CANADA SIGHTED
KING & QUEEN DUE AT QUEBEC TOMORROW LANDING AT TEN O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. LINER CAPTAIN'S LONG ORDEAL. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY. May 15. It is confidently anticipat,cd that the Empress of Australia will dock in Quebec, on Wednesday morning' and that their Majesties will disembark at ten o’clock. The liner, in an endeavour to clear the ice, steered a zigzag course, and in eighty hours, between Thursday and Sunday afternoon, covered only 172 miles. Yesterday afternoon Captain Meikle was able to leave the bridge and obtain his first real sleep since Thursday. Land was sighted on the northern horizon this forenoon, and at lunch time the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, off Newfoundland, were in full view. Their Majesties enjoyed today’s sunny weather. OCEAN ICE WORST CONDITIONS SINCE 1889. TESTIMONY OF MASTERS OF STEAMERS. (Received This Day, 12.15 p.m.) QUEBEC. May 15. The Associated Press special correspondent says fhe ice conditions, which delayed the Empress.of Australia are the worst at this time of the year since 1389, according to masters of Atlantic steamers which arrived at Quebec yesterday and today. One encountered floes fifteen feet thick, floating southward from the Labrador coast. Referring to a comment that if they got through the Empress of Australia should have been able to’ do likewise, the masters explained that they changed their course and found open water, free of fog. All the vessels were compelled to adhere to<the traffic lanes laid down by the North Atlantic Conference, but the masters were given discretionary powers in an emergency. It was pointed out, however, tnat if the Empress of Australia had altered her course and nosed into an area where no other vessels were ahead to report on conditions, the Royal party might have been placed in even greater danger. The masters agreed that it would have been foolhardy to move with fog masking the floes. In normal years, the sea ice would long since have melted, but Canada is experiencing an exceptionally late spring and there are still heavy snowdrifts about Quebec.
The inconveniences and, complications arising from the late arrival have been cheerfully accepted and the curtailment of the Ottawa programme is causing no shedding of tears outside that city. It is felt'in many quarters that the capital and officialdom were claiming too largo a share of the Royal attention. Quebec’s only English language newspaper tonight recalls the tale of King Canute and his courtiers and comments that the Mackenzie King Government has now discovered that fogbanks will not lift at the Royal pleasure. It adds that their Majesties will be the more welcome because of the fatigues and perils of the voyage.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 May 1939, Page 6
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448CANADA SIGHTED Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 May 1939, Page 6
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