QUEEN ACCLAIMED IN FIJI

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27226, 18 December 1953, Page 11

QUEEN ACCLAIMED IN FIJI

Tumultuous Reception On First Day Of Visit [Special N.ZJ>.A. Royal Tour Correspondent] (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) SUVA, December 17. Th e heart of the Empire was transferred today to Fiji. For the first time in the history of the Pacific, a reigning British Sovereign set toot on the soil of the colony to the acclamation of 50,000 people. , the Fijians traditions of respectful silence were abandoned under the stress of great emotions of loyalty. f They were almost delirious with delight, as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh drove through the heart of Suva to join in a ka\a circle with paramount Fijian chiefs, and receive a traditional welcome from the people.

For the Queen and the Duke, Suva furnished a magnificent introduction to Her Majesty s Pacific dominions. But for the Royal party it was an arduous day.

T . he day. began at 9.30 a.m. with the arrival of a party of Fijian chiefs on board the Gothic. It ended late tonight, with a State ball in the Grand Pacific Hotel. In spite of tropical heat, which reached a maximum of 83 degrees this afternoon, the Queen and the Duke seemed unaffected by the demands made upon them. They were said to have enjoyed every minute of the day. Even at 8 a.m., when the crowds were thickly gathered along the Royal route, the heat and humidity were oppressive, and during the afternoon, when the Queen and the Duke relaxed at the Adi Cakobau School for Fijian girls, the temperature reached its maximum. In the evening, when they attended the ball to which 900 guests were invited, it was still oppressively hot.

In the first day of her Suva visit, the Queen has won the hearts of all in Suva. Those who saw or met Her Majesty for the first time today, found their expectations more than realised. Tradition was certainly thrown aside today, and the enthusiasm of the crowds reached a climax when, as the Queen and the Duke passed a point near the centre of the city, wildly-ex-cited Fijians and Indians broke through police and military barriers, and ran alongside and behind the Royal landau. The Queen and the Duke waved and smiled at people who had stood for hours under a hot tropical sun, with umbrellas as their only protection. The umbrellas, as the Royal visitors approached, were hurriddly brought down.

As the crowds gathered behind the car, it became clear that no human barrier could keep the people from getting as close as they could to the Queen and the Duke. Several times the Queen turned her head and looked behind her to smile, or laugh and wave, to people trying to catch up with the car. After attending seven functions and driving 40 miles under a blindingly hot Fijian sun. the Queen and the Duke returned to the Gothic about 6.10 p.m. this evening, looking tired and worn. They then had to attend a State ball in the Grand Pacific Hotel, about three hours later. Approaching the dock gates, the Royal car passed through a khaki-clad guard of honour, and several hundred respectfully silent Fijians and Indians. The Queen leaned forward and smiled as the crowd came in view. She and the Duke waved as they passed through the gates. The Queen was later seen on the Royal yacht’s upper deck by crowds who waited patiently outside the wharf fences.

Government House Dinner The Queen and the Duke tonight dined under a Fijian-type shelter, decorated with a wonderful array of tropical flowers and fruits. From the Gothic they drove to Government House, where they again met the Governor, Sir Ronald Garvey and Lady Garvey. About 80 guests were present. r ~ When the Queen alighted from the car, two stalwart Fijians in native costume preceded her up the steps into a spacious reception room, flanked on Her Majesty’s right with an oil portrait of her grandfather, King George V, and on the left with a portrait of Queen Mary. When the Queen and the Duke wen. in to dinner, they again had an escort of two Fijians. From the corners of the shelters sprang beautiful sprays of Fijian orchids. The sides sloped down to decorated archways, through which the Queen and the Duke could look out to the lagoon and the horizon. Hibiscus, fragrant gardenia, in golden and red showers, and other blooms oi every colour were in profusion around the wall« of the shelter. Down its length ran a long, splen-didly-decorated table. The Queen and the Duke, with Sir Ronald Garvey and Lady Garvey sat at the head The Fijian and Indian guests wore national costume, but it was the Queen’s dress which commanded all e> On the Queen’s table was a giant seashell, which held a pineapple 18m high, with other tropical fruit displayed around it. Elsewhere along the table the menu for dinner included items of Fijian food. Fijian and Indian servants of the Governor’s household staff attended the Royal table. The dinner lasted a little more than an hour, and at 9.4 a p.m. the Royal party left for the Grand Pacific Hotel to attend the State ball. The ball was the most brilliant spectacle in Fiji’s history. Nine hundred guests attended. The Queen entered the ballroom wearing a gown of blue and silver lace over a full tulle skirt, a diamond tiara, the blue sash of the Order of the Garter, and her'personal orders. It had been a long day for her, but she showed no signs of strain. The highlight of the evening was the Queen’s appearance on the floodlit balcony of the hotel, before a vast crowd manv of whpm carried blazing torches. A Fijian choir of 100 voices sang to the Queen from the roadway below the 23rd Psalm and Handels “Hallelujah!” chorus. As the Queen and the Duke rose to return to the ball, the choir sang the haunting melody. “Isa Le 1 ”—-it was the third time today the Queen had heard the song, forever associated with Fiji. After the ball, the Queen and the Duke'returned to the Gothic.

