CHRISTENING A CAPITAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 59, 11 March 1913, Page 6

CHRISTENING A CAPITAL.

WEDNESDAY’S CEREMONY. ft is the present intention of the Federal Minister for Home Affairs not to utilise champagne when the ceremony of christening tho Federal capital on Wednesday is performed. A; demand has been made that Australian! champagne should be used..Mr O’Malley says there will be nothing of the kind. “Lady Denman will name the capital,” he said, and she will do it, not with imported champagne, nor with Australian champagne, hut with water.” As to the subsequent ceremony, including

tho lunch, the Minister says that he cannot dictate to the guests what they shall drink. Details of the catering were not arranged by him, but lie would ascertain what was proposed to be done.

FIVE NAMES TO CHOOSE FROM. Federal Ministers are still unable to come to a final settlement as to the name that shall be given to the Federal capital, of the hundreds that have been suggested. A system of drastic elimination has expunged a very large number. There are now five names in, and from these the selection may ultimately bo made. The names, in their alphabetical order, are : Canberra Myola Cook Parkes Southern Cross. It is still quite open, of course, to drag in other names, and not to accept any one of the five. The general opinion, however, seems to be that the present name of the site, Canberra, should be retained.

No reasons have yet been adduced for adopting another, and none of the others, which have yet been suggested, are better. At present, Cangerra stands the best chance of being adopted, states the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Myola has been covered with ridicule, Southern Cross is regarded as absurd; Parkes, which has much to recommend it, is already the name of an important town in New South Wales; there arc strong objection, also, to Cook, which lends itself to a variety of ridiculous uses. It has, after much consideration, been determined by the Federal Government that at the christening ceremonies, no imported beer or spirits or wine, whether champagne or not, shall be drunk. The beer, the spirits, the champagne, and the other wines are to be all of Australian manufacture. Guests who have other tastes will ho permitted to drink water. The decision is the outcome of an agitation by gome Victorian producers that only Australian beverages shall be provided. THE GUESTS. Apart from the Governor-General and Lady Denman and suite and Federal Ministers, invitations have been issued to Federal members and several officers of Parliament, the judges of the High Court, surviving members of the Federal conventions which drew up the Constitution, the Premiers of the States, and members of the New South Wales Parliament, and to a number of Federal officials, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Manufacturers, representatives of the Trades and Labour Councils, and others. Provisions, together with cooks and waitresses, are to be sent from Sydney.