New-York tribune., 1902-06-18
BARRICADES IN LONDON.
MANY PEOPLE DECIDE To GIVE Up
PLANS To SEE CORONATION PARADE.
CRy The Associated Press

London. June 1.-THE coronation as a public
spectacle threatens 10 be a fasco. So serious
and imminent has this possibility become that
The London Times and other pab1rs are print
ing alarmist letters, urging the authorities 10
take steps 10 prevent its failure before it Is
late. The rapacity Of the hotel keepers and
the greed Of the seat spectators having their
just reward. With scarcely more than a week
before the oronation not 30 per cent of the
seats on the huge stands have been sold. Fright
ened by the exorbitant demands, thousands of
people residing in the suburbs and country. who
had planned to come and see the King crowned
have now decided 10 stay away, while a large
proportion Of Londoners will avail themselves of
the opportunity TO enjoy holiday at the
side or elsewhere, in preference to submittiI g
to the inconvenience of the extraordinary police
regulations which will be enforced on the coro-
nation days The hotels and health resorts on
the south coast and rooms in quiet country
clubs throughout the United Kingdom. which
are generally empty at the height Of the season,
are all booked for coronation week
Il is freely said that unless the stand proprie-
tors admit the public in a body and gratis. or
practically gratis the King will pass his
coronation through an array Of half filled
benches What chiefly contributes TO to-day's
serious state of affairs is the police precau-
tions TO make the procession TO Westminster
Abbey one which ticket holders only wit
ness except in the case of st. James's Park
where only a few thousand will be able to see
the royal party.
The published regulations whereby all traffic
within about a mile Of the first days route is
70 he stopped al o'clock in the morning and
pedestrians are 10 be stopped at a. m. are
rerrifving enough. They convey. however, only
\ faint inkling of the remarkable ndignties
70 which London will be submitted.
A personal survey of the streets as they are
TODAY could alone convey an idea of the ex-
+a,+ RI which the.authorities intend to go From
The appearance of Westminster the capital
might well be preparing TO resist invasion or
he contemplating a communlsUc rising. Solid
timber barricades twenty to thirty feet high rise
nr,iuolIsly at the entrance of all streets and
aIevs leading anywhere near the route and
barrier entrances for foot passengers and arch
,ra,,s for vehicles await the gates which are 10
ta rU,Ing on them. By the eve of the corona
ion these will be in place. The number ugli-
naee and sodity of these barricades cause bitter
aaactions regarding the opinion which the au-
thorities must have Of the unruliness of the
royaI British crowds. who Will be huddIed to-
geThar bv thousands and Will be unable 70 see
snvthing save the bare sides of these barriers.
yErsc+rnfnster Bridge, NiCtOria-st., the Thames
L.nba nkment and al the approaches of Paria-
r,ent the government offices and the roads TO
whitehall already present the unslghdy eVi-
AZ correspondent in to-day's Times" points
o,1r the police. because they bungled badly in
TIC csSe Of the fatal City Imperial Volunteer
arade have now framed rules calculated in
effect If not in design. 10 keep hundreds from
taking their places. owing 10 the probability Of
taipr BILE 10 get to their deStina tions" and
this applies the seatholders, who. having per
haps been foolish enough TO pay several guineas
for places on stands, will be unable 10 occupy
them.
r,,bllc is a problem which has caused many of
these protests in the papers In the first place.