PRINCE’S DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA.

FAREWELL MESSAGES. “ENDEARED HIMSELF TO ALL.” FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. SYDNEY, Thursday Night.

The departure of the Prince of Wales to-day was a simple and comparatively unspectacular ceremony. He paid a farewell official call at Admiralty House on Sir Ronald Munro-ferguson, who was accompanied by Colonel Weigall. His Royal Highness, who was attired in the undress uniform of a naval captain, looked extremely well. He then boarded the Renown, which left her moorings punctually to scheduled time at noon. As the great warship started on her homeward journey the Australia fired a salute and the Renown’s band played “Auld Lang Syne” as the vessel proceeded slowly up the harbour, the Australia’s band replying with “God Bless the Prince of Wales.”

It was a memorable scene, the foreshore being crowded with people eager to obtain a final glimpse of the vessel conveying their beloved Prince. The warships were decorated, and there was brilliant sunshine. The sun’s rays, as seen, now dancing on the windows of the houses and now on the Renown, seemed to convey an exchange of friendly farewell greetings from the people, whose admiration and affection for the Prince are unbounded, and from the Prince, who appreciated and enjoyed so much his wonderful tour of the Australian continent.

The Renown anchored near the Heads, waiting for the mails despatched by air from Port Augusta. The enterprise of the postal authorities was not free from mishaps. One machine crashed at Mildura, but Colonel Williams, who commands the Australian Air Force and who started early in the morning with four bags of mails, reached Cootamundra at three o’clock, when he damaged his machine. Another aeroplane resumed the flight after an hour’s delay, with the object of reaching Sydney to-night.