PREMIER ON TOUR

Southland Times, Issue 20080, 18 January 1927, Page 10

PREMIER ON TOUR

CAPPING AT CAMBRIDGE. NEW ZEALAND STUDENTS. London. November 30. Last Saturday morning at very short notice Mr. Coates motored to Cambridge to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. Mist lay heavy in London when a start was made for the north, but on passing beyond the suburbs the sun shone out on the country side and made the journey a pleasant one. The route taken included the villages of Hatfield, the seat of the Marquis of Salisbury, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Royston, and Trumpington. Once past this last-ment-ioned village the towers of Cambridge could be seen, and in a few minutes the motor was picking its way through the narrow streets of the historic town, past the beautiful old college buildings. Mr. Coates and Mr. Thomson first attended a small luncheon party given by the Vice-Chancellor (Mr. Weekes, principal of Sidney Sussex College) and Mrs Weekes. The other guests were Sir Ernest and Lady Rutherford. Dr. T. R. Glover (public orator), and Mr. G. F. McHardy and Mr J. B. Elliot (chairman and hon. secretary respectively of the Heitiki Club). Afterwards the party walked over to the Senate House, where an ordinary congregation was held. At this about forty graduates received their diplomas and went through the form of being presented to and accepted by the Vice-Chancellor. At the head of the list, however was the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and after certain routine business had been conducted the public orator arose and proclaimed in Latin the credentials of the new Doctor of Law. Mr. Coates was gowned in red. The New Zealand students to the number of about thirty were present in the gallery. SHEPHERD OF THE PEOPLE.

A liberal translation of the oration may be given:—“To-day we have with us a man who is among the native born sons of New Zealand, to whom the Motherland, long the care of adoptive sons, has entrusted herself. The son of a farmer, it is said that he drove cattle for four days on end across the country as the custom was and proved himself a juvenile drover. Now, with the same patience and the same courage, he is the shepherd of the people and rules the human flock. When he was Minister of Railways he addressed himself to some hostile critics: You may bump my men out or you may bump me out, but I will not let one locality ride roughshod over the interests of the community.’ The railwaymen left their engines and sat about on strike, but he beat them by sitting out. The Germans fought, but he was better at fighting. Always the same among friends or foes, silent, smiling, he does not suffer fools gladly. He baffles loquacity with silence, dullness with humour. He, too, calls ns to his country. It is ever in his mind to abridge and contract the immense spans of the seas and bind the British lands for ever with closer ties of concord and unity.”

After the capping ceremony Sir Ernest Rutherford took the Prime Minister over Trinity College, and through the grounds, to his private residence across the river. Sir Ernest’s house overlooks The Backs of the Colleges. It stands in an acre of land shaded in summer by a group of stately elm trees. Lady Rutherford had asked all the New Zealand students to tea, and Mr. Coates had the opportunity of talking to about twenty of them. Seen in a group, they are a fine lot of men, and New Zealand may well be proud of her representatives at this ancient seat of learning.

Mr. Coates and his companions started back for London about 5 o’clock, and arrived at their hotel shortly before 7.