TROPIC BEAUTY ENCHANTS GOVERNOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 13

TROPIC BEAUTY ENCHANTS GOVERNOR

VISIT TO LORE* HOWE To Sir Dudley de Chair, Governor of New South Wales, Lord Howe Island will always be the apotheosis of all tropic splendour and romance. He returned to Sydney last week by H.M.A.S. Melbourne Xu?l of praise for the island’s blue lagoon and dark palm groves. This was the first Pacific island on which he had landed, and though sea stories had told him many fascinating things about lagoons, deep and blue, and sinister, he had never sailed on one before. “1 have many reasons to remember this journey,” said Sir Dudley. ‘‘Minor excitements in returning to the cruiser through a swell that often hid her from us, the beauty of a place idyllic as anything you can imagine, the charm of quietness and isolation all leave their print on my mind, but I shall remember Lord Howe Island most of all because its people were so hospitable and enthusiastic and kind. DELIGHTFUL VOICES “The population was out to meet us, an enthusiastic and hospitable lot of people. The whaler which carried me ran up the beach, and I jumped over the bow. As my feet touched the first Pacific island on which I have walked a body of school children commenced to sing ‘God Save the King.’ spoke to the people, and was delighted to hear them talk. Rich voices which formed the language with an attractive, precise cadence and accent, were not exactly a surprise, but a pleasant, exciting experience. QUADRILLES AND LANCERS “We went off to the seed shed again after dinner, and met the islanders at a dance. The people had asked that some of the crew should come ashore* and about 35 bluejackets landed to meet the island girls. The men were not exactly shocked but they were deeply surprised to discover people dancing quadrilles and 'ancers, and the old-fashioned waltz. .'£ thought it was delightful and danced myself. “But the men had brought a small jazz band with them, and they soon taught their partners all there was to know about fox trots and that sort of thing. It was a riotously happy affair. A sailor sang, and the islanders enjoyed themselves so energetically that they asked for another dance on the following night They had it, but I rested.”