ROYAL VISIT TO AUSTRALIA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 27, 26 November 1878, Page 3

ROYAL VISIT TO AUSTRALIA.

The London correspondent of the S. A. Register says :— " This is no longer an idea 'in the air.' The Minister who favored if he did not actually suggest the Prince's Indian tour has just returned from Berlin flushed with diplomatic triumph. He must look fov other worlds thnn old Europe to conquer, and the Greater Britain in the South will naturally attract what his critics call his Oriental fancy; ' The Prince himself is ready and even eager. An invitation 'from the Australian Governments would set the ball rolling*; and it may be hoped that next year Sir Stafford Northcote will have such a Budget to introduce as would warrant an exceptional vote of £100,000 or so for Royal expenditure at the antipodes* Some uncertainty, as to date may be caused by the arrangements for a dissolution, which are iStill in suspense Lord Beacons- - field, I believe, wished to have it this Autumn, while the effect of the Congress was at its height, but Sir Stafford wished first to put it out of the power of Mr Gladstone to taunt him with having added twopence to the Tncoine Tax. Tho Chancellor's view prevailed, and it is now considered possible that Parliament will run out its term — namely, two sessions more. If so, there would be no dissolution till ißßo,!and next year maybe looked forward to as one of comparative peace, when his Royal Highness might be spared Jor nine months. The idea is spreading that an Australian tour is one of tho probabilities of the immediate future. The article 1 have already alluded to in the Morning Post supports it warmly. Its closing sentences assume that the affair is virtually settled : — ' Tho Prince has 1 already had an enthusiastic reception ftjn Canada, and it may not be out cf W place ia express a hope that tin- ■ perlouof his presiding over the Royal Colonial Institute may be signalised by a visit to a more distant portion of the Colonial Empire on some official occasion, which such an event

unu'.d render fov ever memorable in its annals. The Australian' colonists j : have already expressed an earnest de- . I r-iiT that tlio stato of affairs in Km ope may permit of his Royal Highness i undertaking the voyage, and the more t intimato connexion that he has just j 'assumed in delation to colonial intoi I,'esls will certainly strengthen .their - universal wish for tho horror of the . ' I'rincu's vi.sic.' " . ■ i