JOYS OF TRAVEL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1927, Page 15

JOYS OF TRAVEL

DUKE ON HIS TOUII

A FARCWELL FUNCTION

BEFERENCE TO STEVENSON

"AIT EEVOIB," BUT NOT "GOOD BYE."

From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, 15th December

What is expected to be the last public appearance of the Duke and Duchess of York prior to their coming tour, was the very pleasant luncheon given in thpir honour by the Australian and New

Zealand Luncheon Club at the Hotel

Cecil ', on 7th December. The chair was taken by Major-General Sir Newton J. Moore, who as a captain was in command of the Boyal Escort when the King as Duke of York visited Australia 25 years,ago.

The Grand Hall of the Hotel Cecil was very suitably arranged with 'a number of small tables, in.addition to the usual high table. All the company was there assembled to await the arrival of the guests of the day. The Duchess of York "looked very happy and smiling, and she was most becomingly dressed in a two-piece costume of powder blue: with roll collar and cuffs of a light toned fur; her hat of powder blue had a brush, panache to correspond, placed at the right side. She carried a bouquet of pink carnations. , At the high table, which, was decorated with mimosa, the Diike had Mr. Bruce at his right hand. The Duchess, ,sat between the chairman and the Bight Hon. L. S. Amery (Secretary of State for. Dominion Affairs). Others at the. high "table included Earl and Countess Cayan, Sir J. Cook, .and Dame Mary Cook, Dr. and. Mrs. Cyril Norwood, and Lieut-Commander Colin Buist. It was unfortunate that" New Zealand had no official representation, ; Mr. Coates, having another engagement, had arranged that- the High,- Commissioner should represent. the Dominion, but* Sir James Parr vhad to-leave hurriedly for Paris three days before on account of the serious illness ' there' of Lady Parr. The chairman expressed to the company, I;he High ' Commissioner's great regret at his enforced aTjßence. . . _

Thos present included:—-Bear-Admi-ral Sir 1 H.. H. Share, Wing-Commander Louis Groig, Paymaster-Surgeon-Com-niander H. E. Y. White, Captain and Mrs. H. J. Mills, Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Nathan, Mr.; Stronaeh Paterson, Mrs. Pennethorne,. Captain D. Simson, Mr.

and Mrs. J. L. F. Vogel, Sir A. and Lady Weigall, Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Knight.

GREAT, WELCOME PROMISED.

The' Australian Prime Minister, proposing the toast, "The Duko and Duchess of York," said that the great welcome, their,Boyal Highnesses would receive in Australia and New Zealand would 1 be due to the realisation by the people ,of the great privilege they enjoyed in being part of the British Empire, but more particularly because they would recognise the Duke as the personal representative of His Majesty, who represented the unity of the Empire and the embodiment of that mystic and extraordinary thing that was called the' Empire's -; Constitution.* ■•■.That welcome would also .be. personai to' the Duke arid Duchess because, although Australians were far distant; they did hear what passed in this old land, and knew how their Eoyal Highnesses had carried out the duties and obligations which rested upon them. (Cheers.)

The Duke of York, in response, said

"The Duchess and I hope to leave early in January, and I am glad to have this chance of telling you how delighted we are at the thought of visiting your country. In particular, I count it a very high honour that I have/been asked,, as His Majesty's representative, to open, the new capital of the Commonwealth, which, I trust, may jnauguratae a new period of prosperity and development for Australia and her people. (Cheers.) .

