NUGGETS FOR THE PRINCE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 July 1920, Page 4

NUGGETS FOR THE PRINCE

AN OLD SETTLER’S GREETING

(Reprinted from the London • ‘Times of May 13th.) HOKITIKA, (N.Z.), May 12.

Hokitika gavo the Prirtee a magnificent welcome. The population met him at the station and escorted him through the streets aglow with electric illuminations, Chinese lanterns, and calcium lights to his hotel, where, from the balcony, he faced an enthusiastic, singing, and cheering crowd. The town has been beautifully decorated with greenery, flowers, and flags, and windows and arches bear personal inscriptions, blessing the Prince. loved you as a youth, and respect you as a man,” is a typical token, and perhaps the Prince relishes it the more because it appears on an old settler’s arch. Racing men have erected a special arch hearing a sportsmen’s greeting. The Prince was received at flic hotel liy tht Mayor an’d Councillors and Mr Thomas Seddon, who has followed his father as Parliamentary representative fo*- the district.

The Prince, amid great cheering, made a speech to the crowd, and later ho shook hands with many hundreds of people at a reception and attended a hall given in his honour by the townspeople and neighbouring settlers. Among the gifts pressed upon the Prinee to-day were a virgin nugget of gold mounted on a large heart-shaped greenstone from the Westport mining community, a fdkitastically carved stick from the Maoris, and a virgin nugget from the children of Reefton. JOURNEY BY COACH.

ARTHUR’S PASS, May 13.—The Pi'ince of Wales left Hokitika this morning for Greymouth, where he was presented with a number of addresses, and inspected numbers of returned soldiers, cadets, and children belonging to this coalmining and seafaring community. From Greymouth the Prince proceeded by train through the Rimu forest and Brunner Gorge, where miners are earning over £2 a day, although the output is limited owing to the scarcity of labour.

By afternoon the magnificent Otira Gorge, where a raiway tunnel five miles long is being constructed, was reached. The Gorge itself is 2,000 feet high, and above it rises a 3,000 foot ridge, where sie Prince, leaving his train, crossed in an antiquated four-horsed coach. Ho joined the train again here and left for Christchurch. —Reuter.