OFFICIAL DINNER PARTY

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16841, 22 May 1920, Page 9

OFFICIAL DINNER PARTY

the prince as host. Tho Prince of Wales gave an official | dinner-party on board H.M S. Renown j -t Lvttelton, last night. Tne following , had " the honour of being invited:—! Hi" Excellencv the Governor-General, ; her Excellency "the Countess of Liver- ; pool. the Prime Minister Mrs Mas-_e , Sir Robert Stout, Lnf-y Stout, - nl ? " General Sir E'lward C!:aytor, Sir "William Frnser. the Tlon E. V. Lee. t_ie. Hon W. Xncirnrthy. + -he Hon \\ .. D. ■ S MncDnnnhl, Ye-y Rev. C W Cnrrnpton. Dom of fhri=*enurch. Socman. Cmmandov T. A AUlp.tis, rvs F R.N. the Mayor of Wellington." the M-Vor of .WHnr.cl. tho Mnvor of Christ h-.-ch, the Mryorc** of Cnnstrhurch, the Mayor of Duncdm. tne Mnvor of T/rtMten. tho of Lvftelt-n, Mr G.vin > M - Villv. Mr FisW Car+svn Tab" R n ihe Hon. Mr? Tahu Rhodes M-_ 11. H-, F-iren-en. chairman Lyttclton Haibour. Doard. „„ i THE TOASTS. I The Prime of Wales proposed tho, following tonsts : — | (1) His Majesty the King. j <2) His Excellency the Governor-Gen-, oral and the Countess of Li\crpool. j (3) The Government and people of, New Zealand, coupled with tho names of the Prime Minister and the Leader cf the Opposition. His Excellencv the Governor-General then proposed tlie health of the Prince of Wales. There were no speeches made. HONOURS BESTOWED. After dinner, H.R.H. conferred tho following decorations en behalf of the Kins: — Knight Commander of the Victorian Order: Sir William Fraser. Major-General Sir Edward Chaytor. Member of the Victorian Order: Liont.-Colonel Slceman (attached on behalf of the Comm'inder-in-Chief to H.R.H.'s staff during the tour). Mr Gavin Hamilton, private secretary to his Excellency the Governor-General. Mr James His'op, Under-Secretary Internal Affairs. Mr R. TV. McVilly, General Manager of Railways. Mr J. 0 Donovan, Commissioner of ( Police. I Captain Tahu Rhodes (attached as ! representative of his Excellency the Governor-General to j H.R.H.'s staff). Knighthood of British Empire: His Hoyal Highness also invested Sir! Heaton Rhodes with the Knighthood of the British Empire, already conferred upon him. I A DANCE. j The dinner was followed by a small dance, to which about forty guests were invited, in addition to those present at the dinner party. .... , The Prince entered heartily into th© enjoyment of the evening. He participated in the majority of the dances. At midnight the dance closod with the singing of tho National Anthem, after which his Royal Highness, bade adieu to the guests, and, brushing aside formality, he strolled down the wharf ■with the Governor-General, while RearAdmiral Halsey accompan : ed the Countess of Liverpool. The final goodbyes were said at the special train which was in waiting at the station, and the last public act of the Prince in New Zealand was to wave his farewell as the train set off, to the accompaniment of hearty cheers from those on board it. PRINCE'S REPLY TO METHODISTS' ADDRESS. The President of the Conference of the Methodist Church of New Zealand has received the following from Colonel Grigg, private secretary to the Prince of Wales: — | Sir, —I am directed by the Prince! of Wales to convey to you his sincere! thanks for the address of welcome presented by you on behalf of the ministers and laymen constituting the Conference of the Methodist Cuurch of New Zealand. His Royal High' nees_ greatly appreciates the loyal sentiments expressed in the address, and will, have pleasure in conveying them to his Majesty the King.

