EARLY ROYAL VISIT TO DOMINIONS HINTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 124, 29 May 1939, Page 9

EARLY ROYAL VISIT TO DOMINIONS HINTED.

UNOFFICIAL TALKS.

Tremendous Influence Of Canadian Tour.

WELDING TIES OP EMPIRE.

United Prese Association.—Copyright.

BAXFF (Alberta), May 28.

An early visit to Australia and xNew Zealand by the King and Queen is bfinj? unofficially discussed, says the special correspondent of the Australian Associated Press. Their tour of Canada is proving such a tremendous influence in welding Empire ties that it is considered certain Their Majesties will visit other Dominions in turn.

The suggestion is that a visit to Australia and New Zealand should take place toward the close of the Duke of Kent's term as Governor-General of Australia, toward the end of 1944, so that all couia return to England together.

The time element, owing to the vast distances to be travelled, is a difficulty, but this may be overcome by Their -Majesties travelling at least part of the distance by a:r.

The ((uestion of visiting Australia is complicated by the fact that the King has not yet held his Durbar as Emperor of India. A visit to Delhi was mooted before the Canadian and American tour, and it is felt that India can hardly be passed over again for , another Dominion.

j The plan being discussed overcomes ! this difficulty. It provides for a I leisurely flight down the Empire airway ! to Australia, enabling the King to hold j the Durbar as well as to visit his two farthest Dominions during the one : absence from England. Apart from ! the fact that he would visit three I countries in the time normally recpiired to visit one, his arrival by air with an impressive Eoyal Air Force escort would provide a spectacle such as India, a land of spectacles, has never known. Desire to Come to N.Z. Their Majesties personally expressed to the correspondent a week ago their desire to vi.-it Australia and New Zealand again. Those who are concerned with the deeper significance of the present trip—the uiiproclaimed yet profoundly appealing summons to the Km piic to rouse itself to the "alert" of war in time of peace—are equally anxious that they should do so if it is humanly possible. No Imperial gesture could possibly po-sevs a fraction of the psychological ft nve that the actual presence of Their Majesties in Canada is conveying. No les-er people could so deeply have stirred Canadians as the King and ytieen are doing.

A Canadian observer expressed it thus: 'The visit of Their Majesties is the best step conceivable to re-establish the shoulder touch of the British community of interest in a period of world peril. Any academic talk of abstention, let alone neutrality, is being revealed as moonshine. We have a new sense of being British, not only to the backbone, but to the fingertips."

Equality of Empire Countries.

Again, the Kinsr and Queen are doing more in the popular mind to bring

I visible and unquestioned equality to the \ self-governing sections of the Empire than a dozen Acts of Westminster, yet. " sit the same time they are proving that 1 thu Empire has only one nervous system " —and the heart of tli.it system is the Clown. The spontaneous welcome they iiru receiving everywhere in Canada is demonstrating how secure in the hearts j of the people is the British Throne. e j Important, too. is the visible effect e ' of the Empire upon certain quarters in j. i Europe. M. Louis (lillet, the eminent n I critic and one of the "forty immortals" of the Academic Francaise, who is covering the tour for the French Press. put it : "This visit is demonstrating again British levelheadedness and the enormous strength of the Empire. It will show Heir Hitler what an error , bis Foreign Minister, Herr von j Kilibentrop. is making when he claims that the Empire is crumbling. If it is i changing, it is only to adjust itself to • new conditions. The Empire is just } as solid as ever." j Finally, it is felt that Their Majesties s set a precedent in visiting the oldest s Dominion, and the desires of their f J people in the other Dominions to greet i I them should be satisfied. If there is s! a lesson in Empire solidarity to be • given the world, visits to the other ■ Dominions would provide the final I chapters. l| ; NO CELEBRATION. 5 King's Official Birthday In ! j America. l; AMBASSADOR QUESTIONED. WASHINGTON, May 28. The British Ambassador, Sir Ronald Lindsay, held a second Press conference j yesterday. He said the "hot dogs" which President and Mrs. Roosevelt may serve at Hyde Park will be the first he ever ate under that name—"but I under any other name they taste just I as sweet." ' j Referring to the King's official : birthday, which will be observed while the King is here. Sir Ronald Lindsay ' explained -the differentiation from the actual birthday date in December—"the !; weather is awkward then, you know," I he said. , i A reporter asked: Will he have a birthday cake here? ,: Sir Ronald Lindsay: No. There will be no celebration here at all. Another reporter asked what would be the King's attitude when he lays ! a wreath at George Washington's . tomb. I Sir Ronald: Um. No. Ido not think there is anything I can sav about that. The conference was very friendly. I the only awkward moment being when \ a photographer started taking pictures. '. Sir Ronald held up a hand: "Please ' don't," and. the photographer complied.