A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THERE were a good many different ways of seeing the Coronation procession. You could pay six or eight or ten or fifteen guineas for a seat. And you could rise in the twilight of a chill and sombre dawn, or, as some thousands apparently did, spend the previous night on a pavement or in a park. Or you could adopt manifestly lunatic methods, like two phlegmatic venturers of my acquaintance. They lay in their beds till approximately ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, put themselves into normal array at their leisure, turned on the wireless and listened to the whole of the Abbey service, partook of (current journalism knows nothing of taking, or eating, a meal) an early lunch, embarked on a penny ride in an empty tram to the nearest Tube station, travelled thence (for sixpence return) to Lancaster Gate, walked into Hyde Park, secured excellent positions by the East Carriage Drive, saw the procession from beginning to end, made their way back to Lancaster Gate, fortified with return tickets, swept negligently past an incredibly protracted queue of the ticketless, and were having tea under their own roof at just after 4.30 ; total cost, eightpence each. The crush, I suppose, came early, and the crowds massed at all the obvious points. Certainly it was through a half-deserted London and in an almost empty Inner Circle train that I made my own way to one of those seats for which the Chancellor of the Exchequer benevolently paid half and its occupant the other half. What magnetism draws everyone to Trafalgar Square and Whitehall on these festal occasions?
* * * * The hymns chosen for the Form of Divine Service com- mended by the two Archbishops for general use in the Anglican Churches last Sunday—the Sunday preceding the Coronation—are an interesting collection. There were six in all. Out of these, three, " City of God," " Lord, while for all mankind we pray " and " Thy kingdom come, on bended knee," I think I am right in saying, are by Unitarians, two of them American Unitarians. A fourth, " 0 God of Jacob " (why not the familiar " 0 God of Bethel " ?) is by an Independent ; not much is known about Kethe, author of the Old Hundredth, but Warton describes him as a Scottish divine. The sixth, " The King, 0 God, his voice to Thee upraiseth," is more or less by Robert Bridges, who, so far as I know, was a member of the Church of England, though perhaps " Christian Platonist " would describe him better. " More or less " because it is based on a 17th-century version of Psalm xxi by one Robert Tailour, of whose denominational associations I have been able to discover nothing. As an example of liberal catholicity the Archbishops' choice is worth some notice.
* * * * Herr von Ribbentrop may be open to just criticism for the " activist " interpretation he puts on his functions as Ambassador, but there is undoubtedly some ground for his recent complaint of the treatment in the Press of remarks he made in the Non-Intervention Committee on the form in which any protest against the bombardment of open towns should be brought before the committee. Not that the complaint lies primarily against the Press. The Non- Intervention Committee meets in private and issues an official communiqué regarding its activities. Journalists are therefore compelled in all such cases to rely on what they can extract from actual delegates who have pledged them- selves to treat the proceedings as confidential. One delegation is notoriously expansive towards its friends in the British Press, and it is a delegation which holds strong views on the subject of Fascism and Nazism. It thus comes about that such information, other than that embodied in the official communiqui, as does get into the Press is predominantly of a certain colour, and may conceivably be found defective in balance or strict veracity, or both.
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Anyone who lays impious hands on that splendid stretch of hills running east and west just north of Surrey's southern border, from Leith Hill right across to Hindhead and beyond, must expect to find a whole countryside raised against him. The letter that appeared in The Times last Friday over the signatures of a number of local residents, from the Master of the Rolls to the Editor of the Daily Herald (or vice versa), appeal- ing for the preservation of an ancient wood (mentioned in records as far back as 1336) adjoining Hurtwood Common, voices the feelings of everyone who has ever seen the spot, except the builder who desires to put houses on it instead of trees—as is, at present, his undoubted right. The letter seems deficient in that its appeal is addressed to no one in particular, and no plan of salvation is indicated. The only hope would seem to be for the Surrey County Council to exercise the right of compulsory purchase which I believe it possesses. * * * * Of some of the recipients of Coronation honours I should like, if space permitted, to say something appreciative ; of others (who have worked hard and patiently for their reward) something opprobrious. As things are, I must content myself with singling out for a mention which is completely disinter- ested, since I never heard the lady's name before, the entry : C.B.E.—TE PUIA HERANGI, a Maori Princess of Ngaruawahia, Dominion of New Zealand. For social welfare services.
She has, I believe, successfully organised a " young Maori " agricultural movement.
* * * The Long and the Short of It " The incident so upset Miss Wilkinson that she burst into tears, but after some moments she continued her speech." —News Chronicle. " The honourable lady was proceeding to speak on her experiences as a member of the recent deputation to Spain when an interjection from the opposite side of the Chamber apparently caused her some distress. She paused for a moment, bowed her head and appeared to be on the point of breaking down. There was a brief silence, followed by sympathetic cheers from all parts of the House, and the honourable lady continued her speech."—The Times. jams.
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