FAREWELL.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1920, Page 5

FAREWELL.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCE. PLEASURE MOM HIS TOUR. LOYALTY OP THE DOMINION. COIMTOTS SPLENDID FUTURE. ftitcnth.—Fress Anoclitlon. Cfcristchurch, Lest Night. Hie following farewell message was handed to the Prime Minister by the Prihc* of Wales to-night on board H.M.S. Renown:— "To the Government and the people of New Zealand,— "My delightfsl visit to New Zealand hat «ome to as' end, and I cannot sail todorrow morning without sending a Oeesage of affectionate farewell to the people of the Dominion. "When I spoke In Wellington I tried to expreu the great pleasure which my travels through the North Island, rapid as .they were, 'had given me, and I said that I looked forward to having just •a good » time in the South. The event has exceeded my expectations, Ugh though (hey were, I can say now that not a day has passed since I landed on the 24th of April which has not 'added to ,the pleasure and the value of ay tour. I have been most deeply touched by/ the wonderful welcomes which have met me everywhere, and I ■WHI never think of the people of New Zealand without affection and gratitude.

THE MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. '1 should like to renew the thanks which I have expressed before to the Government of the Dominion, and to all the authorities throughout New Zealand, who .have been at such pains to Alike my journey 'punctual and comfortable. The excellence of all the arrangements has enhanced the pleasure of travels, both by road and by rail, and I am particularly glad to have teen even a very little of the magnificent scenery of mountain, river, and lake for which this Dominion is famous throughout the world. "I have only one regret—that my visit has been too short to enable me tp see all that I should liked to have' seen. I have stayed nowhere without wishing that my stay could be prolonged, and' I feel that I have missed ft great deal lam particularly sorry that owing to the shortness of the time at my disposal I could not travel a little titrough the less settled districts, and see for myself something of the up country life.

"A SPLENDID FUTURE." "I have seen enough of town and ■lountrv, however, to realise that a splendid future awaits the Dominion. Your achievement since the country was annexed to the British Crown only eighty years ago, justifies almost the visionary confidence of your pioneers, ahd constitutes an amazing monument to the grit and enterprise of those who have so rapidly civilised and developed the land.

"Two things have particularly impressed me here. In the first place, New Zealand is a land not merely of opportunity for some, but of equal opportunity for all. I have never seen wellbeing and happiness more uniformly evident throughout the population of country and town. In the second place, this Dominion is a living example of the fact that the European race may take over a new country without injustice to its original inhabitants, and that both may advance in mutual confidence and understanding on a common path. Both races of New Zealand—Pakeha and Maori—are an essential element in the life of the Dominion, and I have been deeply gratified to see what progress the Maori people are making hand in hand with their British fellow subjects.

MONUMENT TO CIVILISATION. "New Zealand is one of the greatest monuments of British civilisation in the world, and I have felt from end to end vt the "Dominion that there is nowhere British people more set in British tradition*, or more true to British form. I have foand the strength of yonr loyalty to the Empire and its Sovereign as keen •nd bracing as your mountain air, and I know that you will never weaken in TOUT devotion to British unity and British ideals.

"The spii|t of New Zealand was shown

moat signally by the splendid troops ,which she sent to the front in the Great War, and also by the way in which the whole country threw ittelf, without hesitation or reserve, into the Umpire's cause. It has been a special pleasure to me to meet again so many of your returned men, and I should like to thank them once more for turning out in such large to meet me wherever I hate been. I regard them always as my old comrades in arms, ana I am happy to see that they are maintaining tiie close ties of comradeship which bound tlpm together in the field. New Zealand need fear nothing of the future if her manhood preserves the spirit in which this generation fought and endured for freedom and right. TRIBUTE TO THE WOMEN. "In its permanent forces, the Dominion possesses a very valuable nucleus of trained officers and men. I have been by their smart and soldierly apEnee on parade, and have also been used by your territorials and s, who have turned out in large numbers, and always looked very well. Yon have reason to be proud of the reMilts which your system of training has achieved. ' "Yonr confidence in the future has another solid ground. No one realises mote keenly than I how heroic was the part which the women of the Empire played in the prolonged and terrible ordeal of WW. I should like to take this opportunity of congratulating again the #omen of New Zealand on their great services and brave endurance during the last five years, and also of offering my heartfelt sympathy to those whose gallant men will not return. New Zealand women have proved themselves indeed a valiant counterpart of their husbands, brothers, and eons-

