ir Royal
Highnesses, as may be remembered, travelled to Australia in the _Ophir_.
Melbourne was not to be outdone in enthusiasm or loyalty. She vied hard
with Sydney to make herself worthy of the occasion, and well she did it.
But, somehow, she seemed to lack variety in effect. This I put down--I
may be wrong--to the fact that Melbourne is a newer city than picturesque
old Sydney, and that, of course, Melbourne does not possess Sydney's
harbour. The whole of the royal functions in Melbourne, as well as those
that took place in the individual States, during the visits of their
Royal Highnesses, were carried out with complete success.

The Duke took the keenest interest in everything, and insisted on getting
information on manifold points of detail. I may refer to a case in point.
At that time the South African War was still on, but numbers of soldiers
had returned to Australia, amongst them many who had been granted
commissions while serving in South Africa. Some of the men were members
of the Permanent Forces before the war. As these forces were limited in
number, there were no vacancies to employ them as officers on their
return, so it had been decided by the Government that if they chose they
could rejoin, reverting to the rank of non-commissioned officers they had
held previously, and be granted the honorary rank of their grade on
relinquishing their appointment. The men concerned were by no means
satisfied, and the matter came before the notice of His Royal Highness.

Just before the _Ophir_ left Adelaide on the return journey to Western
Australia I was sent for on board. His Royal Highness asked me to explain
to him the position of these men. He strongly objected to the action that
had been taken, with the obvious result that the question was adjusted by
the Government quite satisfactorily. The chief officials of the
Commonwealth had been appointed, namely, the Governor-General, the Prime
Minister and the members of the Government. The Members of both Houses of
Parliament had been elected, had taken the oath of allegiance, and were
in session. The three chief departments, which were automatically to be
taken over by the Government from the States were: first, the Defence
Forces; secondly, the Customs Department; thirdly, the postal services.
As regarded the customs and the post office, these services had been, in
each State, under the able administration of competent civil servants.
The task set for the Government