PRINCE OF WALES

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1920, Page 3

PRINCE OF WALES

A ROYAL RECEPTION. AT THE GUILDHALL. ■ .. -11 l ALIAN ,r N.Z. UAIII.fi ASSOCIATION-) (Received This Day at 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dee. 7. Large crowds lined the route and cheered the Prince of Wales during his drive to Guildhall. Even tne Thames Embankment, despite the cold weather, was lined by crowds waiting for hours for his appearance. Traffic was diverted and policemen were stationed along the whole route at short intervals on both sides of the roadway. The City was a blaze of colour, buildings being beflngged, some flying the Union Jack, and Southern Cross together. The Prince, in the uniform of a naval captain’, drove in an open carriage preceded by a guard of mounteds in klmki, with swords drawn. •On arrival at Guildhall, the Prince received the Royal Salute, and was ' warmly ovationed on entering the library. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 1 (Received This Day at 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 7. Those present at the Guildhall included several members of the Royal Family, the whole of the Prince’s suite, leading commercial men and financiers of London, the High Commissioners and Agents General. The Common Sergeant road an address of welcome in the library. The Prince replying, said they met* nnder happier circumstances than in the time of the coal strike, which necessitated the postponement of your address in the name of the whole city of London, which I, in common with all my fellow Londoners regard as the greatest city in the world. Distant,travel gives me an ever increasing appreciation of its influence and charm. I find I love it better every time I come back. " THE PRINCE’S TOUR, TRIBUTE TO NEW ZEALAND. !

(Received This Day at 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 7

The Prinqe, in his speech, thanked Hon Lloyd George forliis presence and speeph. Though sorry he was not visiting India until 1921, he was delighted at the prospect. An industrious year in the Old Country is a treat I have not hud for six years.

The Prince raised a laugh by saying when a man! is handsomely entertained, it was usually because his .hosts wanted to get something out of him. I know you want to get some account of my latest Empire tour out of me. My impressions are still .rather kaleidoscopic, but I wi|j do my best. He detailed the reception in West Indies and the achievement of getting the Renown through Panama Canal, whence they went west .to Honolulu and Fiji, crossI irig two Oceans where every group of [ islands rings with the names of British i sea captains and explorers. It made ! one realise the spirit of these men of old, who faced uncharted seas in ships not one sixtieth of the tonnage of a modern battle cruiser. When he reached New Zealand and Australia,.lii.s feet .had cpme to the culminating point of the untiring world of the early pioneers for there were two great nations settled and developing in the very furthest quarter of the globe from their original home. When he landed at Auckland, the New Zealanders made me feel at home t nice. Within five days lie l)ad visited tnp Maori people at Rotprua, a gnhniit, J remarkable race who are not upk’i >v.m in London. 1 am grateful to the n fqr i gathering in such large numbers to ; greef. me. I worked n)y way down the • North Island to Wellington, the Capital City, -where f was specially entertained by Mr Massey and his Government. I spent a week in the South Island touring, and finally crossed the Otira Pass to Canterbury Plains apd Christchurch, and thpnge to Dunpdin J and Invercargill where l almost felt hack in Scotland. Auckland’s kindness and enthusiasm was carried on every- j where, Whnt impressed me was the j intensely pld epuntry character of the people, You. have pretty sound power- j ful patriotism here in the City of Lon- i don, my Lord .Mayor, hut I assure you you have your wprk gut put to show it more thoroughly than they do in New Zealand. It was with regret I sailed _ from Lyttelton, Tho month in New , Zealand was far too short.

A GREAT SPEECH. (Received this day at ri.'lr, p.nr LONDON, December 7

At the luncheon, Hon. Lloyd George proposing the health of the Pripce of Wales,-said the Empire was the most remarkable in the world’s history. It was loosely knitted and »o Dominion, but all Dominions and no centre from which the Dominion exorcised the Empire partnership hut free nations controlling. tlielmselves, free to ’“choose their own path, free to choose their own population, free to make their own his- j tory. Such a combination would be of the weakest, if it were not cemented by the friendship of the strongest and influenced by mutual attachment,. and goodwill. Everything depended on the . existence of that invisible attachment j to t»e Empire. The great services of the Prince consisted in the fact that lie had strengthened those invisible ties by qualities which the Empire knew ns j we knew before by, “his charm, the re- ( markable charm, the winning charm, the joyous charm, of his personality.” (Cheers). |

Lloyd George hinted that the reaction, following tho war, had created a vital necessity of finding some method of keeping Britain and the Dominion together. Hie occasion demanded .a, man for the emergency and tlio Prince of Wales was such a man (cheers). Ho was just as much at home in the Dominion cities as in London and just as much at home in the Dominion wildernesses as in the cities ,which latter was a good omen, because tho future of the Empire might well depend on the development of those vast regions.