THE ROYAL VISIT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 10

THE ROYAL VISIT

PRINCE IN AUSTRALIA ACROSS THE CONTINENT INCIDENTS BY THE WAY Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, said good-bye to Pertli on Monday, October 8, amid memorable scenes of enthusiasm and to the accompaniment of a royal salute of 21 guns from the Esplanade. He carried out Lis first country tomin the Commonwealth when he motored to York and Northam, en route to Kalgoorlie. It was a triumphal progress every yard of the way. Right through to Northam the Prince was given a reception, the warmth and spontaneity of which indicated clearly that Australia’s demonstrations of loyalty and of personal goodwill to him are not going to be confined to the cities. Perhaps the most typically Australian demonstration occurred a few miles beyond Perth, where a young woman held a young kangaroo in her arms and joyously waved its paws as the King’s son passed. " There was a vast assemblage outside Government House in Perth when the Duke, amid enthusiastic demonstrations, took his leave of the city with an escort of Light Horse. DUKE IN CLOUD OF DUST. For the most part it was a dusty journey to York. Dust blew in clouds, the Duke, less fortunate than others, getting his full share of it, for he was driving in an open car. He wore a brown striped suit and a brown felt hat. When the dust occasionally lifted he saw two of Western Australia’s most fertile and prosperous districts, in which he had rousing receptions. The tour, and the opportunity it afforded of seeing something of the country, provided the royal visitor with what must have been a welcome respite from the busy round of ceremonies in Perth. Through the city, even at the early hour when Perth was just settling down to its day’s routine, through the populous suburbs fringing the capital, and for miles out until the scene changed to delightful vistas of typical Australian • bush and fertile land, dotted with snug homesteads, the royal visitor was given a magnificent reception as his car passed. ENTHUSIASTIC GREETINGS. For the Duke it was another royal progress, and an even more picturesque one in its way than that experienced in Perth, because of the informality and democratic homeliness of the greeting that marked it, says the Sydney Morning Herald representative. Echoing cheers rang out to him right along the route. Looking, particularly fit for the big programme ahead of him in each of the other States and in the Federal capital, the Duke was kept busy acknowledging with a hearty smile or with a wave -of the hand or a salute the enthusiastic greetings of the populace expressed in vociferous cheering, in rhe fluttering of flags, in the honking of motor horns, and in other demonstrative ways.

Although the Duke is much older than the Prince of Wales when the latter was in Australia .and New Zealand in 1920, and lacks the Prince's youthful appeal, the youngsters, judging from their demonstrative greetings in Western Australia, are likely to find the same warm corner in their hearts for the Duke wherever he moves among them -

' Perched on fences, crowding footpaths and- roads, and occupying every other point of vantage along the route, the children raised. their voices in shrill outbursts of cheering as the Duke drove past. With a beaming smile, which suggested that he was thoroughly enjoying It, the Duke had his time fully occupied acknowledging at different points a veritable babel of exultant cheering. Coming through from Northam to Kalgoorlie in the royal train at night, youngsters crowded the stations en route and lustily cheered the Duke. Departing from the official routine rather than disappoint those who had assembled to see him, the Duke left the train and appeared on the at some of the wayside places where the train stopped, his appearance being the signal for ■ volleys of youthful cheering, which rang out in the clear night air, and could be heard from one end of the long royal train to the other. SWEETS FOR THE CHILDREN.

At Zan thus, a remote little spr' about 500 miles from Perth, and 130 miles from Kalgoorlie, the Duke broke the: official routine on Tuesday night by alighting from the train and allowing his dinner to get cold to talk to a little group of about 15 persons—railway employees and their families.

There was a touching scene at Hughes, where the train stopped for a few minutes. Hughes, which is 859 miles from Perth and situated in the middle of the Nullabor Plain, has a population of eight adults, all railway employees, and fewer than half a dozen children. There were eight little wooden houses opposite the railway line. There, as at other wayside places, Captain Derek Schreiber, one of the Duke’s equerries, distributed parcels of sweets for the children, the parcels bearing r he inscription: “ This little gift for the children of this camp is from his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester.”

A woman with a little girl came out to meet the train and was ■ delighted when Captain Schreiber handed the child its parcel and told the mother that the; gift was “ with the compliments of his Royal Highness.” Captain Schreiber explained that the Duke was resting in the train after his arduous programme the previous day, and that otherwise he would have been pleased to meet the little community. Captain Schreiber shook hands with the woman and the £hild just as the train was about to resume its way across 'he plain. The woman’s delight was obvious. It was an episode in her dull, uneventful life. MINIMUM OP HANDSHAKING. To protect the Duke of Gloucester from . too much fervent hospitality, handshaking will be avoided as far as possible while he is in Victoria. Suggestions from the Duke’s advisers, which were received by the State director of the royal tour, Mr K. Gale, in Melbourne last Wednesday, emphasised the Duke’s desire for informality. Mr Gale said that at general gatherings, where a number, of persons were being presented, the Duke would not shake hands but would merely bow. Among those on the railway platform at Coolgardie when the Duke arrived there was a woman, proudly wearing her husband’s former regimental badge, that of the Duke’s regiment, the 10th Hussars. The woman, who was accompanied by her children, did not push herself forward as others might have done in the circumstances, but kept well in the background. It is certain that if she had made herself known the Duke would have been pleased to meet her.