MAGNIFICENT INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 91, 7 October 1911, Page 10

MAGNIFICENT INDIA.

TliK KING AND QUEEN'S VISIT. It is understood that shortly the full, programme will be issued of the Stale j vi.su of the King and Queen to Indiafor the great Coronation durbar. AM lliollgli it will be in many respects a formal document, it will suggest to the minds of those who know the East some idea of the maguilicence which will surround the ceremony. There have been two Imperial durbars at Delhi—iu 1877 in connection with the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India, and in 1002, when King Edward was proclaimed Emperor—but the monarch attended neither. The presence of King George and Queen Mary in December will, therefore, invest the forthcoming rite with a unique interest. Their Majesties will personally receive the homage of the Indian chiefs anil princes amid a scene of grandeur probably never before equalled even in this mime of Oriental display, when; once the Grand .Moguls were wont to hold their court.

rue ixing and Queen are expected to arrive on the new I'. and O. steamer Medina at Bombay on December 2, and two days will be spent in that city. The ISoyal journey will then be made to Delhi, into which the Slate entry will lake place on December 7. Receptions of Indian chiefs, inspections of British and native troops, and other ceremonials will occupy the days before December 12, when the Durbar, with all its wonderful pageantry, will be held for the purpose, as the Royal proclamation has it, "of making known the said solemnity of our Coronation."

Mr. Montagu, the Under-Secretary for India, explained in his statement on Indian all'airs to the House of Commons recently that when the Majesties arrive at the bastion of the fort at Delhi on December 7, 150 chiefs will be assembled. On the following day the King will receive the chiefs, and will lay the foundation stone of the All-India King Edward memorial, a ceremony which will be witnessed by nearly 100,000 people. ' During the morning of December 8 the King will receive the oiliccrs of the native army. In the afternoon their Majesties will attend a garden party, and a huge popular fete will be held on the open ground in front of the fort, at which it is; believed a million people will assemble.

The. scene at the first durbar, which was to a large extent repeated at the second, has been described by Earl Roberts in his "Forty-one Years in India. 11 The Ist of January, 1877, he says, saw the Queen proclaimed Empress of India. The ceremony was most imposing, and in every way successful. Three tented pavilions had been constructed on an open plain. The throne pavilion, in the centre, was p. very graceful erection, brilliant in hangings and banners of red, blue and white satin, magnificently embroidered in gold in appropriate emblems. It was hexagonal m shape, and rather more than 200 ft in circumference, in front of this was the pavilion for the ruling chiefs and higher European ollicials, in the form of a semicircle, 800 ft long. The canopy was a star of India, blue and white satin, embroidered iu gold, each pillar being surmounted by an imperial crown. Behind the throne was the stand for the spectators, also in the form of a semi-circle, divided in the middle, and likewise canopied in brilliant colors. Between these blocks was the entrance to the area.

Each chief and high official sat beneath his own banner, which was planted immediately behind his chair, and they were all mixed up as much as possible to avoid questions of precedence, the result being the most wonderful mass of color produced from.the intermingling of British uniforms and plumes with the gorgeous Eastern costumes, set oil by a blaze of diamonds and other precious stones. ■ ■

Two days after the durbar there will be a review of unprecedented size, at which i)O,0O0 troops will be present, and also manoeuvres on a scale never before possible. On the next day their Majesties will go in procession through the streets of Delhi, and the historic pageant will be over. Before returning to London, however, it is understood the King will undertake a big-game shooting expedition, while the Queen will visit a number of places of interest, including Agra.

The scale of expenditure was fixed after careful consideration between the Government of India and the Secretary of State. The financial provision wasreceived by the Indian representatives on the councils with, in the words of the Viceroy, "a tidal wave of enthusiasm." Their Majesties are expected back on Januarv 28, 11)12.