conference takes place on May -22, and the ceremonies connected with it will hold the stage until Coronation week.

Besides the crowning on June 22, the royal progress through London on June 23, the service in St. Paul's and the Guildhall ceremony on June 20, there will in all probability be yet another royal on June 30. It is almost certain that the King and Queen on that day w'll go once more to the Crystal Palace to welcome the hundred thousand children who will lie their guests. In this evnt the total distance of the streets to be traversed by the royal cortege at the various ceremonies 'will be raised I •> .forty-five miles. 1 Arid mi all the colossal work of organise t on for the Coronation pageants, the reception of royal guests and of the Dominions' delegates, there is one supreme arbiter, the King himself. To him are referred all vexed questions of plan and precedent, and his swift and sure decisions clarify and dispose of numerous problems every day.