GIFTS FROM OUTPOSTS OF EMPIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26606, 31 October 1947, Page 5

GIFTS FROM OUTPOSTS OF EMPIRE

PRESENTS FOR ROYAL COUPLE

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 30. Gifts are arriving for Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Mountbatten not only from Governments, organisations and individuals all over the British Commonwealth, but also from many scattered British communities outside the Empire. Among those who have already sent presents are the British communities in Santiago, Ecuador, Belgian Congo, Lofencjy Marques and China. The colonial Governments of Malaya, Basutoland, Barbados, Trinidad, the Seychelles Islands, Nyasaland, Mauritius; Malta, Saint Helena, Fiji, the Guiana, the Gold Coast, North Borneo, Gibraltar, British Honduras, the Bahamas, and Uganda have all notified the Lord Chamberlain’s Department that they are sending gifts, while individual presents are coming from the Kabaka of Uganda and the Chief Majabere of Tanganyika. The Aga Khan has signified his intention of giving the Princess a pedigree filly foal from his racing stables and the Saddlers’ Company’s present will be a saddle. The State Senate of Florida has decided to send the Princess and her bridegroom a decanter of water from the traditional fountain of youth discovered in Florida by the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s present to the royal pair will be the latest m6del television set. The First Enfield Company of the Boys’ Brigade is sending a record of “ I’ll Walk Beside You.” The Chartered Institute of Secretaries will give the Princess a gold pen with which to sign the marriage register, and the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers will give a full case of needles. Several gifts are coming from Poland, among them a collection of dolls dressed in national costume and sent by the Polish Red Cross, and a pair of slippers sent by the women of Poland. The President of the Indonesian Republic, the President of Syria, the King of Transjordan, and the Governments of Siam, Burma and Italy have also notified their intention of sending presents. Burma’s present will be a necklace of rubies, and the Italian Government is sending lengths of Italian silk. These are in addition to gifts by the foreign Governments which have already been announced. The Brigade of Guards present to the Princess will be a special tea service, and the Sixteenth Lancers, of which she is honorary colonel, has already given her a present of a regimental badge in the form of a brooch. ''The King has invested Princess Elizabeth as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.