THE NEW GENERATION. "Both the men and the women, moreover, have created a noble tradition for tin new generation which is growing up -I hare been greatly impressed by the gatherings of school children Midi bare been organised for me ereryWfcert, and I have never seen a more robnet, good mannered, and promising race. . I always felt when seeing them that they were very lucky children to butt been torn in such surroundings, afld Ittif lmch promise, and they made 'Hi iwitMfl tiiat they would be a —lntwr OTrtjHfc Kingi, r"' \

"I must end this message now, but I shall not say good-bye. I feel myself a true New Zealander in heart. I look upon you, the people of New Zealand, as my own kith and kin, and I trust that you, on your part, will always regard me as one of yourselves, who belongs to you as much as to the Old Country, or any other of the King's Dominions. AFFECTIONATE MEMORIES. "There is a goo<J part of the world for me to traverse still before I can say that I have seen the British Empire as a whole, and I do not know how long it may be before I can pay you another visit here, but this at least I can say, that I shall be drawn to New Zealand by very happy and affectionate memories, and that when the opportunity arises of returning here again, I shall take it with delight and without delay. Kia Ora. "EDWARD P."

THE LAST DAY. PRINCE AT HUNT MEETING. FALL FROM HIS MOUNTChristchurch, Last Night. The Prince of Wales returned to Christchurch to-day from Invercargill. The Prince spent some time in a pleasant run with the hounds as the guest of the Canterbury Hunt Club at the initial meet of the club for the seaBon at Charing Cross. The day was beautifully fine, with brilliant sunshine and a fresh westerly breeze to add zest to the enjoyment of the outing. His Royal Highness motored out to the rendezvous at Charing Cross, and was met by members of the club, and after lunch got quickly to work.

About a hundred ladies and gentlement followed the pack and a large number of people in motor cars watched the runs from the roads running through the flat country, intersected by manv low gorse fences, affording excellent obstacles to test the equestrian capacity of the hunters. Mr. J. H. Selby was huntsman, and picked up a scent quickly in the first run, which was a short and sharp one, ending in a kill in a roadway right in view of the spectators a quarter of an hour after the start, The Prince, mounted on Miss Richard's Nobby, a brown cob Clinker was in at the death, in spite of the fact he had come to earth unceremoniously at one fence, when the liorse hesitated on the far side of the obstacle. He had cleared and made a half-hearted jump at the second clump of furze, and then altered hk mind, while the Royal rider, moving on in the spirit of the mount's first intention, slid lightly to earth. He was quickly in the Faddle again however, and joined in the leading division, and, as stated, finished up with them. The" "Pririee appropriated the head of the hare as a trophy of the chase.

RENOWN SAILS TO-DAY. A FAREWELL DINNER PARTY. THE PRINCE CONFERS HONORS. Christchurch, Last Night. The Prince of Wales to-night gave an official dinner on board the Renown at Lyttelton to a number of guests, including the Governor-General and Lady Liverpool, the Premier and Mrs. Massey, Major-General Sir Edward Chaytor, the Hons. Sir W. Fraser, E. P. Lee, W. D. S. Macdonald, Colonel Sleeman, the Mayors of Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Lyttelton, Messrs. R. W. McVilly, J. Hislop, Captain Tahu Rhodes, and the Hon Mrs. Rhodes, and Mr. H. B. Sorenson (chairman of the lyttelton Harbor Board)-

The toasts included "The King," "The Governor-General and Lady Liverpool," "The Government and people of New Zealand," coupled with the names of the Premier and Mr. Macdonald. The Governor-General then proposed the toast of the Prince of Wales. There were no speeches or Tespons:es. After dinner, His Royal Highness conferred the following decorations on behalf of the King:— Knight Commander of the Victorian Order.—Sir William Eraser, MajorGeneral Sir Edward Chaytor. Member of the Victorian Order. — Lieut.-Colonel J. L. Sleeman (Director of Military Training, who was attached to the Prince's suite during the visit), MrGavin Hamilton (private secretary to the Governor-General), Mr. J. Hislop (Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs). Mr. R- McVilly (General Manager of Railways), Mr. J. O'Donovan (Commissioner of Police), Captain Tahu Rhodes (attached as representative of the Gov-ernor-General on the Prince's staff).

His Royal Highness also invested Sir R. Heaton Rhodes with the insignia of a Knight of the British Empire, already conferred upon him.

After dinner a small dance was held on board* The warship Renown sails at 6.30 to-morrow morning, going direct via Cook Strait, to Melbourne, where she is due early ne*t Wednesday.