EMPIRE EXHIBITION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 4 May 1938, Page 7

EMPIRE EXHIBITION

OPENED AT GLASGOW HIS MAJESTY’S SPEECH ENTERPRISE AND ENTHUSIASM PRAISED (United frees Association—By Electric Telegraph -I’op.v right 1 'Received 4th May. 10.25 a.m.) LONDOIV 3rd May. Guns boomed and roared overhead as their Majesties opened the Empire Exhibition in the presence of 100,000. The King and Queen first visited the Australian pavilion. The Queen fed a kangaroo with raisins. Mr Stanley Bruce. Australian High Commissioner, presented the Queen with toy koalas, which she declared she loved. Their Majesties spent a long time in the New Zealand pavilion, where they were received by Mr W. Jordan, High Commissioner. Mrs Jordan, and a group of officials. The Queen was delighted with a gift of a pair of sheepskin gloves. She chatted with two dairymaids slicing New Zealand butter and remarked how appetising it looked. The Queen also enquired about the price and quality of New Zealand bacon. The King, opening the Exhibition, praised the enterprise, enthusiasm and hard work which had made a town of over 100 palaces and pavilions within a little over ten months. He said: “It is a significant fact that plans were being prepared when Scotland was under the cloud of a long industrial depression, and many people would have hesitated to embark on a formidable scheme which, moreover, inevitably challenged comparison with the Wembley. New Zealand and South African exhibitions. But it is not Scotland’s way to be daunted, which believes that new enterprise are the safest insurance against a return of the depression. I see in the enterprise a symbol of the vitality and initiative on which Scotland’s continued prosperity will rest. I am well aware that without the generous help and support of the i rest of the Empire the exhibition would be impossible. It now stands to testify to the willing co-operation which I rejoice to think is the hallmark of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” The King paid a tribute to the variety of products, and the skill and resources shown in the fine pavilions which “I hope will be the meeting place of members of many nationalities, helping towards a belter understanding among the peoples of the world.” HOPELESS BREAK IN ARRANGEMENTS A hopeless break in traffic and other arrangements marked the opening of the exhibition. Many Dominion officials suffered and some were forced to raid stalls to obtain lunch. Mr and Mrs Jordan were forced to travel from the city to the exhibition in a bus.