FINAL STAGES OF ROYAL TOUR

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3616, 22 March 1927, Page 3

FINAL STAGES OF ROYAL TOUR

COLD JOURNEY THROUGH CENTRAL OTAGO. Queenstown, March 21. The Duke of York, accompanied by Mr. Edgar Stead, of Christchurch, who is chairman of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, and an experienced angler, left Pembroke at 5 o’clock this morning for the Hawea River, and spent se veral hours fishing. The conditions, however, were appallingly unfavourable, and only one small trout was landed.

Queenstown was reached at 4 o’clock, and the Duke, on entei’ing the town, was driven to the Botanic Gardens, where, on the band rotunda, he received an address of welcome. There was a strong muster of children, who had come from all parts of the Lako District, many of them having travelled for nearly a hundred miles.

The formal ceremony did not last long, and the Duke proceeded on foot through the Domain and stood for a few moments before the Captain Scott, memorial.

The weather is very wintry, with cold showers falling, and the people consequently have experienced a difficulty in working up any pronounced enthusiasm to celebrate the visit.

Ben Lomond on one side of the Lake, and the Remarkables on the other, are coated with snow, and a piercing wind chills the town. The Duke and party will cross the Lake to-morrow morning, and from Kingstown they will travel by train to 'Bluff to rejoin the Renown at Paterson’s Inlet, Stewart Island. GOVERNOR AND MINISTERS IN THE SOUTH. Dunedin, March 21. The Governor-General (Sir Charles Fergusson), who is accompanied by Captain Wentworth, A.D.C., arrived in Dunedin from the north today. He will go on to Invercargill to-morrow to say good-bye to Their Royal Highnesses. The Right Hon. J. G. Coates, Prime Minister, and Mrs. Coates, and the Hon. K. S. Williams and Mrs. Williams, arrived -in Dunedin from the north to-night and continued their journey to Invercargill. They will take part in the farewell' (o Their Royal Highnesses at Invercargill to-morow.

MYSTERIOUS THEFT VALUABLE PAPERS MISSING. Dunedin, March 21. A bag containing a number of valuable papers belonging to one of the Duke of York’s private secretaries disappeared at Dunediy, this being the first occasion throughout the tour that anything lias been missed. Several detectives spent a busy time in Dunedin in attempting to trace the property, but it is understood that the quest was in vain. At first it was surmised that the bag had gone astray, or that it had been forwarded by mistake to Pembroke, but itis now believed that it was stolen shortly after the Royal train arrived. The individual responsible was certainly daring, as all the luggage has been carefully guarded by a small army of detectives, policemen, and railway officials. The system of handling and checking the hundreds of hags and boxes is as perfect as anything can be, and the Railway Department officials were staggered when the discovery was made. They are still wondering how the coup was effected. Someone will certainly have a few mementoes of the Duke’s visit to Dunedin.