ROYAL VISITOR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 5

ROYAL VISITOR.

JOY IN AUSTRALIA.

PLANS FOR PRINCE GEORGE.

27 DAYS IN VICTORIA,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, January 18.

The official news that Prince George, the fourth and youngest son of His Majesty the King, is to pay a visit to Australia toward the close of the year has been received throughout the Commonwealth with demonstrations of loyalty and enthusiasm. The occasion of the visit is the centenary celebration at Melbourne; and the Victorians, who have been anxious all along to secure some member of the Royal family to inaugurate their festivities, are overjoyed at this happy solution of their difficulties.

All arrangements are at present in the tentative stage, but it is 'believed that the Prince will arrive in Australia early in October and that he will stay here about three months. A provisional itinerary of about 80 days has already been drafted, giving him 27 days for his stay in Victoria—which, of course, has a prior claim on his attention becaust of the centenary. Only nine days an allotted to New South Wales, anc shorter periods ranging from three t< eight days to the other States and thi Federal Territory. Already a pro gramme which will enable him to ge a comprehensive idea of Australia ii the limited time at his disposal is unde construction. But for the moment "th tumult and the shouting" occupie public attention to the exclusion of th other aspects of the occasion. "No Better Choice Possible." All that is known definitely here i that Sydney's "festival fortnight, ■which was to ha. « started on Novembc

24, will be postponed for a brief period to secure the presence of the Prince. He will certainly be in Melbourne for Cup Day, and as he is due back there on January 1, when the centenary celebrations start, he will probably visit us during the interval. So far as the Prince is personally concerned, it is agreed by all that no better choice could have been made in selecting a representative of Royalty to be our guest. The newspapers are simply crowded out with biographical notes, personal reminiscences, and laudatory anecdotes, all tending to glorify the Prince and to arouse public interest in him. And from all these confusing hints and sketches and fragments of gossip there emerges the outline of a disI tinctly likeable and attractive young I man.

Prince George is in his thirty-second year, he is a lieutenant in the Navy, he is handsome, versatile, accomplished, and good-humoured, a sportsman, a hard worker but a "good mixer"; am all the countless tales that we have heard about him during the past week are definitely to his credit. The experience of other Royal visits which have provided such pleasant interludes in the past history of the "Dominions oversea," justifies the belief that the advent of Prince George will produce results in everj way beneficial to Britain and the Empire at large as well as to the Commonwealth itself.

Value of the Monarchy. As to the deeper meaning of this episode, and the far-reaching issues that it involves, the following quotation from the "Sydney Morning Herald" eho\v6 that at. least one of our newspapers recognises the responsibility imposed upon it to give a strong lead to public opinion on such an occasion as this: "Devoid as it is of all political significance in a party sense, this visit will all the more appeal to our consciousness of high realities. The system of constitutional monarchy, as events are daily proving, has no equal as a working method for giving stability and national dignity. In these rich assets we share, as fully as any homebred Briton, and sometimes perhaps with even clearer realisation. There js prudence then, as well as courtesy, in the welcome that we extend to a eon of the King. In honouring hiip, we honour a representative of the forc f! which have worked together to mould our great heritage."