AUTOGRAPH HUNTERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5074, 12 January 1927, Page 2

AUTOGRAPH HUNTERS.

BARRED BY DUKE OF YORK.

Probably the public are not aware of the extent to which notabilities and visiting artists of any distinction are pestered by autograph-hunters in New Zealand. One popular form of Christmas gift is a more or less tlaborate autograph album, and, having one, its owner considers it a solemn duty to collect the autographs of his friends and those people who may be in the public eye. Actors and singers usually submit to the torture if they have the time., out of courtesy to those who pay to see or hear their performances, but when it comes, to Royalty it is another matter altogether. If the Home precedent is to be. followed, autograph-hunters are doomed to disappointment as regards the Duke and Duchess of York, who have not the time to sign .their names hundreds of times a day wherever they go. If they did the practice would become a torture that would never cease, so they take a. firm stand against the autograph fiend. On a recent trip to Halifax the Duke of York visited some of the big fabric mills, where he was enthusiastically received by the mill-hands, and, on one occasion, two of the girls pushed forward with autograph albums, but the Duke, expressing sorrow, said he was unable to oblige them. The reason for the refusal is not difficult to realise.