PRINCE AND CHILDREN.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 June 1920, Page 5

PRINCE AND CHILDREN.

A GOOD-BYE MESSAGE. TO BE READ IN TARANAKI TO-MORROW. A good-bye message.from the Prince of Wales to the school children of New Zealand will be read in all the Tatanaki schools to-morrow morning. The message was handed by the Prince to the Prime Minister immediately before his departure. Printed copies were forwarded some days ago In sealed envelopes to the head teachers of all rchools, with instructions that the envelope should not be opened until May 31, or, if the school should be closed for that date, immediately after reassembly. The message will be printed in the June issue of the School Journal, and a facsimile of the original, which was in the Prince's handwriting, will be published in a special souvenir edition of the Journal in July. The Prince's letter is as follows: "H.M.S. Renown, LYTTELTON, May 22, 1920. "Girls and Boys of New Zealand, — " . am very sorry indeed that my delightful visit to New Zealand is over, and I want, before I leave, to sertd you my best wishes and a few words of farewell. I have asked that this message may be read out to you by your masters and teachers, and also that it may be published in my own handwriting in your School Journal.

, 'My first wish is to thank you all for giving me such hearty welcomes everywhere. It has been a great pleasure to me to see so many of you gathered to meet me, and I am going to tell my father and mother, the King and 1 Queen, what a fine and loyal future generation 13 up in this Dominion. "I also want to tell you what I feel about New Zealand. It is a splendid and beautiful country, and well worth your life-long devotion. Remember, however, that it is a young country, I and that it depends upon you and upon those who follow you to carry on the amazing rate of progress that has been achieved by your parents and grandparents.

You have a splendid example before you in your fathers and brothers, and also in your mothers and sisters, who inarched and fought, or worked and endured, to win our well-earned victory in the great war. Remember always how much you owe to them, and try to do as much for the Empire in your own day as they have done in theirs. I trust that you may never be called upon to fight in another war; hut you can serve the mighty Empire, which has kept you safe and well, in times of peace by living straight and useful lives and always putting your duty to your King, your country, and your flag before everything else. "There are just three things which I want you to bear in mind:— ,

"(I) Never consciously say or do a dishonest thing. B (2) Always remember other people's interests when pursuing your own. "(3) Play for the side and play the game.

"One last word. Please do not think of me as someone very distant who came to see you once and then forgot you for people nearer the Old Country. I love New Zealand, and belong to it every bit as much as you do yourselves. You, New Zealand girls and boys, are my own British kith and kin, and I will never forget the wonderful first welcome which you gave me to my New Zealand home.

"I hope this message is not to say good-bye, but merely 'an revoir.' "EDWARD P."