THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1910. FIRST ROYAL GOVERNOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10075, 22 June 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1910. FIRST ROYAL GOVERNOR.

The announcement that the Duke of Connaught succeeds Earl Grey as Governor-General of Canada marKs an interesting development in Imperial arrangements,' for it is the first ! time that a member of the Royal j Family has been appointed as the King's representative in any of the great dependencies of the Empire. Now that a precedent has.been established it is likely that if the opportunities arise, and if there are enough Royal princes to go round,otjjer mem- \ bers of the Royal Family will be appointed in course of time to represent the King as the head of the Government in India, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. There is no reason to suppose that a Royal prince would perform the constitutional functions of a Viceroy or GovernorGeneral more correctly than any of the distinguished noblemen who bavai hitherto held those positions, but from the point of view- of Imperial sentiment it might be an advantage to have as Governor-General a per-I

eoiage closely related to the King, s who is the visiole emblem of the r nation. A royal prince may be more c competent than anyone else to per- i form tho formal duties of a viceroy f or Governor-iieneral, but as a living link between the particular Dominion E in which hs holds office and the \ Motherland, whose iKing he repre- c sents, he enjoys a certain spectacular i and sentimental advantage which is i | not less real it depends larg- 1 ely on the imagination of the on- 1 looker. He is in a very special i sense the visible embodiment of the Imperial connection, nor can that connection and all that it means be lost sight of for an instant while such a persDnage is present in his official capacity in the Dominion. ,A goo 3 of interest has been aroused by the statement that Montreal and Ottawa arc likely to be made the leading social centres of North America while their Royal Highnesses the Diike and Duchess 'of Connaught are in Canada, and that already many wealthy Americans have announced their intention ,of wintering in Canada, in order presumably that they may be veady to seize a front place when the distinguished pair arrive. , Cyi-its may smile at the rush to be j introduced to Royalty, while at ths j sime time noting as a curious circumstance that democratic Americans should be specially conspicuous for their energetic pursuit of the Royal lavour. But one <?reat and solid benefit will be reaped by Canada. The business people of Montreal and Ottawa -will doubtless make large fortunes rapidly by catering r for the wealthy Americans, who are expected to flock to the new social centres, and who , will undoubtedly please themselves in regard to this aspect of the question.