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Salient. Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 26, No. 1. Monday, February 25, 1963

Tour Hopeless — Was it worth the trouble? — Did it Lay an Egg?

page 12

Tour Hopeless

Was it worth the trouble?

Did it Lay an Egg?

As the Royal Tour drew to a close, people asked: "Was it worth all the trouble and expense?"

The Tour cost the taxpayers a lot; the tab picked up by local bodies (with ratepayers' money) is unknown.

And All for the Queen to see scrubbed, cheering faces and a few well-doctored pieces of scenery. We have been led to believe she expressed a wish to see New Zealanders at work and play. To think she fulfilled this wish on such a whirlwind tour is naive.

Nobody with the least iota of intelligence will fail to realise that the Queen's "smile marathons" are not genuine—she is probably as bored with the proceedings as those who have passed saturation point of radio. TV and press coverage of the tour.

In the days when Royal tours meant something to the vast majority of New Zealand citizens, the visitors, if they wished, disobeyed the schedules laid down by officialdom. The Prince of Wales (1920), Duke of Gloucester (1934) and Duke of York (1927) made their mark by going out of their way to speak to people that interested them.

Moreover, they made whistle-stop tours of the nation, greeting each township along the way from the back of the Royal carriage. Now, if you don't live in a main city, your chances of seeing the Queen and Prince Philip are nil—unless you go to great expense and travel long distances. And there are few people that enthusiastic.

The lessening of patriotic enthusiasm was not unexpected. For the first time, newspapers in New Zealand were willing to print articles criticising aspects of the tour.

All this, of course, leads to the question: "Will there be any more Royal tours?" (Discussed in the following story).

Which may lead some to answer: "I hope not."

It is expensive patriotism. Over the last decade, there have been five Royal tours of New Zealand the same number as in the century up to 1953. When Royalty came once every 20 years, it was an event way out of the ordinary.

With modern transport. Royalty and its world-wide wanderings are becoming commonplace.

Many of us saw the Duke of Edinburgh in 1953 and 1956, the Queen in 1953. Apart from noting how age has changed them, why the hell line the roads in hot sun or pelting rain to wave flags as they race past.

Speeches were as dull as expected. Newsmen could, allowed a few words either way, report the substance of speeches in advance.

To answer our headline questions: It was not worth it, and it did lay an egg.