"Travel is good-for eve/yone. 'Go and see for yourselves' is a fino precept, if only, -one has the, .time and means to. ■ act upon it. And travel is becoming quicker and easier; every day sees some advance in the means of locomotion and communication. 1 The furthest parts of the Empire are not nowadays so very far afield, as time goes. In fact, time as well as distance, is almost vanishing. Lord Stonehayen traverses the vast stretches of Australia by aeroplane, and things no more of it than we might of a simple train journey from London .to Edinburgh. Sir, Alan Cobham flies to Australia' and back in a matter of a few weeks. Mr. Bruce sends a message by wireless from Eugby to Australia and the answer comes within three-andy, twenty minutes. They, tell me that it may not be so long before Mr. Coates in "Wellington will be able to talk by wireless with London, and the reply will then come in three-and-twenty seconds, or whatever space of time it takes men to answer one another when they meet face to face. (Cheers.) Indeed, there is almost a risk that the inventors will go on inventing until it will not be possible to travel'anywhere because you will be swept beyond your destination in the very moment of starting—(laugb. ter)—and so the Duchess and I want to make haste and go out and see Australia and New Zealand if or ourselves before the progress of science has defeated its own ends. (Laughter.) THE ?'LONG WHITE CLOUD."

I cannot tell you how much we are both looking forward to it all. We have seen something of ■ the ' Empire already, for we have been to East Africa, but that has merely whetted the appetite for more travel. There was. a great writer, a master of English—and incidentally he, like so many masters of our language, was a Scotsman—(laughter)—who 1 made his home in an island group in the ocean which washes the shores of- your country. He recorded that it was 'better to travel hopefully than to. arrive.' Peiihaps in some cases this might -be true; There is a thrill in. the, thought of the journey to that, yast continent of. the Southern Seas and in voyaging to : the island of the Long "White Cloud. But however attractive the journey, bettor ■still is the thought of the - welcome which, we know, awaits us at the journey's end. (Cheers.} ~ , "At a time like this, with the Imperial Conferenco just over, wo have had in London your Prime Ministors and Ministors and many other Australians and New Zeaianders. They have hardly seen Great Britain at its best; we have been going through a period of severe industrial difficulty and the burden lies heavy upon us all. But the Old Country is not done yet—(loud cheers) —very far from it.. There is leeway to make up, but I know, and you know, that wo shall como through triumphant, and the first to rejoice in our renewed prosperity will be our kinsmen overseas. (Cheers.) But whatever the difficulties under which our country is labouring, I hope that all those who have come over in connection with the Conference will be returning with the happiest recollections of their weTeome here; and I am sure that they will not forgot to take back to their own people a messago of warm 'attoction from, us who live in this little 4sla.nd, jfehioh is bo deaj to us all. J.

thank you all very much, and I say to you, not 'Good-bye,' but 'Au revoir.' " (Cheers.) GROWN AND THE EMPIRE. Mr. Amery , (Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs) said they had met to say farewell to the Duke and- Duchess of York, and also to, say, "Do not stay away too long . and be sure to come back." The Duke had quoted Stevenson that it was better to travel hopefully than to arrive. There was ft story of a prince who went to represent . his State at. some international celebration at Malta. About three weeks later he returned, and the Admiral 'of the warship explained that he was certain there was no such place as Malta, for he had sailed the Mediterranean for three weeks and had been unable to find it. (Laughter.) He trustee! that the Renown would not fail to find so modest and shrinking a little spot as Australia. (Laughter.)

The Duke was going io Australia as the representative of the Crown, which since the Imperial Conference stood out more clearly as the great uniting factor of the Empire. In the Empire were many Parliaments and many Governments, but only one Crown. To that Crown the people : of the Empire were united in loyalty, and through that Crowa they_ were united, to each other. (Cheers.) That Crown was not merely a mystic symbol of unity. It was also something personal, something human. Mr. Amery said he had been thinking of that future-r-not merely the immediate future, when Prime Ministers would come "Home" by aeroplane, but of the day when.; they would step into the high-power.'station at, say, Canberra, be disintegrated, flashed across space, and "re--assembled" at Eugby. (Laughter.) That would represent enormous advantages, but it might also occasion serious constitutional and personal problems —if, for example, Mr. Hughes and General Hertzog were flashed over, simultaneously, and "got mixed up." on the way across. , (Laughter.) That was a problem that, happily, we need hot contemplate to-day. To such risks Their, Boyal Highnesses would not bo exposed. Tho chairman, in his reply, recalled that 25 years ago he commanded the Eoyal escort when the , King (then Duke of York) witnessed the birth of Australia as a nation, j. V : 85, Fleet street. \-r -■'■■■