INFORMAL CHAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 118, 22 May 1939, Page 9

INFORMAL CHAT

KING & JOURNALISTS

HOPE FOR FURTHER VISIT TO AUSTRALIA AND N.Z.

OTTAWA, May 19

The King and Queen, attending; a Press reception today at which they chatted %vith journalists covering the Royal tour, expressed the hope to the special representative of the Australian Associated Press that they would visit New Zealand and Australia again.

The King, and Queen referred appreciatively to their visit to New Zealand and Australia; as the Duke and

Duchess of York. The Queen said: "We have such, glorious memories of both countries."

Their Majesties revealed remarkably retentive memories as well as a keen interest in the Antipodes.

Answering a question by the Queen, the special representative of the Australian Associated Press, Mr. Winston H. Turner, said that he came originally from Wellington, New Zealand. The King smiled and said: "Ah. That's the windy place." AMERICAN'S ADMIRATION. The reception, which was tendered by the .Governor-General, Lord Tweedsmuir, at Government House, broke all precedent. Their Majesties chatted freely with the journalists covering the tour and showed a lively curiosity in their work. The King said he did not know how the Press kept up with everything, and laughed heartily when an American newspaperman, with honest admiration, said: "Well, you can certainly take it. You're in there punching all the time." After the pool system, whereby the work of seven photographers is distributed throughout the world, was explained to him, the King confessed it all set his head in a whirl. He observed that it must be confusing keeping track of Australian and New Zealand time in cabling the news to those countries, and added that it would be worse in the West as Canadian local time standards change five times. The ease and informality of the gathering provided a contrast to the colour and pageantry of the function in the Senate ah hour earlier—a function so symbolical that the Canadian Press hails it as the accession of Canada's King. His Majesty,, in a dark lounge suit, and the Queen, cool and charming in a soft blue tea gown, shook hands cordially with everyone presented. TUMULTUOUS RECEPTION IN U.S.A. FORECAST. It was the finishing touch for the American, newspapermen and women, who began the tour in a mildly cynical frame of mind. Their dispatches since the Montreal visit have been almost extravagant in their descriptions of the crowd's spontaneous errthusiasm and in tributes to their Majesties' dignity and charm. They forecast a tumultuous reception in Washington and New York. '

Fifty-six correspondents, representative of. the English- and French-speak-ing world, are travelling on the Royal pilot train. No applications have been received from the German and Italian Press, though there was a big British Press party for Herr Hitler's State visit to Italy last year. One solitary German visited Quebec for their Majesties arrival there. ,