SYDNEY PREPARES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20363, 21 July 1934, Page 18

SYDNEY PREPARES.

Festival Week During Prince’s Visit. BIG VENETIAN CARNIVAL. (Special to the “ Star.”) ‘ • • SYDNEY, July 12. The preparations for the reception of Prince Henry are proceeding rapidly, in Sydney as well as in Melbourne. It is not likely that the final itinerary

will be published before the end of this month, as the Prince must be consulted about many details of the trip, and his visit to North Ireland has delayed matters at Home. However, October 18 is still the date fixed for the Prince’s arrival in Melbourne; and it • will not be till a month later—probably November 22—that he will reach Sydney. After he has passed through the streets, our Festival Week will open With “a great floral and historical pageant, and one of the principal features of the celebrations is to be a Venetian carnival. This last has been described in advance as likely to “ rival, if not surpass, anything of its jmd m the world.” sir Samuel Walder, an ex-Lord Mayor, who is chairman of one of the numerous organising committees, has made himself responsible for this statement; and I have no doubt that Sydney will do its best to justify his confidence. gut I may add that if any attempt is made to sju’ead the Venetian Carnival over the whole gigantic expanse of the harbour instead of confining it to a limited area, the result is likely to be as disappointing as the last Water Carnival neld here a year or so back. Dediction of Anzac Memorial. One of the principal public appearances of the Prince in Sydney will be at the dedication of the Anzac Memorial. A Royal Guard of •Honour, GOO s^ r ° I ? g - will be drawn from all units of the A.1.F., and will be under the command of Major-General Sir Charles Rosenthal; and every effort will be made to maintain a high level of solemnity and dignity throughout the ceremonial. In this connection it should be mentioned that the Returned Soldiers’ League at first objected* strongly to the proposal for the procession to pass along Martin Place on the ground that the Cenotaph and its surroundings might become the scene of boisterous and unseemly demonstrations. The R.S.S.I.L. sent a letter to the organisers pointing out that citeershouting and clapping “ would not be in keeping with the sentiment that has been built into and around this dignified memorial through the sad past of the war.” These objections were strongly supported by Colonel Murphy, the official custodian of the Cenotaph. Mr L. Robb, president of the R.5.5.1.L., further pointed out that the efforts to “ keep the crowd amused ” which are occasionally prominent in public processions in which ornamental “ floats ” are included, would be highly objectionable. However. Mr I la}', who is in charge of the proceeding, gave his assurance that the whole ceremony would be conducted with becoming dignity, and Colonel

Bruxner’s suggestion, that each section with which to salute the * Cenotaph, seems to have reconciled the R.S.S.I.L. The Organiser. As I have mentioned Mr Hay, I should say something about this important public functionary and his duties. He is—to give him his full title —Mr Clifford Henderson Hay, C.M.G., M.V.0., C.B.E.—Under-Secretary to the Premier’s Department. He is tall and straight, with a naturally good manner, and a sort of ambassadorial dignity, which would surely have made a career for him in the Foreign Office. He has been nearly 40 years in the Public Service, and his value has always been! fully appreciated by his political superiors. It is recorded that a stranger, some years ago, wandering about Parliament House, asked an official to Mentify a distinguished looking member. “Oh ! ” said the official, “ that is Sir George Fuller—he is Premier in Mr Hay’s Cabinet.” It may not be quite true here that “ the permanent Under-Secretaries run the country,” but they certainly carry great weight in administrative matters. As to Mr Hay’s record, he has accompanied three Premiers on official trips to England, and was director of the New South Wales tours of the Prince of Wales in 1920, and of the Duke of York in 1927, so that he has been naturally chosen to arrange Prince Henry’s reception here. The duties of the office of director are both arduous and exasperating. Not only has he to visit every town where a reception will be held, but to arrange the whole programme with the local organisers. He is supposed also to inspect personally all the roads over which the Royal car is to travel, and above all, he has to keep the unofficial public at' a distance from the Royal guest, and to pacify the countless thousands of people who want invitatations to all the official functions, and will, in manv cases, bitterly resent their exclusion. So that Mr Hay is likely to have his hands quite full for some months to come. The Prince is to spend only nine days in New South Wales, of which he can give only four to Svdnev. So far it is arranged that H.M.S. Sussex will arrive here on the morning of November 22, that the Prince will disembark at Farm Cove in a naval barge, will be formally received bv the officers of State, and will then be escorted to Government House. Bevond this—well, every bod v seems content to leave the rest, for the moment, in the capable hands of Mr Cliff Hay. *