MESSAGE FROM N.Z. GUIDES FOR KING GEORGE AND QUEEN ELIZABETH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 65, 3 April 1937, Page 16

MESSAGE FROM N.Z. GUIDES FOR KING GEORGE AND QUEEN ELIZABETH

The message from the Girl Guides of New Zealand which is to be sent to King George and Queen Elizabeth at their Coronation, after being passed by hand from one guide district to another until it has visited all the provinces in the Dominion, is in the form of an illuminated address in Maori, together with the English tran'slation, apd cxecuted on vellum. A coloured map of New Zealand, which has been painted on a speciallyprepare4 lambskin, as clear and flne in texture as vellum, will accompany the address. This map actually illustrates the journey, showing the various forras of transjort which have been planned. In some country districts the message will be conveyed by bullockwaggon, by Maori canoe down a rivor, on horseback, bicycle, and on foot by relays of guides through towns. An seioplane will be used to cross' C6ok Strait, . and the more conventional modes of travel, such as service car, rail car and train, will also be used. In all cases the bearer of the. message will be a guide, who will deliver it to the rext guide on receiving the password. It will bo signed and sealed with the mayoral arms of the principal "towns through which it passes, The message started in Wellington on Mare.h 17 when the Mayor, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, stood at the top of the stairs at the Town Hall to meet the Girl Guides who brought the message. Mr Hxslop and Mrs Martin Tweed, district commissioner. A guard of honour was formed up the stairway by members of the Wellington Girl Guide companies, holding their standarda and making a most impressive sight. On arrival the messenger was challenged by the mayor, and announced the nature of her quest. Mr Hislop then took from her the message, which she carried in a copper cylindrical caso enelosed in canvas and sluug across her shoulders, and read it aloud to tho gathering. The message, which is written on vellum, in Maori, with an English transJation, is as'follows: — "To our illustrious chief across the seas, the Centre-Pole of tiie mpire, thc Raro Whito Crane — Our humble salutations. We greet you and your greenstone ornament, our gracious Queen, and your children. This is but the smaiJ voice of your children . of Aotearoa, an outpost of your Empire, giving expression to their joy and gladness on your coronation day. We rejoice and are proud to know that our gracious sovereigns are intimate with our work as guides. To-day you sit upon the throne of your illustrious ancestors as heads of this great Empiro. Veiy humbly we exprelss our constant loyaJty and love to you ,botk — God bless our King and Queen," The mayor then returned the message to the case and called for the next messengr teo carry it on its journey. Another guide came forward to receive it, and as she sped on her way the essembled guides gave three hearty cheers for the King. Mr Hislop said that he felt privilegcd to have taken part in the ceremony which was the beginning of the journey of a message of loyalty and love to the King and the Queen, who had herself been a Girl Guide commissioner. The message will arrive in Napier on April 10. The Napier Girl Guides will eonvey it to tho Pakowhai Po'st Offiee on Sunday, April ll, where it will be uiet by the Hastings Guides who will carry it to the Hastings Borough Council Chambers and present it to His Worship the Mayor, Mr G. A. Maddison. After reading it Mr Maddison will affix the Borough seal and the uext morning the scroll will be carried by the Hastings GGuides as far as Opapa, where it will be met by the Waipawa Guides. When it eventually returns to Wellington in May the message will be • taken to Government House to the Governor-General, Viseount Galway, who will dispatch it on behalf of the Guides of New Zealand to Their Majesties.