The Prime Minister has presented albums of New. Zealand views to the Prince of Wales, Admiral Halsey, and Colonel Grigg. The albums bear the following inscription in Mr Massey's handwriting; "With the compliments of the New Zealand Government. W. F. Massey, Prime Minister. 21st May, 1920." General Sir Edward Chaytor and Colonel Sleeman travelled on the Royal train throughout the South Island visit. Mr T. Button, Queen's Jubilee Memorial Home, Woolston, has received the following letter from Sir Godfrey Thomas, private secretary to the Prince of Wales:—"Sir, —I am desired by the Prince of Wales to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the loth instant, and to thank you for the ' photograph of the Queen's Jubilee ■alemorial Home, which his Royal Highness has been pleased to accept, and also for the newspaper cutting, which the Prince was interested,to read." The Mayor of Christchurch desires to thank all citizens who worked in connexion with the recent visit of the Prince of Wales. LAST OinOIAX. DINNER. The last official dinner of the official party_ accompanying the Prince was held in the large dining-room of the Grand Hotel at Invercargill at 7 o'clock on Thursday evening. Sir William Eraser, who presided, slid the party had been a most happy family, and no discordant note had been struck anywhere. The tour had b:en a great success, and'he wished to pay a.special tribute to nil those who had attended so thoroughly to the comfort of the whole party. On all hands they had sren evidences of the loyalty of the people of New Zealand, and of their devot:on to the person of the Prince himself. "Not °t? conr^ut ' oc l .Sir William, "do all the women love him, but the men care for liim_ to the dercth of their hearts." Proceeding, Sir William proposed the hea.th of the visiting journalists— Messrs Keith Murdoch, Cotes, and Sandcs, the torst being honoured with the greatest enthusiasm, and -eplied to by each of the three guests. The health was also drunk, with musical honours, of Messrs R. W. McYilly, James Hislop, and Major-General Chavtor, Sir William Iraser paying a special tribute of praise to the very fine military displays teen all up and down the country. General Sir Edward Chayt' r, in reply, said a great deal was heard about New /Zealand becoming a militarist country, out thcro was no danger of that, because the men who had boen in the trenches did not want to go back If the occasion arose they would go back, out they did not want to.

H.M.S. RENOWN. TO LEAVE THIS MOENING. The Renown will leave Lyttelton at 6.50 a.m. to-day, as it is desired to pass through Cook Strait in daylight. The ship will be off Kaikoura. at about midday, and will steam close inshore in order to give the local people an opportunity of seeing her. Tho proposed viot 'to Milford Sound has been abandoned, as it would interfere with the due arrival in Australia. As it is. i vill be necessary for the Renown to steam 23 knots in order to get to Melbourne at the appointed time. FINAL DANCE IN BARRACKS. The* men of the Ren-wn were entertained at the final high tea and dance at the Kins? Edward last* nieht The hostesses were tne Harbour Lights Indies, in association with the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. There was a very large gatnering, and at tho close of the evening the visitors took a regretful farewell or their Christchurch friends. Yest-crdny forenoon Capta'n Taylor, of the Renown, paid an official visit to the Y.M.C.A., to express his ' unI bounded admiration," to use his own words, "of all that had been done for the men of the Renown during their leave in Christchurch." He stated that those responsible for the weii-being or the men would not soon forget the hospitality which had been fieolv *c:'orded. He wished the Association every success I in its work. A EUSH TO SYDNEY. (By Cable—Press Association —Capyrigit.) SYDNEY, May '21'. The hotel accommodation for tlio Prince's visit is already exhausted. Tariffs have been increased by 100 per cent. ACCOMMODATION EXHAUSTED. (By Cable—Press Association —Capyright.) (Australian and iv'.Z. Gable Association.) (Received May 21st, 7.35 p.m.) MELBOURNE, M.y 21. Like Sydney, Melbourne's accommodation for the Prince's visit is exhausted, in spite of the largely-increased tariffs. In many cases rcoms were booked months ahead. GOOD STORY OF THE PRINCE OP I WALES. (from our own correspondent.) I LONDON, March 25. I Tribute to the skill of tho Princo of Wales as a follower of hounds was paid by Sir Charles Frederick, the master of the Pytchley, in proposing tho health of his Royal Highness at a dinner which followed the Hunt hedgocutting competitions at East Haddon last week.

•Sir Charles said the Prince, at his recent outings with the Pvtchley, endeared himself to all connected with the Hunt. Everybody admired the way the Princo rode to hounds. It took a good manv men a lifetime' to ride over the Pytchley country, but the Prince, who had only done a little hunting in Norfolk previously, quickly mastered its difficulties. "When tho Prince first came down to the Pytchley," Sir Charles continued, "I asked Captain Drummond, one oi the most experienced followers of tho hounds, to pilot his Royal Highness. Afterwards I heard the Prince had had a fall over a stile into the road, and I told Captain Drummond he had done a nice thing. Captain Drummond replied: 'I started off to pilot'the Prince round, but before we had gone very *ar he was piloting me.'" (Laughter.) In the House,, on the proposal of a vote of £20.000 in respect of the Australasian visit of the Prince of Wales, Mr Mvers, Labour M.P., Spen Valley, said he supposed hon. members were all glad that his Roval Highness was mnking the trip to Australia and Now Zealand. They also bored that the trip would be an enjovable one, and that his Roval Highness would benefit in every possible way. (Hear, hear.) He, however, wanted to make his emphatic protest against the country and that House voting this sum of money for that undertaking. If the. trip was required let it be taken, hut not at the expense of the community, many of whom "cannot nfFord to find their way to the end of their own streets." The vote was agreed to.