COMEDY OF ERRORS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 September 1945, Page 3

COMEDY OF ERRORS

‘HAIL,’ INSTEAD OF ‘FAREWELL’ i . SYDNEY, July 22. Tnirty wives and fiancees of U.S. Servicemen who are waiting to travel to America to make their homes there were yesterday warmly welcomed to Australia, and, as new arrivals in a stiange country - , were offered best wishes for their future life here The error occurred when the girls all members of the New South Wales Wives and Fiancees of U.S. Servicemen s Association, were being shown over Parliament House. While they were having the customs and procedure of their Government explained to them in the Chamber, Mrs. Lilian Fowler, M.L.A., thinking the girls were the oversea wives of Australian servicemen who had just arrived, welcomed the newcomers to “our shores ” and hoped they would like ' “our” country.

The girls, who had all been born and bred in Australia, were somewhat taken back by this greeting, especially as most of them have lived in Sydney all their lives, but they thanked Mrs. Fowler politely as she left. But when their guide, Mr. W. Weston, also.expressed the hope that they would all be very happy in their new home, and advised them to try to visit Parliament often when it was in session, the girls felt this was too much. “Please, Mr. Weston,” said one, “we’re leaving Australia as soon as we can. Mr. Weston had been told that the girls were the U.S. wives of Servicemen instead of the wives of U.S. servicemen. He, in turn, had passed his information on to Mrs. Fowler. Apologising for the mistake, Mr. Weston said' he hoped that the girls would be just as warmly welcomed when they did arrive in their new homes.