EDWARD KING
CONTINUATION.
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Space will not permit a full description of the illuminations on other business houses.
A feature of the evening was the Fish Lantern Procession. Unfortunately, it was shorn of much of its beauty by the rain. Starting from West Point about 8 p.m., the procession proceeded via Queen's Road West and Queen's Road Central to the centre of the city. On account of the immense throng of pedestrians, the procession had to stop for ten minutes outside the Hongkong Hotel until the police had cleared a path for it.
The procession then wound its way through Pedder Street, along Des Voeux Road, through Wardley Street and round the Queen's Statue. At this point, the rain came down in torrents, causing the procession to disperse.
Ships in the harbour and buildings in Kowloon were not one whit behind Hongkong in beauty of decorations and illuminations. When night fell, the appearance of the harbour, gay though it had been throughout the day, carried the memory back to the scenes described in the fairy books of childhood.
At half-past nine, a signal gun was fired and H.M.S. Tamar and H.M.S. Rinaldo burst simultaneously into a blaze of light. On the Tamar were seen the words "God Save the King" and a large shield enclosing the letters "E. R." Beginning at the water's edge and running up to the points of the three masts, there appeared on the Rinaldo light after light until the whole scheme of illumination assumed a definite shape. Suspended amidships was an illuminated Crown, which gave a final touch to the spectacular effect.
Further out in the harbour, the U.S.S. Monadnock flashed its searchlight over the panorama of dancing lights. Then came the rain, and with it, the end of all those manifestations of a people's rejoicing in the crowning of their King and Queen.