All Court functions have been cancelled, but arrangements for the funeral, and for the period of mourning, await the new Queen's return.

THE NEW QUEEN IS IN EAST AFRICA

News of her father's death was immediately flashed to the new Queen in Kenya.

She and her husband were at Sagana Lodge, near Nyeri in the Kenya highlands, this morning. They spent last night in a remote hotel built in a treetop above a pool and salt-lick where big game feed and drink.

They will fly home by way of Entebbee, Uganda, and El Adom, where the plane will refuel and pick
up a fresh crew, and fly non-stop to London.

The Royal couple were scheduled to fly in a twin-engined Douglas aircraft tomorrow from Nanyuki airport to Mombasa to board the liner Gothic for the voyage to Ceylon, Australia and New
Zealand.

The new Queen will be proclaimed Sovereign at a special meeting of the Privy Council summoned for this afternoon.

The accession will be proclaimed from the roof of Saint James's Palace and will afterwards also be proclaimed throughout Britain from public buildings and civil headquarters.

TENSE SCENES IN PARLIAMENT

Announcement Of The King's Death
CANBERRA, Wednesday. -

The Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, announced the news of the King's death to a packed, silent House of Representatives at 9.50 to-night.

Proceedings were brief and tense. The House had adjourned 20 minutes earlier to await confirmation of the news which stunned Ministers.

When the House reassembled, Mr. Menzies rose and said:

"It is my very melancholy task to inform the House that news which ran in rumour a few minutes ago is now officially confirmed.

"His Majesty the King died this morning. I myself and I am sure every honourable member feels quite incapable at this moment of saying what should be said.

"I therefore propose that this House should adjourn until to-morrow when we can express our feelings as those feelings should be expressed.

"Meanwhile, all I need say is that the thoughts and prayers of all their subjects in this country are with the now Queen Mother and with the new Queen."

Mr. Menzies's voice broke and he abruptly resumed his seat.

The Leader of the Opposition, Dr. H. V. Evatt, said; "I would add nothing to what the Prime Minister has said.

"It is quite impossible to transact business when hearing news of a loss which is very great and very poignant to all of us."

The House then adjourned until 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.

NEWS RACED THROUGH CITY

At 10 o'clock last night few people wandering through the city streets were aware that the King was dead.

When people were toldof the news they at first refused to believe it and then appeared stunned when assured that it was true.

Tram conductors and taxidrivers soon spread the news throughout the city and suburbs and by midnight therewere few people who did not know.

Radio stations solemnly announced the news to thousands of listeners shortly before 9.30 p.m.

In most cases the scheduled programmes were discontinued and sacred music was played.

STAYED OPEN

Later cables and B.B.C. announcements and programmes were broadcast for the remainder of the evening.

Most stations remained open long past their normal closing hour.

Newspaper offices and radio stations were besieged with inquirers seeking confirmation of radio news flashes and street rumours.

Most city picture theatres continued with their programmes throughout the evening and did not announce the King's death at the end of their sessions.

The great majority of cinema-goers were thus unaware of the King's death.

As they poured out on to the footpaths they continued to joke and talk of the films or plays they had seen.

Some suburban cinemas flashed the news across the screen and ended their programmes.

Audiences were stunned and the immediate reaction was the fear that the Royal tour of Australia and New Zealand would probably be cancelled.

At one city night club patrons stood in silence for one minute after the manager had announced the King's death.

ELIZABETH II IS SIXTH WOMAN TO RULE GREAT BRITAIN

WITH the death of her father, Queen Elizabeth the Second succeeds to the Throne, the sixth woman in Britain to rule in her own right.

Not since Victoria's accession in 1837 has Britain hailed a new monarch with the cry:

"God Save the Queen."

When the new Queen was born on April 21, 1926, she was third in the line of succession. Her uncle, then Prince of Wales, was a bachelor, and the possibility that she would one day rule the Empire was widely recognised even at that time. Through the years when her uncle remained unmarried the possibility loomed larger. When he abdicated in December, 1936, it became almost a certainty.