THE EMPIRE'S MASCOT.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16817, 24 April 1920, Page 9

THE EMPIRE'S MASCOT.

OUB GREATEST AMBASSADOR. 'from ottr own correspondent.) LONDON, March 11. ! 'Wales and her Prince" was the outstanding toast at the St. David's Day national banquet, when the Princo of Wales was the guest of London Welshmen, with Mr Lloyd George in tho chair. Everyone wore a daffodil —tho national omblem —and the flower was abundantly used as a decoration for tho Connaught rooms. Mr Lloyd George had a tremendous reception when he rose to propose •'"Wales and bcr Princc." He said :— "Wo are all proud of Wales. Yes, and wo are proud of her Prince. When the committee did mo the honour to ask mo to approach his Royal Highness, to ask him to eome to the Ist of March dinner, he gladly assented. He said he was about to leave the shores of Britain on an important mission, and ho was anxious that his last public function should bo a Welsh one. (Choors.) I promised him that the speeches would bo few, and that thov would be commendably short. I said that Welshmen wero men of few words—(laughter)— greater in action than in speech. Of course, as our Prince, he accepted that description as being perfectly accurate. I remember his first public appearance, and that was m Wales, in tbe no mean city of Wales, Carnarvon, and I remember how he captured the simple hearts frirf by wiuditio* which

! are well known throughout E-.ip-ji» and protty well throughout tlio uoild, since then." INSPIRED THE TROOPS. "His charm, li's ousness —lio has all the cha:.- . that make a Prince. Smce then lie has seen great service, stre-iuo. _ s prv ; ce ' ' perilous service, and exalte - - • ; His inspiring presence stimulate! h'unI dreds of thousands of gallant uw to ! deeds of heroism in Franco and in Ita.v ; (Cheers.) He won distinction i where another Prince of ! mortal fame in the days of P " ' Ho has just returned from a visit to a distant port or cl lL ' and has visited America. Ho is greatest ambassador. It is d'G'-- ~ . those who do not know the had to be overcome fu.ly to aPP '~,X, tho services which ho has renoo.ee . .. greatest troubles of international and even Imnerinl Governments and a \ ai ' are tilings which are never referred to in public, and are yet there deep interfering with the mechanism. "OUR MASCOT." "He went to Canada and America; i his presence simplified matters, lubricated the inachineiy, and he rendered un--1 dying servicc to the British Empire and to humanity. In'a few days he is Quitting these shores for Australia, i\cw Zealand, and, after a short ho visits the pre at dependency of India. I have no hesitation in saying, ing with every sense of responsibility, that, after his visit, the British Lmpiie, strong as'it is—and thero arc people who know to-day how strong it is will be stronger for that visit. He lias come at the right moment. Hb is a ffreat pieco of luck for the British Empire— and, as our mascot, onrs —for he is the Prince of Wales everywhere." CChoers.) "HEX WLAD FY NHADATT." Received with musical honours and with prolonged cheering, the Prince said the Premier had mado him feel very shy indeed, for he did not seem to talk about Wales at all. "Perhaps ho was right, because it is a very difficult thing to talk about—(laughter) the splondid traditions of Wales in the past, tho wonderful part that Welsh men and women played in tho great war, her men who served in tho Royal Navy, her men who served in hor splendid .^S 1 " ment, the Welsh Guards —of which I have the honour to bo colonel the Welsh Fusiliers, tho Welsh Regiment, tho South Wales Borderers, and those who stayed at home and carried on all oitr great industries. I am afraid you will not have thought mo a very good Welshman lately, it is some months since I have been in Wales, and next Juno I shall bo in Now South Wales. (Laughter and cheers.) Naturally I am going to travel a good, deal in the next year or so. I am looking forward'to visiting Wales at the earliest possible opportunity on my roturn. (Cheers.) Although I am going to be aivaY) I <Io not think it is nccossnry for me to assure you all that, in whatever distant part of tho Empiro I may find myself, I shall always keep the welfare and the interests of tho Principality, and may I say, although perhaps it is not very original, 'Hen Wlad fy Nhadau' (Land of our Fathers) verv close to mv heart —(checrs) —and I "vrill over i be mindful of the high and glorious traditions which lia-vo won for Welshmen 1 the place that they hold, not only m the British Emm re, "hut throughout the world." (Cheers.) VISIT TO AUSTRALIA. (Australian and N.Z». Cable Aj£3ocdatioii.) MELBOURNE, April 23. The Federal Government, at, tho_ request of tho New South Wales ■Government, has abandoned the naval pageant 'at Sydney in connexion with the Prince of Wales's visit. SYDNEY, April 23. A representative meeting of citizens, presided over by the Lord Mayor, decided to organise the decoration of tho city streets in honour of the Prince's visit. The Lord Mayor.gave an assurance that, despite tho recent resolution against spending £5000 on decorations, tho City Council would do its part in giving tho Prince one of the finest receptions he had received anywhere, and . ono which would be unsurpassed in the Southern Hemisphere.