A ROYAL VISIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 138, 13 June 1934, Page 12

A ROYAL VISIT.

ENTERTAINMENT PLANS. It is no mean task organising a Royal visit. Already Mr. Marr, Minister in control of the Australian Commonwealth arrangements for the visit by the Duke of Gloucester, and' his staff have travelled 8600 miles on a mission of preliminary organisation, and cars, vessels and trains will' carry them over many more miles before everything is in readiness for his Royal Highness to step on to Australian soil at Fremantle on October 4 (says a writer in an Australian paper). Immediately it was announced "that Australia would receive a Royal visit, the Commonwealth set its machinery in motion. Dusty files, which had assumed huge proportions, were brought to light in Canberra, and experienced Federal officials, pored over these voluminous stacks of paper seeking information as to what was done during the visit of the Prince of Wales and, later, the Duke of York. Soon the Commonwealth Minister began to be inundated with letters and callers offering hospitality and entertainment of a varied character for the Royal guest. Mr. Marr has received thousands of suggestions as to the proper method of entertaining the visitor. These range from individuals anxious to demonstrate their vocal or musical prowess, their social qualities, or ability to entertain on a lavish scale, to gigantic schemes which, to use Mr. Marr's own words, would "demand the labour of half the population." With the use of a State carriage citizens are likely to witness again the training of the horses which will be attached to the carriage. It is usually the custom to drive the horses through arches and through ranks of bandsmen rendering patriotic airs. In preparation for the visit of the Duke of York the horses used to draw the State carriage were taken on regular excursions to a suburban school to accustom them to the noise and shouting of the children.

Horses to be ridden by the Duke on his Australian tour will be selected with special care, and should the Duke ride at a review the mount will be specially tested. Flags will be waved in the animal's face, and no doubt he will have to endure the none too pleasant experience of having a trombone blown in his ear.

The whole of the Duke's movements will be worked out to strict time-table, and soon the authorities will arrange for transport facilities throughout the Commonwealth for the accommodation of the Duke and his personal staff and officers and men accompanying his Royal Highness and the retinue of Commonwealth and State officials conducting the tour. Dancing Partners. There is, however, the lighter side to the task of organising, as Mr. Marr has already discovered. Proud mothers in several States have suggested that their daughters would make admirable dancing partners for the Royal visitor, while hostesses have implored him to arrange for the Duke to be their guest at private dinner parties and social functions. While returning by steamer from one of the States where he had been discussing the visit with State authorities, Mr. Marr had the experience of being the most sought-after male dancing partner on the boat. Handsome daughters were presented by their parents as possible dancing partners for the Duke, and to enable the Minister to assess their relative merits as exponents of the terpsichorean art they were partnered with him. Mr. Marr had a delightful evening socially, but having danced with the youth and beauty of the ship for some hours he was heard to remark that "his legs were not as young as they once were."

But will startled public servants witness the strange signs which were common before the visit of the Prince of Wales? There is always an "official set" at important balls and dances during a Royal visit, and the opinion of Royalty as to the class of dance is sought beforehand. The Lancers jnd Quadrilles were chosen for the Prince of Wales' visit, and it frequently happened that a civil servant broke in upon harassed Cabinet Ministers endeavouring to master the intricacies of the Lancers and Quadrilles in the privacy of their Ministerial offices. Preparations have already occupied many months of strenuous work, but everything is working s.uioothly, and as the Duke makes his way through the Commonwealth the results of these months of hard work will find expression in faultless organisation—a tribute to Commonwealth and State co-ordina-tion.