"AU REVOIR."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18906, 22 January 1927, Page 2

"AU REVOIR."

THE ROYAL TOUR. 4 FAREWELL LUNCHEON. (TBOM OU3 OWK COBRESPONDEKT.) LONDON, December 15. What is expected to be the last public appearance of the Duke and Duchess of York prior to their coming tour, was the very pleasant luncheon given in their honour by the Australian and New Zealand Luncheon Club at the Hotel Cecil on December 7th. The chair was taken by Major-General Sir N'cwton J- Moore, who as a captain was in command of tho lloyal Escort when the King as Duke of York visited Australia 25 years ago. The Grand Hall of the Hotel Cecil was very suitably arranged with a number of small tables, m addition to the usual high table. All the company was there assembled to await the arrival of the guests of tho day. The Duchess of York looked very happy and smiling, and she was most becomingly dressed in a two-piece oostume of powder-blue, with roll collar and cuffs of a light toned fur; her hat of powderblue had a brush panache to correspond, placed at the right side, She carried a bouquet of pink carnations. At the high table, which was decorated with mimosa, the Duke had Mr Bruce at his right hand. The Duchess sat between the chainpan and the Rt Hon L. S. Amery (Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs). Others at the hjtrh table included Earl and Countess Ca'van, Sir J. Cook and Dame Cook Dr. and Mrs Cyril Norwood, and Lieut.-Commander Colin Buist. It was unfortunate that New Zealand had no official .representation. Mr Coates, having another engagement, had arranged that the High Commissioner I should represent the Dominion, but Sir i Tames Parr had had to leave hurriedly 'for Paris three days before on account of the serious illness there of "Lady Parr The chairman expressed to the company the High Commissioners ureat regret at his enforced absence. Those present included:—Rear-Ad-miral Sir H. H. Share, Wing-Com-mander Louis Greig, K eon-Commander H. E. *•White Capt. and.Mm H. J. Mills Mr and Mrs M J. Nathan, Mr Stronach Paterson, Mrs Pennethorne, Capt. D. Simson, Mr and Mrs J.L. F. Jogel, Sir A. and Lady Weigall, Mr and Mrs C. A. Knight. Personal Welcome. The Australian Prime Minister, pronosing the toast, "The Duke and Chls of York," said that the great welcome their Royal Highnesses would receive in Australia and New Zealand would be due to the realisation by the people of the great privilege they enjoyed in being part of the British Empire, but more particularly because they would recognise the Duke as the personal representative of his Majesty, who represented the unit"- of the Empire andff embodiment- of that mysac and extraordinary thing that was called the Empire's constitution. That welcome would also be personal to the Duke and Duchess because, although : Australians were far distant, they did hear what passed in this old land, and knew how their Royal Highnesses had carried out the duties and obligations which rested upon them. (Cheers.) Old Country Not Done Yet. The Duke of York, I ,in "response, said: "The Duchess and J hope to leave early in January, and I am' glad to, have this chance of tolling you how delighted we are at the thought of visiting your country. In particular I count it a very high honour that I have, been asked, as nis Majesty s representative, to open the new capital of the Commonwealth, which, I trust, may inaugurate a new period of prosperity and development for Australia and her people. (Cheers.) "Travel is good for everyone. 'Go and see for yourselves'! is a fine precept, if only one has the time and means to act upon it. And travel is becoming quicker and easier; every day sees somo advance in the means of. locomotion and communication. The furthest parts of the Empire are not nowadays so very far afield, as time goes. In fact, time as well as distance, is almost vanishing. Lord Stonehaven traverses the vast stretches of Australia by aeroplane, and thinks no moroof it than we might of a simple train Journey from London to' Edinburgh. Sir Alan Cobham flies to Australia and back in a matter of a few iveeks. Mr Bruce sends a . message by /wireless from Rugby to Australia and the/ answer comes within three-and-twenty minutes. They tell me that it may not be so long before Mr Coates in Wellington will be able to talk by wireless from London, and tho reply will then come in three-and-twenty seconds, or whatever space of time it takes men to answer one another when they meet face to face. (Cheers.) Indeed, there is almost a risk that the inventors will go on inventing until it will hot be possible to travel anywhere because you will be swept beyond your destination in the very moment of starting—(laughter)—and so the Duchess and I want to make haste and go out and see Australia and New Zealand for ourselves .before, the progress of science, has defeated its own ends. (Laughter.)" "The Long, White Cloud." "I cannot tell you how much we are both looking forward to it all. We have seen something of the Empire already, for we..have been.to East Africa, but that has merely whetted the appetite for more travel. There was a great writer, a mister of English—and, incidentally, he, like so many masters of our language, was a Scotsman—(laughter)—who made , his home in an island group in the ocean which washes the shores of your country. He recorded that it was 'better to travel hopefully than to arrive.' Perhaps in some cases this might be true. There is a thrill in the thought of the' journey to that vast continent of tho Southern Seas and in voyaging to the island of the' Long White Cloud.' But however attractive the journey, better still is the thought of the welcome which, we know, awaits-us at the journey's end. (Cheers.) "At a time like this, with the Imperial Conference just over, we have had in London your Prime Ministers and Ministers, and many other Australians and New Zealanders. They have hardly seen Great Britain at its best; we have been going through a period of severe industrial difficulty, and the burden lies heavy upon us all. But the Old Country is not done yet—(loud cheers)— very far from it. There is leeway to make up, but I know, and you know, that we shall come through triumphant, and the first to reiqjee in our renewed prosperity will be our kinsmen overseas. (Cheers.) But whatever the difficulties under which our country is labouring, I hope that all those who have come over m connexion with the Conference will be returning •M,-fhp hamuest recollections of their , n h the happiest tSKithU back to their will not . or &" ™ ge of war m affeeown people a Bjssag ton from us wno m»

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ess of York, and also to say "Do not stay away too long, and be sure to come back." The Duke had quoted Stevenson that it was better to travel hopefully than to arrive. Thero was a story of a prince who went to represent his State at some international celebration at; Malta. About three weeks later he returned, and the Admiral of the warship explained that he was certain there was no such place as Malta, for he had sailed the Mediterranean for three weeks, and had been unable to find it. (Laughter.) He trusted that the Kenown would not fail to find so modest and shrinking a little spot as Australia. (Laughter.) The Duke w.s going to Australia as the representative of the Crown, which since the Imperial Conference stood out more clearly as the great uniting factor of the Empire. -In the Empire were many Parliaments and many Governments, but only one Crown. To that. Crown the people' of the Empire were united in loyalty, and through that Crown they were united to each other. (Cheers.) That Crown was not merely a mystic symbol of unity. It was also something personal, something human. Mr Amery said he had been thinking of that future—not merely the immediate future, when Prime Ministers would como "Home" by aeroplane, but of the day when they would step into the highpower station at, say, Canberra, be disintegrated, flashed across space, and "re-assembled" at Eugby. (Laughter.) That would represent enormous advantages, but it might also occasion serious constitutional and personal problems—if, for example, Mr Hughes and General He'rtzog were -flashed over simultaneously, and "got mixed up" on the way across. (Laughter.) • That was a problem that, happily, we need not contemplate to-day. To such risks their Eoyal Highnesses would not be exposed. ■ The chairman, in his reply, recalled that 25 years ago he commanded the 'Eoyal escort when the King (then JJflke of ToTk) witnessed the birth._|pf ; Autk. tralia as a nation. f-':k^'