UNKNOWN DEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 November 1920, Page 5

UNKNOWN DEAD.

BRITAIN'S GREAT TRIBUTE.

THE ABBEY BURIAL.

By Telegraph.—Press Asaa—Copyright,

Received Nor. 7, 5.5 p.m.

London, Nov. 5. Final arrangements have been made for the burial of an unknown warrior at Westminster Abbey. Lord Curzon states the Government is Mtisfied that the pr&autions taken are ample to maintain that the identity of the unknown man will not be revealed to anyone. It has been decided to make the ceremony entirely domestic, hence the Allies will not participate, but as the French desired to take part, the French destroyer Verdun has been selected to convey the body to England as a compliment to France. The French will hand the body over at Boulogne with military honors. A fleld-marsbal's salute will be fired fet Dover t,n the arrival of the body on the afternoon of November 10, The body will lie in a specially prepared chapel at Victoria railway station, and ft military guard will be posted all night. Another field-marshal's salute will he fired when the body is placed on a gun carriage at 9.40 on the morning of the <llth. The coffin will be inscribed: "A British warrior who fell in the Great War, 1914-18, for King and Country." It is not even known if the body will be that of an Englishman or a Dominion soldier. Besides representatives of all the services, detachments of mercantile marine men who saw service, will participate in the procession. The coffin will be covered with a Union Jack from the battlefields which was used at many military funerals at the front. The pall-bearers will be Lord Beatty, Admiral Jackson, Admiral Sturdee, Admiral Madden, Lord French, Lord Haig, Lord Methuen, Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, General Home, General Byng, and Air Marshal Sir Hugh Trenehard. When the procession Tenches the Cenotaph in Whitehall the gun carriage will halt before the King. The Primate and the Bishop of London will conduct the service, aS which massed choirs will aisiit. The King will unveil the Cenotaph as Big Ben chimes the last stroke of aleveo. Elsewhere maroons will be fired in the metropolis in order that the two minutes' silence may be synchronised.

At the expiration of the two minutes the procession will be re-formed, the King marching to the Abbey immediately behind the coffin, followed by the Prince of Wale 3, other Princes, the Premier and other Ministers. The Dean and Chapter receive the coffin at the Abbey and conduct it to »n open grave, where a short Mrvice will be held. After the coffin is lowered muffled drums will roll out, and then massed buglers will sound the reveille, the ceremony thui ending with a note of hope. If a black fog should prevail the ceremony at the Cenotaph will be omitted, the coffin being brgught from Victoria station to the Abbey by the shortest route.

Over fourteen thousand applications have been received from relatives of war victims for 1050 seats in the Abbey, and these will be decided by lot. Only bereaved' women will be given Macs at the windows of Government offices overlooking the Cenotaph in Whitehall.—Aua.-N.Z. Cable Assnv

EMPIRE STOPS WORK KING APPROVES PROPOSAL. Received Nov. 8, 12.5 a.m. London, Nov. 7. Offioial: The King has approved a Cabinet .committee's recommendation for the 'Complete suspension of all normal business, work, and locomotion throughout the Empire daring the two minutes' silence at eleven o'clock on Armistice Day.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

EMPIRE-WIDE SILENCE. JfEW ZEALAND ARRANGEMENTS. By Teligraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Nov. 6. In the House of Representatives toiay, Mr. Massey read a telegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies outlining the proposal to bury an unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey at 11 o'clock in connection with the observation of Armistice Day ceremonies. At the moment of burial it was proposed to observe two minutes complete "alienee, and it was hoped that a similar act of respect would be observed all over tile Empire. Mr. Massey said that the Department of Internal Affairs proposed to ask the people of the Dominion to oea=e work at the appointed hour in accordance with the Tequest. The question of asking churches to hold religious services on Armistice Day would be considered.