UNITED SOUTH AFRICA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 913, 3 November 1910, Page 4

UNITED SOUTH AFRICA.

RECEPTION OF ROYAE VISITORS.

MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE,

Capetown, Oct. 31

The steamer Balmoral Castle, with the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Princess Patricia aboard, arrived at the entrance to Table Bay this morning during a dense fog. Her entry was delayed until the fog cleared. The flagship Hermes has been in constant touch with the Balmoral Castle by wireless, and reported “All well.” As the steamer entered the Bay the cruisers Hermes and Forte and the German cruiser Sperber, dressed with bunting, fired a Royal Salute, the yards of the British warships being manned. The Band of the Hermes played the National Anthem.

The landing takes place at 11 o'clock, and a public reception will be held in the City Hall. The Governor - General, Lord Gladstone, opens Parliament at noon for preliminary business. The Royal opening by the Duke of Connaught has been fixed for Friday.

The newspapers are most cordial in their welcome to the Royal visitors, referring especially to the Duke’s distinguished military career and his visit to South Africa a few years ago. They emphasise the significance of his presence as a member of the Royal Family, and mention the occasion as indicating King George’s sympathy with the hopes attending the birth of the new nation.

The Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Princess Patricia landed and drove to the City Hall, escorted by Hussars, through dense and cheering crowds. The streets were magnificently decorated. Lord Gladstone headed the procession, escorted by a company of the Cape Mounted Rifles. The Mayor welcomed the Royal visitors. The hall was densely packed, those present including Premier Botha, Lord Methuen, Dr Jamieson, Mr Delarey, the Chief Justice and other Ministers and administrators, including the visitors Messrs Fisher, Fowlds, and Lemieux, Canadian Post-master-General, and a brilliant gathering of other notabilities. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught had previously received Messrs Fisher, Fowlds, and Leimeux, with a few other distinguished persons, aboard the steamer.

In welcoming the Royal visitors at the Town Hall after their landing from the Balmoral Castle, the Mayor of Capetown said the Duke of Connaught’s advent “proclaimed the birth of a new era, foretold by our greatest statesman, striven for by our truest patriots, and made possible by splendid sacrifices. The Union will enable South Africa to take her place among the first of the world's centres of industry.” Numerous addresses were presented.

The Duke, on rising to respond, received an immense ovation.

His Highness thanked the people on behalf of King George for their sentiments of loyalty and devotion, and assured the many thousands of the King’s subjects, European, Asiatic, and African, of his Majesty’s interest in their welfare.

Continuing, he said : The sad event which prevented the opening of the Union Parliament being honoured by the presence of the Heir Apparent is fresh in your minds. It would have been a fitting culmination to the efforts of the statesmen and people of South Africa in the cause of unity and conciliation had the last stone of the edifice been laid by the sou of a Monarch whose name is associated for all time with love of peace and hate of discord. (Eoud cheers). lam deeply sensible of the honour conferred upon me in being chosen by King George to take the place which his father had intended that he should fill.”

Proceeding, amid applause, the Duke said: “Two and a half centuries, with more than their share of war and strife, look down upon the labours of the Convention. The spirit wherein these labours were undertaken, carried through, and consummated is full of hopeful augury for the centuries to come.’’ The Duke referred to the sacrifices made by Capetown and Cape Colony for the sake of the Union, adding that there was no truer indication of the soundness of the people’s heart and oi their fitness and ability to take and maintain their place among the nations than this willingness of all sections of the community to sacrifice their own material interests to the common ideal. That ideal would exert its full influence upon and be a basis for material prosperity. Capetown, by joining in the general advance of South African commerce and industry would be holding even a higher place than she occupied to day ; and not Capetown only, but all the many ancient and honourable communities represented there —oi different races and religions, yet united by a common purpose and owning allegiance to a single Throne.

On the Duke resuming his seat the ovation was repeated. After leaving the City Hall, His Highness and party drove through the cheering streets to Government Avenue, where, amid luxuriant oaks, thousands of children sang the National Anthem, “ O God of Bethel,” and other hymns. Thence the party proceeded to Government House. The whole reception was extraordinarily enthusiastic. The fog, which had hung over

the harbour, cleared as the Connaughts lauded, and the scene was radiantly beautiful.

The Governor-General proceeded to the Senate House, where, in the presence of the members of both Houses, the Royal Commission appointing the Duke of Connaught to open the first Parliament was read in English and Dutch. Viscount Gladstone then announced that the Duke of Connaught would deliver the Message from the King to Parliament on Friday. The members were sworn in, and Parliament adjourned till to-morrow. The pageant was continued in the afternoon. There was again glorious weather and a crowded attendance.

Saturday’s magnificent success was repeated. The episodes depicted various noteworthy and stirring incidents from ISI3 to tSS4, including a realistic defence of a langer against a Kaffir attack. Finally, there was shown a most effectual allegorical presentation indicative of the evolution of South Africa. All the performers participated and the culminating point of the groups represented the four provinces of the Union meeting. The entire body of performers sang the National Anthem and the Te Deum. Reuter states that the entire centre of Capetown was magnificently illuminated last night. All the principal buildings were outlined with strings of vari-coloured lights. Entwined garlands spanned the main thoroughfares. The Oak Avenue produced a fairy-like affect against the majestic rock background of Table Mountain. Dense crowds paraded to and fro. The magnificent sight was unparalleled in Africa. Capetown, Nov. 1. The Royal visitors are having a comparatively quiet day to-day. This morning they motored out to the Government wine farm in the beautiful Coustautia Valley, under the lee of Table Mountain, and through Cecil Rhodes’s estate at Groole Schuur thence ; from there they went through the historic Oak Avenue, planted in the early period of the Dutch settlement. The Duke and Duchess were received at Constantia by the Administrator of the Province of Cape Colony, Mr W. F. de Waal, and Mrs de Waal, and there were 700 guests present.