PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 XCIII 



TÏÏB CABOT CELEBEATION. 



UNVEILING OF THE TABLET IN HONOUR OP THE ITALIAN NAVIGATOR. 



(From the Halifax Herald, June 25,) 



The scene on the HoUis street front of the Province Building yester- 

 day afternoon is one which will long be remembered by those who saw 

 it. Grouped on the landing leading to the corridor where the tablet in 

 memory of John Cabot was unveiled, were the heads of our Civic, Pro- 

 vincial and Federal Governments, and the heads of the Military and Naval 

 branches of the British service. Not only did this company include the 

 Governor-General and the Countess of Aberdeen, Vice- Admiral Sir J. E. 

 Erskine, General Montgomery Moore, Governor Daly, Premier Murray, 

 and Mayor Stephen in his official robes, but besides these were two ex- 

 Mayors of the city of Bristol — W. E. Barker, J.P., and W. Howell 

 Davies, J.P. ; Signore G. Solimbergo, of Montreal, Consul-General of 

 Italy, on this occasion representing the city of Venice. Archbishop 

 O'Brien, President of the Eoyal Society of Canada, was directing the 

 exercises, and with him were other members of the Eoyal Society of 

 Canada. Hon. J. Boyd Thacher, of Albany, N. Y., Consul-General 

 Ingraham, of the United States, and other distinguished gentlemen repre- 

 senting universities and societies in the United States and Canada, were 

 in the group. Such were the leading men in the company gathered to 

 do honour to the memoiy of him who, four hundred years ago, set sail 

 from Bristol on a voyage which ended in the discovery of the mainland 

 of this continent. A picturesque feature of this scene was the presence 

 of three or four Indians — well-dressed — representing the aborigines. 



The proceedings were to have begun at three o'clock, but it was some 

 minutes after when their Excellencies Lord and Lady Aberdeen arrived. 

 A detachment of men from the Eoyal Navy was drawn up, and there was 

 a great crowd of spectators on Hollis street and in the Province Buildin»- 

 eastern area. 



The Countess of Aberdeen is an enthusiastic photographer, in addi- 

 tion to her many interests, and her first act on alighting from the 

 carriage was to take a snap shot of the gathering. Then the sailors 

 headed by the band of the flagship " Crescent," marched off, taking their 

 route through the principal streets for home. 



The tablet was mounted on an easel at the left of the Province 

 Building portal. It is of brass in a handsome frame, the lettering beino- 

 red and black. The tablet was draped with the Union Jack. The 



