GIFT TO THE PRINCE

Hokitika Guardian, 22 December 1928, Page 6

GIFT TO THE PRINCE

•I-LEAF SHAM POCK FOR LOCK. (From Sir IVivival Phillips). ELDOPET (Kenya. Colony), Nov. 1. Every settler for 00 miles round, and many from even greater distances, came to Eldoret to-day to give the [Prince of Wales another example of the hospital welcome of the Kenya Highlands.

They came in all kinds ot cars I rum the shining limousine of the big landowner to the haltered roadster ol the humblest settler, bringing their wives and children for a glimpse ol their future King. When the Prince emerged from his special train at 10 o’clock at the gay little railway sfatiyn where il had lain since dawn he found I hem clustered along Hie drive-way with their Hags and cameras.

There wore ex-soldiers wearing med-als—-European, Indian, and Alrican — a score of ex-soldiers of the line and ol the Guards, health" b cling Girl (iiiidos, various grades .- bool children, and tiny boys in khaki and lorage caps . ' MIL T. ,J. O’SHEA.

Last, hut lint least, there were all the local Southern Irish. At their head was Mr T. J. O’Shea, a leading Im •less man of Eldoret and an ox-mendier ol the Legislative Council of the Colony, who is better known in Dublin as one of the most active members oT the Sinn Fein organisation in the prewar days of the Home Rule movemen 1 These far-away adherents oil the new Free State joined as heartily in Eldoret’s simple gesture of greeting to the Prince ns any other members of the community 1

Air O’Shea presented him later in the day with a re-plica of a four-leafed shamrock on the background ol the. Free State tricolour, to he worn as a symbol of good luck when the royal visitor rode in the local races.

The Prince accepted the gill with a smile of good will. El do ret realised, like Kitale, that the Prince is here for rest and recreation and did not burden him with any official ceremonies. Ho drove stra' from the station to play golf, then went on to luncheon on the race-course, three miles from the little cross-roads group of one-storied shops which compose the heart of Eldoret.

There was a high wind blowing sharply across the mountains during the greater part of the day. and in this bracing air the Prince fioiind himself feeling unusually lit and active;, like all the people who live at this height of 7,00011. above the sea. To-night there was the usual dance. The people of Kenya take their pleasures vigorously, and among the guests were a number of men and women who had danced until dawn this morning at Kitale, 45 miles away, and then motored here for breakfast, changed their clothes and continued the amusements of the day without a thought, of sleep.