DELHI DURBAR

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10502, 14 December 1911, Page 5

DELHI DURBAR

A BRILLIANT SPECTACLE

THE PROCLAMATION

(Received Last Xiglit, 10.30 o'clock.)

ADEN, December 13. A special Durbar was convened for tho Proclamation of the Coronation. The entire European .inu native communities were present. DELHI, December 13. The Durbar amphitheatre is live fold the size of the Colliseum at Rome, forming two semi-circles, the larger being uncovered and surrounded'by semi-circular mounds, crowded with fifty 'thousand of the populace, including thousands of school children, each section of wliicji was distinguished by coloured head'gear. The smaller semi-circle- was roofed with Durbar. The • Sbamiana, on the two fronts and in the centre was surrounded oy 12,000, chiefly officials, in. uniform. The English visitors wore Court dress. Tho ladies in brilliant toilettes, were in a closely latticed enclosure erected behind for the wives of the Princes. Just before the commencement, die veterans, including one hundred who participated in the. Mutiny, marched to the'arena, t!he bands playing "See the Conquering Hero Comes." The troops roared a welcome. At eleven o'ch ck the skirling pipes announced the coming of the Black Watch to guard the Shamiana, fifty of the Third Sikhs occupying a position on tilie other 'side. Then Lord and Lady Hardinge' 4 twelve thousand spectators rose and remained standing until the 11.30 o'clock salute of 101 guns "announced tlhe arrival of Their Majesties.

The.- battery artillery-.swept round the ring of the Tenth Hussars and tlie Viceroy's scarlet-clnd bodyguard of gigantic Sikh lancers, and followed the procession, which circled tiio amphitheatre. Their Majesties alighted at the S'hamiana. The King wore the coronation robe and su-rcoat, similar to that he wore at the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey. The Queen was in a white dress wit-h a purple velvet robe, and was attended by a troop of pages of princely bjood, dressed in white and blue. " salute of guns folded as Their Majesties seated themselves on Hie thrpnes-in the Shamiana. , The Durbar opened with a flourishof trumpets. ■ Low outter drums swelled to a thunderous roar. y,,{ . i The- King# in a clear voice, carrying well', expressed hris to be' in India and his heartfelt satisfaction at the people's love and Imperial devo tion. \ • ' '' ' . « The ceremony of offering homage •followed. • Lord HaTdinge alone kissed the King's hands. : General Sir o'Moore Creagh, led by the members of the Viceroy's Council,- the Nizam of - Hyderabad and Galkwar Baroda, lead the procession.

Princes Mysore, Kashmir, Kaapur., and Rajput followed, most of them wearing robes of"honour af .cloth-of-gold. Many of the robes were decora,ted with priceless pearls, pvT hanging festoons and necklets of diamonds and emeralds sparkled in the hfiaddress&s, and rubies on the sword hilts. The massed bands meanwhile played soft music. The Begum of Bhopal, in dazzling robes, richly .embroidered with goid. and heavily veiled, received a great rer-ep.tion. The homage lasted for forty minutes, and ended with the Salaama : fr,om the rugged north frontier and the Ara-bian desert chieftains. I 7 heir Majesties rose* amid the strains of the Coronal ion March, and walked hard and hand up the' broad raised way 150 yards to a lofty dais, placed on marble steps twenty feet abeve the ground, the nrincely train bearers following, also the attendants bearing the symbols.of the Imperial estate, the scarlet umbrellas, fan and mace. ,