The inauguration of the new Commonwealth of Australia was celebrated
on New Year's Day in Sydney with the pageantry and enthusiasm befitting a great historical ocoasioe. The great procession, two miles loug, passed along a roll,. decorated with a lavishness and ingenuity which instill-. Londoners with envy. Thus we read of a Coal Arch, eon Estimated out of irregular courses of coal in imitation o' masonry, with miners standing like statues in the niches ; Wool Arch, made of dressed and washed fleeces; and a Wheat Arch ; while the spectators themselves co-operated to lend colour to the pageant by alternately waving a blue or gold handkerchief as the Governor-General passed, The Imperial contingent—Indians, Lancers, Household Cavalry, Foot Guards, and Engineers—were received with great heartiness, and messages of congratulation from the Queen and the British Government were read by Lord Hopetoun after he had taken the oath of office. The in- augural ceremony ended with a salvo of artillery, the singing of a hymn, " Australia Fair," by ten thousand school- children, the " Te Deum," the "Hallelujah Chorus," and the National Anthem. In the evening a State banquet attended by a thousand guests was held in the Town Hall, at which Mr. Barton, in a stirring speech, expressed his belief that the Commonwealth would accomplish all that was desired of it. Altogether the birthday of the "young Queen" has been celebrated in a manner worthy of her heroic parentage and her splendid promise.
