CANBERRA OPENED TO-DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 39, 9 May 1927, Page 12

CANBERRA OPENED TO-DAY

Great Ceremonial DUKE AND DUCHESS OFFICIATE By Cable. —Press Association. —Copyright Reed. 2.30 p.m. SYDNEY, To-day. Favoured by fine, exhilarating 1 weather the Duke and Duchess of York to-day, with regal pomp and ceremonial, fulfilled the central objective of their visit by opening the new home of the Federal Parliament at the Federal capital, Canberra, which was for splendour and historic importance the most outstanding event in the history of the Commonwealth.

The great gathering included not only the notables of Australia, but also representatives of the British, Canadian, South African, New Zealand and Indian Parliaments. The splendid block, luxuriously furnished Parliamentary buildings and Government House, other official structures, upon which and the lay out of the new capital, millions of pounds have already been spent, form the nucleus of the proposed city beautifully situated in one of the grandest, most picturesque, and most salubrious districts of Australia, which is within easy reach of the seaboard and is destined to be the centre and incentive to widespread development over the present sparsely populated area, with a seaport at Jervis Bay to which the proclaimed Federal territory extends.—A. and N.Z.