LAST OFFICIAL VISIT

Evening Star, Issue 25769, 16 April 1946, Page 5

LAST OFFICIAL VISIT

RAJAH OF SARAWAK CEREMONIAL RETURN TO HOMELAND KUCHING (Sarawak), April 15. 4 His Highness Sir Charles Vyner Brooke has returned by air from Singapore with his Ranee, after an absence of. 54 months. He sailed from the alighting basin in a procession along the Kuching River to a landing stage, where he received royal Dyak dignataries and heads of the Chinese, Malay, and Indian communities. He received a royal gun salute on taking his seat on the dais, and was presented with a ceremouial sword from a Malayan noble whose ancestors were once the rulers of Sarawak. Few in the multitude understood as they lined the beflagged streets that this was possibly the Rajah's last visit, says Reuter's correspondent, The proposed change means little to these people, who are mostly illiterate, and believe the Rajah is merely asking Britain to help him govern. The Rajah to-morrow will take over the Government from the British military authorities, who have been responsible for the Administration since the Japanese surrender.