A RARE HONOUR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 196, 1 June 1934, Page 5

A RARE HONOUR.

MISS JEAN BATTEN. OFFICIAL GUEST OF STATE. (United Preps Association— Copyright). SYDNEY, May 31. Miss Jean Batten was to-day . the guest of honour at several functions the chief was a luncheon by the Millions Club. The police had to help her out of the elubrooms, so dense was the crowd which crowded louncl The Premier (Mr B .S. B. Stevens) announced that Miss Batten was to he the official guest of the State while in Sydney, an honour seldom given. tie also said at the luncheon that Miss Batten had expressed a wish to sit in the Speakers’ Gallery while Parliament was meeting tp-day. She did so and “had to be torn away from the Mouse, which, added Mr Stevens was further evidence of her remarkable courage an When the laughter had subsided Mr Stevens said Miss Batten had told him that she had never enjoyed anything so much as her visit to Parliament. Miss Batten, in her reply, told how when a “little innocent” wandering about Sydney, she had entered Government House and signed her name m a book beneath a list of illustrious people. “To-day,” she said, ‘ while the guest of the Lieutenant-Governor (bn Philip Street) I signed my name in a similar book, but it was at the head of a page.” Journalists’ Welcome.

Newspapcd men from all parts of Australia who are attending the Australian Newspaper Conference ni bydney met Miss Batten at the Hotel Australia to-night and expressed admiration of her flight and the fine advertisement she had given the Dominions. . . .. , •, Miss Batten, who is an accomplished after-dinner speaker, said she was vei y <rlad to meet such a representative assemblage of journalists, who, after all, were responsible for telling people of her doings and making it possible for her to achieve lier ambitions. She could not help thinking how. marvellous it was that only three weeks before she bad been walking in Fleet Street in London. She told amusingly of her two failures to reach Australia. She had wondered whether, after the first two failures, it was worth trying again. Her receptions on the way out and in Australia had left no doubt in her mind that it was worth while. She would never forget the warmth of public feeling so spontaneously demonstrated in every village and l city. Miss Batten told a representative .of the United Press Association that she had no idea when she would be able to return to New Zealand, as she had. so many invitations from people wishing to welcome her that her movements for the next fortnight were uncertain.