DUKE OF YORK AT WEMBLEY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18410, 17 June 1925, Page 12

DUKE OF YORK AT WEMBLEY.

" ELEMENTS IN NATIONAL BUILDING-UP. (*BOM OUB OWN COBBESPONDENT.) LONDON, May 8. Prior to the official opening'of the British Empire Exhibition, the Duke of York (president) inade a thorough tour of a great part of the Wembley grounds, concluding with a happy inauguration of the Wembley Garden Club. His Royal Highness was received at the gates by the Chief -Administrator, GeneralJ3ir Travers Clarke, and under the general's escort he walked from feature to feature. He inspected the Palace of Industry and the Palace of Arte, including the several sections of Canada, South Africa, and Australia, noting the modernistic tendencies of the first, and the notable landscapes, portraits, and statuary which stand for the Union' Territories which the Prince of Wales is touring at present. _ There was no time to cover all the Dominion pavilions, but the Duke inspected the Kenya section of the. East African pavilion in the light of his recent visit, and those of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the highly efficient Exhibition Hospital, and 'finally the Stadium. Here there was a rehearsal impending of. the great scenic and patriotic spectacle, "London Defended," which is to be the open-air piece de resistance.in this year's programme. Last year's Luculhis Restaurant is now the' Wembley Garden Club. The main saloon has been converted into the semblance.; of a rose garden by means of highly decorative floral panels in the Fragcnard manner, and a surrounding framework of rose-em-bowered trelhsing, where ' the painted and the real and imitation blend effectively under an artistic skyceiling, worthy of Italy or the Riviera. Here the. Duke shook hands and chatted for a, while with Lady Gal Way, Lord Stevenson, Lord Askwith, Sir Henry McMahon, Sir Janies Allen; Sir Owen Seaman, Sir James Cooper, Sir Henry Galway, Captain Brooke, Captain Boisey, Mr Francis Towle, and' others. In declaring his pleasure, as president both of the Exhibition and the club, at the opportunity of proposing the club's success, the Duke described it as a pleasing and elegant social centre which would happily complete the social amenities of Wembley. There had been good reason last year to note the lack of such a centre, especially for" overseas visitors. ''One harmonious union of our Empire," the Duke , continued, "does not rest solely on 'a basis of business. The social' element and the sportinp element have entered very largely in the building-up of that union of nations. It is right that an exhibition whos© aim is to show the British Empire in miniature should have its social centre aa well as its great sports' centre, 1 the Stadium." Lord Stevenson spoke of the efforts that had been made to make the. Exhibition better and brighter, and-to redeem the Wemblev Garden Club from the reproach that its decorations had been on the dull side. They had tried to give it a touch of Fragonard and Watteau, and he thought they had succeeded. - The visitors commented approvingly on the scheme of furnishing and decoration, the considerate provision for the comfort of members and guests, and particularly upon a notable feature of the dining saloon, a specially woven carpet of generous dimensions, simu. bating the "crazy" pavement of an Old English garden, liberally interspersed with moss and flowers.