OPENING CANBERRA

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 22

OPENING CANBERRA

AUSTRALIA'S CHIEF EVENT

VISIT OF DUKE AND DUCHESS

The great event in Australia so far as the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York is -concerned will be the opening for the first time of the Federal Parliament at the new Commonwealth Capital at Canberra on 27th May Twenty-six years ago the Duke of Cornwall and York, who is. now the King, visited Australia., to open the lederal Parliament in Melbourne on the occasion of the inauguration of the Commonwealth. Now another Duke of lore goes to open the Parliament at Canberra, the official Capital. When his august father visited Australia the present Duke of York' was only five years of age, and nobody dreamed that a quarter of a century would pass before the Commonwealth Parliament would be meeting in'its own House in the nation'a Capital City. From bojnood to manhood is- a lono- wav a ,f a one passes many milestones. The Duke or lork has lived in an eventful perln&toij. , He has seen tremendous world changes. He has seen wonde - rul things touching the British Eni

It was the Great War that put the seal upon the greatness and thn unity of the Empire," said the Svd «c.v "Daily Telegraph- recently 'S German Kaiser, with his dreams of world domination, had predicted that when the great clash came the British Empire would rock to its foundations —rock and disintegrate. The very onposite was the case. The war cemented those foundations, and, despite the ravages it caused and the untold", cost of it, despite the aftermath with itsstrike and unemployment, the British Empire, as an eminent American recently said,' has never stood higher in the world's estimation than, it does now. And, in common with all other parts of the Empire, Australia is proud of her contribution to the Empire's solidarity and the.maintenance of those traditions and ideals that represent its greatness."" „ ' :

The inauguration of the' .Commonwealth, the .opening of the Federal Parliament in Melbourne, was an historic "event, in tho life of Australia. The official opening of the Parliament at Canberra vi ■ May next will.be another. In .'the twenty-six' years separating the two celebrations Australia has made wonderful progress. Whatever changes there have been, there is one thing that has not" changed, and is never, likely to change. That is the solid patriotism and loyalty of the Australian people, in common with the people of NoW Zealand.