VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 May 1939, Page 5

VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

Now Being Unofficially Discussed

PART-WAY TRAVEL BY AIR SUGGESTED

TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE OF CANADIAN TOUR

• By Telegraph—Press BANFF, May 27. The special correspondent of the Australian Associated Press says that an early visit to Australia and New Zealand by the King 1 and Queen is being unofficially discussed. Their Majesties’ tour of Canada is proving such a tremendous influence in welding Empire ties that it is considered certain that the King and Queen will visit other Dominions in turn. ' . The suggestion is that the visit to Australia and New Zealand should take place toward the elose of the Duke of Kent s term as Governor-General so that all might return to England together. The time element, however, because of the vast distances to be travelled, is the difficulty. This may be overcome by lheir Majesties travelling at least part of the distance by air. Aviation is so safe today that, it is felt that there would be no rooted objection to their Majesties flying. Indeed, had the Empress of Australia been delayed much longer by fog, rather than curtail the tour further, their Majesties might, have made up time by flying part of the ■journey in Canada. The King* is at home in the air and maintains his own Royal flight. The Queen has not.flown, but those close to her say that she has no fear of the air. The question of visiting Australia and New Zealand is further complicated by the fact that the King has not yet held his Durbar as Emperor of India. A visit to Delhi was mooted before the Canadian and American visit and it is felt that India can hardly be passed over again for another Dominion.

DIFFICULTY OVERCOME. The plan now being discussed overcomes this difficulty. It provides for leisurely flight by Empire airways to Australia, enabling the King to hold the Durbar as well as to visit his two farthest Dominions during the one absence from England.

Apart from the fact that he would > visit three countries in the time nor- j mally required to visit one, his ar- j rival by air with an impressive Air Force escort would provide a spectaele such as India, the land of spec- , taeles, has never known. Their Majesties personally expressed J a week ago their desire to revisit Australia and New Zealand, and those - who are concerned with the deeper significance of the present trip—the 1 unproclaimed, yet profoundly appeal- 1 ing summons to the Empire to rouse 1 itself to the alert of war in time of peace —are equally anxious that they , do so if it is humanly possible. ] No imperial gesture could possibly , possess a fraction of the psychological . force that the actual presence of their , Majesties in Canada is conveying. No ‘ lesser people could so deeply have stirred Canadians as the King and Queen are doing. NEW SENSE. OF BEING BRITISH. A Canadian observer expressed it in this way: “The visit of their Majesties is the best possible step conceivable to re-establish the realisation of the British community of interest in a period of world peril Any academic talk of abstention, let alone neutrality, is being revealed as moonshine. We have a new sense of being British, not only to the backbone, but to the fingertips." Again, the King and Queen are doing more in the popular mind to bring visible and unquestioned equality to the self-governing sections of the Em-' pire than a dozen Statutes of Westminster, yet at the same time they are proving that the Empire has only one nervous system—and the heart of that system is the Crown. The spontaneous welcome which they are receiving everywhere in Canada is demonstrating how secure in the hearts of the people is the 4 British Throne. Important, too, is the visible effect of Empire unity upon certain quarters in Europe. STRENGTH OF THE EMPIRE. As M. Louis Gillet, an eminent French critic, and one of the “40 immortals of the Academic Francaise," who is covering the tour for the French Press, put it: “This visit is demonstrating again British levelheadedness and the enormous strength of the Empire. It will show Herr Hitler what an error Herr von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, is making when he claims that the Empire is crumbling. If it is changing it is only to adjust itself to new con- ■ ditions. The Empire is just as solid as ever.” Finally it is felt that their Majesties have set a precedent in visiting the oldest Dominion, that the desires of their people in other Dominions to greet them should be satisfied and that, if there is a lesson in Empire solidarity to be given to the world, visits to the other Dominions would provide the final chapters.