PRINCE AND PEOPLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 4, 26 March 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

PRINCE AND PEOPLE

AMONG THE WORKERS VISIT TO DOCKLAND Hundreds of young men and girls had the felicity of speaking to and shaking hands with the Prince of Wales when he paid an informal two hours’ visit to the Dockland Settlement in Canning Town. There are no fewer than 30 clubs under one roof at the settlement, and the Prince wandered at will through all of them. It was his first visit to the settlement, which caters for every branch of sport and recreation for people living in the congested dockland districts. The Prince spent ten minutes at the Good Health Club, near the main entrance, and then went to the settlement’s theatre, where he sat in the centre of an audience of boys and girls of from 9 to 14 years of age and discussed with them the piece being performed. The children chatted freely with the Prince. Sea Scouts on parade in the gymnasium were next visited, and then the Prince passed on to the cookery centre, where he talked to many of the girls. In one of the rooms the Prince saw a sketch of the King by a youth named Binion. He described it as “a very good piece of work,” and, when young Binion was called forward by the warden and introduced as the artist, the Prince shook him heartily by the hand. At one of the girls’ clubs some members were engaged in leather work, and the Prince was presented by the girls with a leather purse made by themselves. It was nearly 11.30 p.m. before the Prince left the premises, and he stated that he would visit the settlement again. Earlier in the day H.R.H. spent a couple of hours with tenants on his Duchy of Cornwall estate in Kennington. He also visited the printing works of Messrs W. H. Smith and Son, Ltd., in Stamford Street, S.E. Introduced to an employee, Mr. D. Morgan, who has been with the firm for 51 years, he congratulated him on his record of never having been late at work. The Prince was also introduced and spoke to Mr. Archie Smith, the King’s Prize winner at Bisley in 1925.