ROYALTY AT FAIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22378, 26 March 1936, Page 15

ROYALTY AT FAIR

BEITISH INDUSTRIES PURCHASES BY QUEEN MARY DUKE OF KENT PAYS VISIT [from our own correspondent] By Air Mail , LONDON, Feb. 29 Queen Mary has always paid visits to the British Industries Fair in previous years. She has toured the stands extensively and bought freely, but with careful selection. The result has been that those articles in which she found pleasure became very popular, and many of the firms reaped a rich harvest. Although Queen Mary has not been able to attend the fair this year, she has shown her interest in the textile exhibition at the White City by sending an official of the Royal household to select fabrics for submission to her. Dress and furnishing materials have been chosen from 14 of the stands and Queen Mary will make her choice from these at Buckingham Palace. It is reported that at Olympia a New York tobacconist has bought up all samples of the apple-shape briar pipe which the King admired at the Malta stand. As a result of the sales, work for the island is assured for 12 months, and employment will go up probably 25 per cent.

On the day following the King's visit, to the fair the Duke of Kent spent an hour or two at Olympia. His visit was without ceremony. He went from stand to stand, stopping wherever his fancy was taken by an unusual exhibit, and giving particular attention to the work of ex-servicemen and those living in the special areas. At the stand of the Papworth Settlement the Duke praised the new aeroplane luggage, which is only about a Jhird of the weight of ordinary luggage. He stopped at two stands using Empire wood for bowls, salt cellars and other tableware. He was much amufced by the ingenuity of umbrellas fitted with telescopes, so that racegoers on a rainy day could watch their horses without getting wet, and walking sticks with red reflectors in the handle. . AW

The Duke's comment on the toy section was that toys seemed to be rather complicated nowadays. He was told that British bricks had ousted the imports of German firms that held the market for 100 years, and that German china dolls were being replaced by unbreakable British ones. The Duke dropped a specimen to see if it would break. It did not.

HOSTEL FOR SAILORS NAMING AFTER JELLICOE FOUNDATION-STONE' LAID [from ot)R own correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON, Feb. 29 The foundation-stone of the Memorial Sailors' Hostel at Southampton, to be named after Earl Jellicoe, was laid by Lady Jellicoe this week. The last wish of the late admiral, expressed the day before he died, was see the erection of this hostel. It is being built by the British Sailors' Society, at an estimated cost of £15,000, on the site of temporary premises known as the Jellicoe Sailors' Rest.

Lady Jellicoe was welcomed by the Hon. L. W. Joynson-Hicks, chairman of the British Sailors' Society. A guard of honour was formed of boys from the Princo of Wules Sea Training Hostel, Limehouse, and members of the Southampton Sea Cadets' unit. Admiral Sir Hubert Brand said it was the duty of the country to make the lot of merchant officers and men as good as possible, and one way of doing that was by keeping up hostels where they could get rest and shelter in good surroundings. Lord Jellicoe was born in Southampton, and was ever mindful of the welfare of the merchant navy. The hostel would be a lasting memorial to a very great seaman and a very great gentleman. MOURNING AND TRADE KING EDWARD'S WISH FAR-REACHING INFLUENCE [from our own correspondent] By Air Mail , LONDON, Feb. 23 At a luncheon at the White City Mr. W. T. Munro, chairman of the textile section of the British Industries Fair, referred to the King's expressed wish that there should be no public mourning at Ascot this year. "I have had an opportunity of discussing the effect of the King's order with representatives of the entire textile trade," he said. "It will have a far-reaching effect, not only on weavers in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Scotland, but on seamstresses in the West End of London. The order affects not only the textile trade, but the general trade in women's wear—gloves, bags and every type of product used in women's' apparel. "Strange to say, the first angle from which the problem of Court mourning was discussed was in connection with the men's tie trade. His Majesty readily understood that the universal use of black ties as a gesture of respect and sympathy was having a very serious effect on the tie industry. The entire textile trade is indebted to His Majesty for his sympathetic understanding and assistance."

AERODROME OWNERS BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP EXTENDED [from our own correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON, Feb. 29 A decision of great potential importance in the future of world airways has been taken by the Aerodrome Owners' Association, the representative body of all aerodrome owning and operating interests, municipal and private, in Great Britain. Henceforth owners of aerodromes throughout the British Empire and in foreign countries will be admitted to associate membership of the organisation and will share in the experience it has assembled. The association was prompted by a desire to promote harmony of operational metnods over as wide a region as possible. In its two years of existence it has done much to simplify methods of aerodrome control and management in Great Britain. Standards have been drawn ut> and adopted. Signs easily recognisable by pilots of any nationality have been devised to indicate, for example, the customs house or the flying control office. Information of great value has been assembled on every kind of subject connected with aerodrome establishment and operation, all of which is embodied in a handbook circulated among; members of the association.