Melbourne, May 97.
For a fortnight past this city has been in a state of the grandest preparation for the coming of the august representative of the greatest throne on earth, the throne "broad-based upon ' the people's will," whose loyal upholders yesterday acclaimed the coming of its scion to one of the foremost sections of the Empire.
The Renown, on her departure on Saturday morning from Lyttelton, N.Z., struck heavy weather as she breasted the expanse of the Southern Pacific, and had ample opportunity of displaying the steaming qualities of her fine Brown-Curtiss engines, which generate the titanic force of 190.000 horse-power. She reduced to the grade of a ferry-pond the 1,300 miles of ocean stretching between the Dominion and the Commonwealth, and, with her ability to steam at the rate of 38 land miles per hour, she had to reduce to 15 knots her rapid course in order not to exceed her scheduled time of arrival.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.