ROYALTY OF THE ANTIPODES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 244, 10 December 1900, Page 1

ROYALTY OF THE ANTIPODES.

, WHAT THE DUKE OF TOSE'S VISIT WILL 008 T. Thb proposal viaio of the Dake and Packless o! Tork to Australia will prove an expensive affair, Fortunately, howevtr, there is no measuring the gojd tbe journey will do in cementing the ntfecuen existing between the Australasian colonies and the Mother Country, by just the particular sum the tour will cost. It may cost as much as the Prince if "Wales's visit to Canada and the Siajts. It certainly will iios be suuh an expensive aflair as the visit of the Prince of Wales to India in 1875. Jttooghiy speaking, it wag estimated at the time, that the general expenses of that trip alone amounted to £30,000. The cost of the voyage oat and home, *nd the movement* of the fleet as a •result, ran the Admiralty into an expenditure of J650,000, aud the House of Commons voted no less a sum than £60,000, purely for the Prince's personal expenses. This, however, was not all,, As one of tho most notable features of Oriental society is the exchange of ipresents between visitors and guebtj. LUGGAGE contained presents to the value of £40,000 for distribution among the > potentate* who had the hopour of entertaining or meeting England's future Itiof. Ah m two and illustration of the great ■cala on which it is nesesaary fcj, do things when Koyal persons travel - abroad it may be mentioned that on the occasion of the Prince's tourinthe liUifc |n 1869, the store boat in attendance left Cairo so well equipped • provisions, that she carried 3000 bottles of qhampagne, 20,000 bottles K,- of soda water, and 4000 bcttiiej of 3' 1 .claret. '

The sport the Prince enjoyed in the • abetting of tigers and other big game in India was of the best, and he taught home not only some grand gpftgimang of the inhabitants oE 4iie jangle, bat quite a menagerie of wire lire samples of India's animals, birds, and reptiles. Of coarse, bis Boyal Highness retprnad loaded with presents, which Nrera estimated to be cf the app'oxi-

mate value of half a million starling. ,- f , It was supposed that the worth of no .«ff«»-ing to the Prince from any of the •Qaean's Indian satjsots should exceed f £2OOO, but this was as unwritten • Jegnlacion, which was evaded fcy representing the presents as of a nominal value, whereas their real worth was ■ anything from £2OOO to £30,000. v ~ tj D ch iigares snl facts he pto emphasise tbe importance of the Australian tjar which the Dake and Dnchess otYork are to andtrtake btf .re long.

It it not without interest to add - parenthetically that amoog persons df living who assisted to mak&up the suite of the Piioce dating nig -Indian vißit were JKari CUriiugtou, General o*en Williams, Admiral Ljru Charles Berasfotd, Sir DlghtonProbyu, *-; Earl Grey, Lord Alfred Paget, auu "W. J4. Raessll, the famous war

•corretpjndent. Great as was the enthusiasm of the Canadians on the occasion of the visit oi-the Prince of Wales in 1860, it wa 3 ■ . to the excitement with which ' Jie wac everywhere received in the States. -At Chicago, then practically a village of ■nfininhud jßtreeto, 50.000 folk oame oat to meet thtf distinguished visitor, while half & million person are soberly stated to have witnessed v BIS AEMYAL IN STEW YORK. A notable feature of this journey nrw the f*ct that it was the lirst oo•o|tonon which JPrees telegrams were wed to any lavish extent. In this connection an old joarnalistic : legend is worth recording, it is to the effect that a Yankee reporter telegraphed the whole cf the Gospels accoi"diag to Sr. Malt&ew and St. John to b'U editor, in order to retain poßie sio « of the wires for a period daring wrtich iiad no real news to transmit; On the homeward voyage the Hero, with the ywng Prince on board, was <caught in * sudden storm. This aieceseicating .'isr to pit back from the ■Brifciih coast, fcho became much overdue, a fact which isansedtha most intSace anxiety to the Qoeen and Prince Consort', as well as tie whole nation. IwO warships were despatched in starch, and when they spoke the Hero, and her escort, it was ascertrined that •the Royal party had been reduced to ■salt fare, with only a week's provisions "in store.