ROYAL TOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1938, Page 4

ROYAL TOUR

FIRST VISIT TO DOMINION QUEEN VICTORIA’S SON. THRILLS AND EXCITEMENT. Mrs Margaret L. Macpherson, a Yorkshire-born woman journalist who has spent many years in New Zealand, decided to “explore” Australasia for stories. She had travelled extensively before she made the decision. Her “expedition of discovery” in her adopted country proved worthwhile, and she has now written a book about her discoveries— “Antipodean Journey.” One of her most delightful stories is that of the .visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria in 1861. It was the first Royal visit to New Zealand, and the Duke made his tour an extraordinary one. “No function or series of functions in the whole history of New Zealand has ever been so dashing, so hilarious, and so completely successful as the tour of this engaging youth, who certainly made the most of his escape from the apron-strings of his formidable and conventional-mother, Queen Victoria,” Airs Macpherson writes. “His first action, upon landing, was to express a wish for a carriage-and-four in which to view the countryside. “Those were the dark and nerveracking clays of the Maori war. The outlaw Te Kooti was at large, the populace was on edge. Only after considerable demur was the Duke’s request granted.

DUKE DRIVES HIMSELF. “A carriage with a magnificent and pompous coachman was produced and a troop of Grey town Horse was provided as an escort. “The horses of the troopers had been brought in straight off the grass, most of them were unshod, and it was therefore considered a good idea to drive gently around the main streets and immediate environs of the town. “Imagine the horror of the City Fathers when the Duke ordered the coachman off the box and announced that he was going to drive himself. “Nobody dared to protest, and in a few minutes the blue-eyed princeling was on the box seat and had set off, at a hot gallop, towards Lower Hutt, with the startled troopers streaming behind him. “At a spanking pace he ‘tooled’ his vehicle for 30 miles, the escort being covered with mud, and the horses well pounded by the time they re-entered the city. “Half charmed and half scandalised the New Zealanders prepared to entertain their charming guest. What would please him? Indeed, what wouldn’t? “They arranged a ball at Parliament Buildings. Hastily the rooms were decorated and the floors polished. For lighting they had candles in sconces and chandeliers. Some of the officials were a little anxious about the success of so hurriedly prepared a function. “They need not have been. The Duke did the entertaining. “If anyone supposed that they would have to walk through the dances in the stately silence that is usual in royal assemblies, they were quickly disabused of so conventional an idea. “The verve with which His Royal Highness swung his partner, Mrs Judge Johnstone, through the lancers was only equalled by the enthusiasm with which he and his fellow-officers from H.M.S. Galatea taught the assembly how to do the quadrilles in the new French way, naively described by the local paper as all sides and no tops and bottoms. 1

HIGHLAND FLING. “But the event of the evening was when the Prince, now thoroughly wound up to the occasion, offered to give an exhibition of the Highland Fling with Mrs Colonel Rider as his partner. His own piper was pressed into service, and to the accompaniment of wild heilan whoops and shreiks the dance was performed. “The next day an outdoor fete was held in his honour. The whole colony had now gone vehicle-minded. If the Prince could give an exhibition of charioteering, so could others. “His Royal Highness was completely outshone by a Mr B. Reeve who arrived in a vehicle the like of which was never seen on earth before or since. “It was a timber-wagon whose under-structure had been scaffolded so that it carried seats for eighty people. It had seven horses driven by postilions in blue shirts, white breeches and red sashes. The whole imoosing edifice was commanded by Mr Reeve himself, who presided, as the local paper said, with great majesty and courtesy, standing on the shafts.” It is of interest to recall that during the Duke’s visit a picnic was held at Maori Bank, which was then owned by Lord Petrie and was occupied by Mr J. D. Cruickshank, father of Mr W. H. Cruickshank. When the Duke expressed a desire to sample the native pigeon, on being told of its high quality as food, the late Mr Alex Cruickshank, Mr W. H. Cruickshank’s brother, was told off to shoot some pigeons. He secured a sugar bag full .in a very short time and these the Duke took back to Wellington.