Royal Visit To Iron Mine

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28927, 22 June 1959, Page 11

Royal Visit To Iron Mine

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) SEPT ILES (Quebec), June 21. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are aboard the Royal yacht Britannia for the first time on their tour of Canada, making a leisurely trip across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Gaspe.

At Gaspe, an industrial, commercial and tourist centre, the Royal couple will attend church this morning and have a more relaxing day than the first three of the tour so far.

Yesterday was a busy one for the Royal couple. Red iron dust—-the “red gold” of Knob Lake —stained the Queen’s clothing as she and the Duke explored the lower level of the iron ore mine at Schefferville, in northern Quebec. The Queen, undaunted by grime and heat, removed her glove to shake hands with sweating miners who left their work on a huge excavator to be presented to her. The Royal visitors received a colourful welcome at Schefferville from Indian fishermen and trappers, and from miners. A famous mission founder of the Canadian northlands, 48-year-old Father Joseph Cyr, priest of the Nascopi and Montagnais Indian reservations. was among those who met the Queen. The Royal party flew to Schefferville from the United States Ernest Harmon Air Force base in Newfoundland. There, they inspected long lines of jet fighters and talked briefly with American Air Force officers. They left the base for a short visit to Stephenville and had the first upset of the Royal tour travel arrangements when their American car would not start.

Sergeant Arthur Sparks, of the R.C.A.F., tried for three minutes to get the engine started. The Duke leaned over to look at the engine, while the Queen smiled quietly, but it would not kick over.

The Royal couple transferred to a closed limousine for their Stephenville visit, but not before the Duke told Sergeant Sparks with a grin—“It’s too bad you haven’t an English car. They work better.” At Sept Iles last night the Royal couple stood on the poop deck of Britannia waving to crowds who shouted “Vive le Reine” as the Royal yacht moved into the gulf of St. Lawrence.