THE ROYAL TOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23394, 10 July 1939, Page 3

THE ROYAL TOUR

NIAGARA FALLS VISIT CROWDS AWAIT ARRIVAL SCENES AT RAILWAY STATION ROYAL TRAIN*. NIAGARA FALT.S, X.Y.. June 7 The pilot train carrying newspaper correspondents, radio men and officials has just left Niagara Falls fifteen minutes ahead of the blue and silver streamlined Royal Train which will depart shortly afier 10 p.m.

All day in Niagara Falls, New York, people have been looking across the gulch which separates the town from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and listening fo the reports that come n.t frequent intervals.. More than a million people have joined the Canadian town's 19,000 inhabitants.

Knowing that the King and Queen would not arrive till 9.l?0 p.m., this township has increased its population by only a few people from outlying districts, the trippers to see and photograph the Falls, military guards, policemen, sheriffs, secret service men, the honeyinooners, and the radio representatives who joined the train to-night.

Mr. Hull's Welcome All the activity of Niagara Falls, New York to-day has been centred round the little red-brick station of Suspension Bridge. It is not the first time the station has seen British Royalty, but never before has there been such feverish activity, and never before have such precautions been taken to guard the persons of two distinguished visitors. I left Washington last night in the train which carried the British Ambassador, Sir Ronald Lindsay, Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, and Mrs. Hull, and other members of the reception committee (as well as newspapermen from Washington) to Buffalo where this morning Mr. Hull addressed the press and outlined the substance of his speech of welcome to-night. He indicated that his welcome on behalf of the President, and the United States, would be friendly and cordial—words ol greeting that would epitomise the feeling of the American people toward the British Sovereign. The Station Inspected

After conference a number of correspondents inspected the railway station where King George and Queen Elizabeth would first set foot on American soil. The red brick, with sandstone facings, which has been darkened by the smoke from engines, looked almost dingy in the bright sunshine. The only freshening seemed to be in a coat of green paint on iron rr.ilings covering the windows. Like most American railway stations the platform is level with the track, and on to the boards beside the rails a piece of dun brown patterned carpet Was being nailed. From shortly after 7 p.m. till 9.15 p.in. that carpet was kept free of any possible dust with an electric cleaner, and men took it I*ll relays to work the machine alone. About 8 p.m. when the square of bright crimson carpet was triod out, upside down, a man appeared with a millet broom waiting for the moment when the carpet would appear right side up, so that he, too, could get busy.

Small Space Available The space available on the platform must have been measured and remeasured, paced and re-paced with mathematical accuracy dozens of times during the day. Military strategy was almost employed in the placing of the red carpet so that it would lie in the right position when the King and Queen alighted. Then there was so much space for the cameramen, and it had to be so far away from the door to the reception room. Opposite the cameramen the broadcasters set up their equipment and the hundreds of newspaper correspondents were to be placed. Remember that the station is only seventeen feet wide, that 110 more than eight people could stand side by side in the front row, that in front of the journalists would be a double row of soldiers with bayonets drawn, and you will know how much the newspaper men at the back would see of the proceedings of welcome. Bayonets Drawn Having seen the station plan, and decided where we would take up our positions early, a few of the correspondents who did not return to Buffalo —myself among them —did what every other visitor does; saw the Falls, and what every other visitor probabiy does not do —talked with policemen who had anything to do with the evening's arrangements. We saw the result of those arrangements when we returned to Suspension Bridge at seven o'clock; the station bristled with policemen, sherrifl's' officers, secret service men, railway officials, hopeful journalists, cameramen. broadcasters, telegraph and cable service men, and more than the usual quota of small hoys. Just across the railway tracks, the' military guard was taking up its position —soldiers with bayonets drawn and spaced at ten paces iill the way down the line. Further along the space was increased to UOO yards, but every inch of the track was guarded, and tiie soldiers had instructions to speak to no one, and to allow jio one within 100 yards of the track. By eight o'clock the station was crowded in that particular section bounded by the brown carpet. Officials conferred with officials, the Ideig lights were tested, the red plush sofas and printed tapestry chairs in the reception room were dusted again by the officer who thought the whole proceedings "real elegant," and military officers started planning the placing of the men 011 the station. Trouble for the Journalists

That was when the journalists' trouble started, because all the front row positions which we had been told earlier would be available were taken for the guard, and the newspaper front row wns pushed back another six or seven feet. Orders were given for the removal of the radio equipment, but the announcer must have had a way with him. because his instruments, his microphone, and his chair were finally allowed to stay in position. As the guns began to boom out across the valley, and the tension grew on the dimly-lit station when it was known that the King and Queen were on their way, the kloig lights were turned on, giving the whole scene the appearance of a night set in a movie. There was something unreal in that brilliant pool of light in the darkness, and down the railway track the red and green lights became glowing lanterns. The bayonets caught the light like shining shafts, and my colleague and myself took up our positions. With last-minute words from our companions, who urged us not to miss anything, the girl from the Chicago Tribune" stood up at the back of the radio announcer on his chair; I balanced on the eight-inch width of a suitcase, on ■ which sat the radio operator. Clanging bells heralded the arrival of the royal train, which canio to a standstill when the King's car | was opposite the ecarlet carpet.