LYING IN STATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 May 1943, Page 3

LYING IN STATE

BODY OF LATE MR COATES WELLINGTON & AUCKLAND ARRANGEMENTS. BURIAL TO TAKE PLACE AT MATAKOHE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Preparations for the lying in state of the body of the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates in the vestibule of Parliament Buildings were made yesterday, as well as the arrangements for the State funeral military honours. A bier was erected in the centre of the spacious entrance lobby, and the surrounding pillars and the access doorways were draped in purple and black fabric.

A service was held in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Mulgrave. Street, at’ 11 a.m. today. For this the Primate of New Zealand, Archbishop WestWatson, came to Wellington from Christchurch. After the service the casket was transferred to Parliament Buildings. A special train conveying the casket ,and official party will leave for Auckland at 4 p.m. tomorrow. The official party will include the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, other Ministers of the Crown, members of Parliament and a small party fully representative of the Maori people. The late Mr Coates’s brother, Mr Rodney Coates, and Mrs Coates and her daughters left Auckland last night for Wellington. They will return to Auckland by the special train.

The people of Auckland will also be given an opportunity to pay their tributes. In Auckland the casket will lie in state, and there will be a service and a funeral procession. From Auckland the casket will be taken to Matakohe, where the funeral will take place on Tuesday, about 1 p.m. Bishop Simkin will conduct the graveside service. In the funeral processions both in Auckland and Wellington and at Matakohe the casket will be borne on a gun carriage.

TWO GROUPS OF PALL-BEARERS

There will be two groups of pallbearers. The Ministerial and Parliamentary group will comprise the Prime Minister and other Ministers, including the Hon. Adam Hamilton, the late Mr Coates’s colleague in the War Cabinet, the Hon. E. T. Tirikatene, member of the Executive Council representing the Native race, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, the Deputy-Leader. Mr Polson, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, former’ Prime Minister, Sir Apirana Ngata, and Messrs J. N. Massey and H. S. S. Kyle, Ms.P. The second group of bearers will be officers of the three services. The casket-bearers will be other ranks in the three services. AN HONOURED LEADER ABILITY & DEVOTION TO DUTY. ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP AT MEMORIAL SERVICE. (By Telegraph—Press Associations) WELLINGTON, This Day. "We are gathered here today to honour the memory of Joseph Gordon Coates, whose sudden and unlooked-for death has reminded us all to plainfully that war takes its toll, not only of the vounger men at the front, but also of the older men at home, when they are subjected to a strain greater than nature can bear, 1 ’ Archbishop West-Wat son said when conducting a moving Requiem service. in the presence of a large congregation for Mr Coates in St. Paul’s Cathedral Church this morning. His Grace said the names of these older men might not appear in any list of casualties or military roll of honour, but none the less they were surely among those who gladly laid down their lives for their fatherland. They were only too sadly aware that there were few, if any, who could fill the gap made by Mr Coates’s death with anything like his experience, character, ability and devotion to duty. In an emergency armies and armaments could be created, but to create leaders was beyond the powers of man. They were born, not made. They were one of God’S gifts to a country. In concluding his address, the Archbishop said it was a great test of single-mindedness, it was a mark of real greatness to keep on growing in breadth of sympathy and understanding, and to learn patience through adversity, and be mellowed and not embittered by disappointment. They mourned a man who, with sincerity and integrity, gave himself to his service of his country and who had made himself and his country respected. BRITISH SYMPATHY

MESSAGE FROM DOMINIONS SECRETARY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON? This Day. Among many messages received from overseas relating to the death of Mr Coates, the following cablegram was received from the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (Mr Attlee): — “His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain has heard with great regret of the sudden death of the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, former Prime Minister, who for so many years had rendered distinguished service to the Dominion both in peace and war. As chief representative of ifis country at past Imperial Conferences he was well known to us here, and we realise what his loss will mean to New Zealand, especially at this time when he held important office as Minister for Co-ordination of Armed Forces. Please accept the sincere sympathy of my colleagues and myself.”