Drive Through Country Villager as well as townsman has shared in Fiji’s tremendous welcome. Some of Her Majesty’s most enduring memories of Suva will most likely be concerned not with the crowd scenes in the city, but with simple demonstrations of loyalty and affection during her drive over 22 miles of suburban and country roads this afternoon. The first part of the route led through the western suburbs of Suva and then by a winding gravel road across bushclad hills to Adi Cakobau School. The return journey was made by way of cane lands and dairying districts along the Rewa River, and a brief call was made at the predominantly Indian town oi Nausori. All along the route, little parties of Fijians and Indians assembled to see the Queen. Some had provided children with flags and others had tied strings of bunting along the hedges and fences. A party from the outlying village of Coli-I-Suva, trekked to the main road, erected a palm shelter as protection against the blazing sun. and there patiently squatted for several hours until the Queen passed by. So they should not be overlooked, they raised four strings of tiny flags between the coconut palms across the

road. They had their reward in a wave and smile. Girls’ School Visited The Queen tried Fijian pudding, a traditional dish, prepared by an 18-year-old schoolgirl, Loselini Naiduki when she visited the Adi Cakobau school near Suva today. According to Loselini, the Queen enjoved a food new to her, but familiar to every native in the Fijian group. For the Royal visit, Loselini and other schoolgirls prepared an exhibition dinner of a dozen native dishes. When the Queen was invited to test the menu, she chose Fijian pudding. This consists of taro root, pounded to pulp, reinforced by a plentiful addition of toasted sugar, and then stirred into a creamy paste with coconut milk. The finished pudding is served in a wrapping of green leaves. Twentv-five guests were invited to the school for the Queen’s visit, and in the park-like ground an informal garden party wa§ held. The Royal visitors were served with afternoon tea by former pupils or the school. They watched a programme of music, and dancing provided by girls of tfie school, and Fijian boys of Queen Victoria College. The Queen led the applause which followed singing by a choir of 50 voices of both English and Fijian songs. S °Smaller girls who danced for the visitors received a special word of praise from the Duke, and when the school presented an action song which placed the Royal visit to Fiji in a fairy-tale setting the Queen and the Duke closely followed a written translation of the Fijian words. For the school visit and the drive afterwards through the Rewa river canefields and dairying country, Her Majesty wore a chartreuse frock. The Duke, after this morning’s ceremony, changed his clothes from the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet to a grey lounge suit and brown felt hat. The Queen and the Duke were told the history of the school by its New Zealand headmistress, Miss i. Charlton. She explained that the Fijian girls were proving themselves a match for the boys tn academic work, although they were also studying a heavy domestic science curriculum. . . The Queen spent some time inspecting a model house and talking to girls who are at present in charge. One girl had prepared the demonstration meal, another was ironing, and a third sewing. The Royal visitors congratulated other schoolgirls on an exhibition of dancers on the lawn. , , -The head prefect of the school, Elenoa Raogo, aged 18. and the head boy of Queen Victoria School, Saula Ledua, were presented to Her Majesty and the Duke. Each answered many questions about the school activities.