HIGH COMMISSIONER WELCOMED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 152, 23 March 1939, Page 8

HIGH COMMISSIONER WELCOMED

Royal Empire Society And Victoria League GUEST RECALLS FORMER VISITS The United Kingdom High Commissioner in New Zealand, Sir Harry Batterbee, and Lady Batterbee were welcomed by members of the Royal Empire Society and the Victoria League in Wellington yesterday. More than 250 persons attended. The president of the Royal Empire Society, Mr. L. O. H. Tripp, said that New Zealand owed a great deal to the conscientious and able men who had in the past been appointed to represent the Crown as Governors and later Governor-Generals. They had done their best to further the interests of the Mother Country and of New Zealand, and when they returned home had been ambassadors for the Dominion.

New Zealand now had for the first' time a High Commissioner appointed by the United Kingdom Government. “Sir Harry Batterbee,” said Mr. Tripp, quoting the words of Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, “has been a most experienced and resourceful adviser to successive Secretaries of State; an indefatigable worker, he has dogged perseverance and very rare tact.” Mr. Tripp expressed the hope that Sir Harry and Lady Batterbee’s stay in the Dominion would bo pleasant. “I know it will be of considerable advantage to us all,” he said. The patron of the Victoria League, Lady Buckleton, also welcomed the guests, expressing the hope that they would both enjoy all that New Zealand had to offer—its scenery, its sport and its hospitality. Sir Harry Battebee said that he was delighted to have the opportunity of becoming reacquainted with the work of the society and the league. On looking through his papers recently he was interested to find a card of invitation from the Victoria League to a gathering arranged in honour of the special service squadron with which ho visited New Zealand in 1924. He had visited the Dominion twice before, the last time as a member of the staff of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York, now King and Queen. “When Their Majesties did me the honour to invite me to Sandringham before starting for New Zealand,” he said, “they recalled the many happy memories of their visit here and spoke with vivid remembrance and interest of many episodes on their tour.”