THE PRINCE'S VISIT.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 11, 28 May 1920, Page 3

THE PRINCE'S VISIT.

(BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

EDWARD P.

"TRUE NEW ZFALANDER DT HEART." SPLENDID FUTURE AWATTS THE DOMINION. ANOTHER VISIT CONTLMPLATED .

CHRISTCHURCH, May 21. The following farewell message was handed to the Prime Minister by the Prince of Wales to-niglit on board H.M.S. Renown : — To the Government and People of New Zealand : My delightful visit to New Zealand has come to an end, and I cannot sa.il to-morrow morning without sending a message of affectionate farewell to the people of the Dominion. When I spoke in Wellington I tried to expross the great pleasu re which rnv travels through the North Island, rapid as they were, had given me, and I said that I looked for ward to haviiig just as good a time in the South. The event has exceeded my expectations, high though they. 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 value of my tour. I have been raost deeply touched by the wonderful welcomes which have met me everywhere, and I can never think of the people of New Zealand without affection and gratitude

I should hke 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 make - my journey punctual and comfortable. i The excellence of all the arrangements , has enhanced the pleasure of my tra- * vels both by road and by raii, and I am particnlarly glad to have seen even a very little of the masnificent scenery of mountain, river, and lake for which this Dominion is famous throughout the world. I have onlv one regret, that my visit has been too short to enable me to ?ec all I should like to have seen. I have stayed nowhere without wishing tliat the stay cculd be proloagod. and I feel that I have missed a great deal. I am particnlarly sorry that owing to the shortness of time at my dispcsal I could not travel a little through the less settled districts and see for myself something of up-country life. I have seen enough of town and country, however, to realise that a splendid future awaits the Dominion. Yotiy achievements since the country was annexed to ihe British Crown only 80 years ago justify the almost visionary confidence of your pioneers, and constitute an amazing monument to the great energy and enterpri&e 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 well being 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 new country without injustice to its original inhabitants, and that both may advance in mu tuai confidence and understanding on the 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. New Zealand is one of the greatest monuments of British civilisation in the world, and T have f felt from cnd to end of ihe Dominion that there is nowhere a British people more set in British traditions or more true to British forrn. 1 have found the strcngth of your loyalty to the Empire and its King as keen and bracing as thev mountain air, and I know that you will never weaken in your devotion to British unity and British ideals. The spirit of New Zealand was siiown most slgnally 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 itself without hesitation or reserve into the Empire's cause. It tias 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 numbers to meet me wherever I have been. I will regard them always as my old comrades-in-arms, and I am happy to see that they are maintaining the close ties of oomradeship which bound them togeiher in the field. New Zealand need^ fear nothing in the future if her manhood preserves the spirit in which this generation fought and endured for freedom and riglit. In its permanent' forces the Dom'inion possese.es a very valuable nu'cleus of trained officers and men. I have been struck by their smaxt and soldierly appearanco on parade, and have also been impressed by your Territorials and Cadets, who have turned out in large numbers and always looked very well. You have reason to be proud «f the results which your system of training has achieved. Your confidence in the future has another solid ground. . • No one realises more keenly than I how heroic was the part which the women of the Empire played in the prolonged and terrible ' ordeal of war. I should like to take this opportunity of congratulating again the women of New Zealand on their great serviees and brave endorance durmg 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 the valiant counterpart oi their husbands, brothers, and sons. Both men and women, moreover, have created a noble tradition for the new generation which is growing up to-day. I have been greatly impressed by the gatherings of school children Which have been organised for me everywhere, and I have never seen a more robust, good-mannered, and promising race. I always felt when seeing them that they were very lucky children to have been born in such surro.undings and amid such promise, and they made me confident that they would be a credit to their country and their King. I must end this message now. but I shall not say good-bye. I feel myself a true New Zealander in heart. I look upori 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 othetr of the Kin,g's dominions. There is a good part of the world for me to traverse still befcre 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 I can pay you ancther visit here, but this I cain say that I sliall be drawn to New Zealand by vexy happy and affectionate memories, and that when the opportunity arises of re turning here i again I shall. take it with delight and without delay. Kia Ora !