Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1911 — FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE [ARTICLE]

FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE

Preparations for the Coronation Already Under Way. ./. ■: a ,. •' ■' London to Be “At Home” to the People of the British Realm —Carnival Parade From Hyde Park to Crystal Palace. London.—One of the most spectacular events open to tourists in London during the coronation season will be the “Festival of Empire” at the Crystal palace. King George and Queen Mary will attend the festival on May 12 to hear the great empire concert, In which Mme. Clara Butt will take a prominent part, and in which there will be 5,000 voices In the chorus, under the conductorship of Dr. Charles Harris of Canada. The famous Queen’s hall orchestra, conducted by Sir Henry Wood, will also take part Arrangements are completed for a series of grand empire carnivals. The city of London corporation has voted £2OO (31,000) for the construction of a car symbolical of the life of the capital of the empire, while a number of other cities in Great Britain are sending cars. There will also be emblematic cars for each of the oversea dominions and others to represent great industries. In all there will be fifty huge cars. The festivities will be held periodically on the grand terrace of the Crystal palace. During the coronation period there will be a carnival parade from Hyde Park to the Crystal palace. In addition to the fifty carnival cars—Nice has but fifteen —there will be mounted calvacades and thousands of people In fancy dress, the men wearing grotesque, heads. Rapid progress Is being made with the construction of the "All Red Route,” the mile and a half of electric railway which will give visitors a comprehensive review of the British empire at work and play. This work, together with the oversea dominion parliament bulldlhgs, which the line links together. Is costing £176,000 (1880,000). The chief six spectacles will be the wheat Helds of Canada, the tea plantations of India, the vineyards of Australia, the geysers of New Zealand and the gold and diamond ilnlnes of Routh Africa. The exhibits in the various government buildings will include thirty tableaux of "The Romance of Empire.” These will illustrate what the British settlers had to contend with' In the early days and how the history of the oversea dominions has been made.

The all-British exhibition of arts and Industries, to be held In the Crystal palace itself, which Is being rearranged and decorated for the purpose, will make-'* special feature of machinery in motion. The duke of Marlborough Is sending from Blenheim palace a priceless gallery of paintings which relate to the history of the empire and portraits of men who lave helped to jßfthe that history- The photographlo clubs of Great Britain end the oversea dominions will hold s competition. Mr. Frank LasceUes, the master of the festival, explained that on thta occasion “a great at-home will be given by the people of London, the mother city of the empire, to her sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters. “A sum of more than £250,000 ($1460,000) is being spent," Mr. Lasoelles continued, "In order that the palace and grounds may be made Worthy of the occasion. In the 230 seres of ground will be seen exact iwpUcas, two-thirds the actual size, of thj* Dartl&ixMUQt building*! of Caiumla.

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland and India. Inside these buildings in each instance will be shown the progress and development of the country to which they belong —their scenery, their resources, their interests and their industries. The government of Canada alone is spending more than £70,000 ($350,000) in a representation of the parliament buildings at Ottawa. There will also be camps for boy scouts from all parts of the empire; empire sports, under the presidency of Lord Desborough; a play, ‘Hiawatha,’ by Iroquois Indians from Canada; battles of flowers and carnivals; and, lastly, a series of scenes In the great amphitheater, which Sir Aston Webb hqs designed, of the history of London. Under the presidency of Princess Louise, the performers already enrolled throughout London to take part in the representations of the city’s history number 12,000."