LORD ROBERTS' FUNERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 6 January 1915, Page 8

LORD ROBERTS' FUNERAL.

SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S, IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. KINO'S BOWED FORM, Among all the stately ceremonies of which St. Paul's Cathedral has been the scene there can have been few so solemnly impressive, so nearly insupportable in their pathos, as the funeral service for Lord Roberts. An hour before the time set for the opening of tfiie service the great church was already nearly full. In the greyness of the November day the vast interior was almost in twilight, which the coronals of lights only dimly illuminated. The stained glass of the windows showed curiously subdued in tint and the distances of the domes were filled witlh mist. In the half-light 'the level masses of the congregation in their sombre clothes, dashed here and there with khaki and, more rarely, in the immediate neighbourhood of the chancel, wi'tli scarlet'uniforms, was strangely impressive.

I The scene waa a solemn and affecting one,. On one side of the grave the King, with bowed head, watched the coffin being lowered into the ground. 'Facing him, on tlie other "side, stood Lord Kitchener. About the grave were grouped the distinguished prelates who took part in the service, and around, in the grey light, the dimness made more noticeable by the flickering of the cajidleg besides the catflfaJlque, iwcro gathered most of the great and eminent men of the country, and not a few who had been the comrades of the dead fieldmarshal on many distant fields. On the conclusion of the second hymn, the blessing was given by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Garter Xinp; of Arms then advanced to the chancel stops and proclaimed in full Lord Roberts' stylo and titles, concluding with a reference to his Victoria Cross, A moment of silence followed before again invoke the long roll of drums which preludes Chopiu,'g "Marche Funebre." As soon as the last notes had died away the trumpeters of the Royal Artillery sounded "Thj Last Post," and the ceremony, which had barely lasted threoouarters of an hour, was over. THE LYING-IN STATE.

The coffin resell some feet below tlie revel of tlm pavement of the Cathedra], i " '\' I,s covered with the Union Jack, and j v '^' : j t tin l head. Lord j l oj)(■'■'•; , y\ A 'i< !«>•, A little lower were laid ;u' iii--; \ i;; hi, a'l'l j'.!:?!, below them li;s ;!"l!l-:)!;'.r,-h:i!\j l;aton IMow again, to tha feet. was stretched his sword. Above, on live crimson velvet ci t-!ii on>et .it various msints around

cite gratfc*. v.-tre u<i thevitay and crdirs,' otlier than tiiu military medals, WJiicil .the'dead soldier-lmd worn.

When those vvlio had been present at th. service issued froun he cathedral a cold sleet was falling; but in spite of it, with nearly an hour to wait, a long a i:eue •already stretched aerosa fit. Paul'* churchyard. And' bitter though the wither icontinuc'd to be, the queue went on increasing, untij when the doors of the eathedra'l were again opened many hundred people were in 'line, and all the afternoon the : sad procession moved slowly through the entrance to End around the open grave, and out again. The 'prosission through* London to St. Paul's was equally impressive. It had as sombre anil gloomy setting as could well be. It was a raw, grey morning, bitingly cold; there was more than a touch of yeliow fog, so that the warehouses on the south side of the river loomed dint and mysterious as seen from the Embankment. Moreover, at aboat tile time when the sullen booming of the guns proclaimed tlmt the procession had started, a cold, steady drizzle of rain came on tint threatened at any moI mcnt to turn into sleet.

' No doubt the ineloment day kept any ycople indoors: Imt, as it was, a Very large mimbj" of Londoners assembled to pay tlieir last tribute of respect. Without any of the shouting that warns of the approach of more cheerful cavalcades, without even a hum of expectation, the head of tiie procession suddenly into vinw. the" pipers of the London' Scottish marching in a silence ibroken only by the tramping of feet. Then followed long rows of troops—£ho 14th County of London Battalion of the London Scottish, the sth, Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 4th Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, the men all in their greatcoats, and marching with arms reversed, while those who lined tho street stood—in that attitiulo of profound and picturesque sorrow—resting on their arms. Men and still more men wound into view, And then vanished gradually.

SCENES IN FRANCE. The following aeeon'it of tho funeral service of Lord Roberts at general headquarters in France has been received:—r

"The small French town in which are at present stationed the general head* quarters of the expeditionary force witnessed an impressive ceremony when the mortal remains of one who was not sa long ago the late chief of the British Army were conveyed through the 10-vu in procession with military honours, from the house in which he died to the Maine, or Town Hall, where the funeral service was performed. Along the whole distance between these two points, of some half a miie, and for quarter of a mile farther to the point where the Boulogne road leaves t.in- town the route was lined with British and French troops, who had assembled to pay the 'last respects to the remains .of Britain's great ■soldier. The service was held in the vestibule of the Maine, which had been 'converted into a temporary chapel. With the aid of some of the residents it had been furnished with an altar, altar furniture, and was beautifully decorated with palms and white chrysanthemums. The chapel was large enough to contain tho whole of the officers attending the funeral, and these d. filed in on two sides of the coffin, the British officers all together on oiio ■side, while on the other j side stood the Frer.ch and Belgian rep* 'resentatives, and also the following representatives of India:—Major-General H.E. Maharahja St Pratab Sinjrb, G.C.5.1.G.C.V., K.C.8., Major H.H. MaI'harahja Jodiipur, lI.IT. the Maharahja I of Kishengarh, K.C.5.1., K.C.1.E., accompanied by nine officers representing units of the Indian Contingent. At one end of the bier stood H.R.11. the Prince of Wales and Major 11. R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught. "At the c.-THMisio:: of the service the 'Last Post' blown by the British bugles rang out across the "square, and the Bad notes made many of those present realise with a pang that they had followed their old chief for the last time. The echo of the call gradually died away, the coifin was carefully and reverently borne down the steps and placed with its mass of wreaths in the waiting motorambulance which was to convey it to Boulogne. As this was done the arms of the Guard of Honour once more sprang to the present, the French trumpeters again blew a fan-fare, and the guns of Lord Roberts's old regiment began to roar out their last farewell.

6™ uut meir laai iareweu. | A SALUTE BY AEROPLANE. | "It was an impressive scene in the bright sunlight. In front of the Mairie stood the ambulance ready to start on its journey to the coast; behind it were the lines of khaki soldiers, ftnd behiad 1 them again the blue cloaks and the silver helmets of the French cavalry flashing in the sun, and right across the sky in front of a dark mass of clouds to the north-west gleamed a double rainbow. At this moment a fresh sound was heard above the roar of artillery, and the brassy music of the trumpets aa a British aeroplane, one of the aerial guard ' that hud been watching, and protecting procession, swooped up into sight, circled the square, and dipped in salute. The last wreath was put in, the door waa closed, and the ambulance slowly moved off on its road to Boulogne. Amongst the many floral tributes sent were wreaths from General Joffre and the French Army, the French and Belgian military missions attached to the British forces, and the town in which Lord Roberts died."