The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-21
FOLLOWING FLAG AROUND THE WORLD American Fleets Voyage Will
 Be Memorable One AUSTRALIANS ON TIPTOE Great Welcome Will Be Given the Fleet in New Zealand, Australia,
 and Other Points in the
 Extensive Tour.
AUSTRALIANS ON TlPTOE

Melbourne, Australia, July 2O-The Stars and Stripes have witnessed sights and achievements in bygone years on the South Pacific, which will be readily re- Vved in the general mind by the cruise to the antipodes of the American battle ship fleet. American ships are growing more infrequent in the southern ocean, but something of the old nautical prestige re- mains, and this decadent renown the big men-of-war will doubtless reanimate.
 The fleet will practically follow the reg ular mail route from Honolulu to Sydney, but Pago Pago, the harbor and coaling station in the Samoan group, will not be touched at by the batteships. Only some of the fleet auxiliaries will stop there. From Honolulu to Auckland, New Zea- land. the distance is 3736 miles; from Auckland to Sydney, New South Wales, across the Tasman sea, the distance is 12S1 miles; from Sydney to this city, the me- tropolis of Victoria, through Bass Strait, it is 567 miles, and from Melbourne to AL Eany across the Australian blight it is 1340 miles. Admiral Sperrys command is due at Auckland August 10, and is to spend
 
 August 20, where it will stay a week; on August @ it will reach here for another weeks sojourn, and on September it will leave for Manila, stopping at Albany only long enough to coal.
 On July 10 Vice Admiral Sir Richard Poore, commander in chief of the Aus tralian station, will leave Sydney for suvia. capital of the Fiji Islands, which lie close to the route of the Americans and thence he will intercept them with two British warships and officially greet them. The third-class cruisers Cambridge and Prometeus have been detailed to this duty At Auckland the Americans will be fur ther welcomed by the flagship of the Australian squadron and the armored cruiser Powerful. The New Zealanders have made elaborate preparations for entertaining the Americans, short though their stay will be.
 Auckland will be decorated with flags and illuminated at night. Parliament will adojourn for 10 days so the mem- bers can participate in the festivities. The government has arranged for the entertainment of 15,000 officers and sailors
 Six hundred and fifty American ard British officers will be guests at an official reception, and there will be a state banquet attended by upwards of 5000 persons. A beautiful casket will be presented to Admiral Sperry con- taining addresses to himself and Presl- dent Roosevelt.
 At Auckland Admiral Sperry will meet Thomas T. Ewing, minister of defense of the Australian commonwealth who will consult with him about the common wealth's reception of the fleet. It is -N1p ,oI enter Sydney Heads at II o'clock the morning of August 20. This will be fol- lowed by a great aquatic demonstration. The programme at Sydney includes a fed eral and state reception to Admiral Sper- ry and his brother officers, a big review at Centennial park, in which Australian troops and British blue jackets and prob ably American sailors will take part; a federal ball, extensive illumination of the harbor and athletic meet.
 Here at Melbourne the round of enter tainment will be as big as the one at Sydney. The American fleet will enter i Philip Heads at II o'clock on August %, and it will be met down the bay by min isters, members of the parliament and leauing citizens.
 At the noted Remington race course where 75,000 people are wont to gather on Melbourne cup day, a special meet will l be held and the card will carry such 1 events as the Stars and Stripes handicap, the Roosevelt handicap, etc, in honor of l the visitors.
 1 Another sporting event to mark the 1 week will be the fight between Tommy Burns the American heavyweight, and l Lang Australia's best man in the same class. Burns will also fight "Bill' Squires l in Australia. Three fights in all for Burns during the fleets stay in Austra- l Han waters have been arranged by an 1 Australian syndicate, which has guaran- teed the American pugilist $25,000.