Mr Harper And The Prince Of Wales

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27688, 18 June 1955, Page 9

Mr Harper And The Prince Of Wales

[Specially Written for “The Press"! [By ARTHUR LUSH]

The death of Mr A. P. Harper brought a reminder to many of us of how much New Zealand owes to him as an explorer, an alpinist, and as one keenly interested in our national parks and reserves, some of which received their present status because of his recommendations. These include the remarkable forested mountain reserve through which the road passes between the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. It is hot long since he made his last visits to Mount Cook and to Arthur’s Pass, as a member of the National Parks Board. Age had already come to limit his physical ability, though not his mental powers. He remained a good historian of early exploration, “a teller of tales” of no mean ability. One of his anecdotes made me realise how nearly his services had been lost to New Zealand, in the days of his youth—and this led on to an interesting story of his father, Mr Leonard Harper, after whom Harper’s Pass is named. Mr Leonard Harper had intended that his son should enter the Royal Navy, and took him to England, only to find that the boy was just too old to be accepted as a naval cadet. This resulted in a complete change of plans, and in due course A. P. Harper became a barrister, and spent most of his life in New Zealand instead of in the Navy. Mr Leonard Harper, having taken his son to England, took the opportunity to go with a friend to Norway for a few weeks’ walking holiday. In the course of their trip, they arrived at a quiet little inn, where they had counted on getting accommodaion. They found the innkeeper most apologetic, because an “English milord” and his friend had arrived, and he had had to let them have his only guest rooms. There was nothing else that he could do. But if Mr Harper and his friend would not mind sleeping on the hay in the hay loft, and having meals in the kitchen, they would be welcome.

In such circumstances, many other trampers, to this day, would accept such an offer gladly, and so did Mr Harper and his friend. In the evening they went for a stroll in the garden, and the “English milord” seeing them there, came out to say how sorry he was to find that he had taken the accommodation that they would otherwise have had. Would they come into the slitting room and spend the evening?

Their host was the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), who was having a quiet holiday, and travelling incognito with his secretary.’ The four men got on excellently together during their stay, and at the end of a week, Mr Harper and his friend went on their way. Fifteen years later, Mr Leonard Harper was again in London, and one day went for a walk with another friend, whose particular foible and hobby was cultivating the acquaintance of anybody of rank and title that he could manage to meet. As the two walked from the Marble Arch towards Piccadilly, Walpole was lifting his hat to, or greeting, every titled man whom he hail come to know by sight. “That was Lord So-and-so, he would say, or “That was the Duke of Such-and-such, but of course you would not know him!”

Mr Harper made no comment, and presently they turned down Piccadilly. They were about to pass the doorway of a club, when they saw,

coming out, the Prince of Wales. In the 15 years since Mr Harper had met the Prince, .Mr Harper had become rather heavier in build: he had also grown a beard, so that hi§ appearance had changed a good deal. The two men stood aside, to make way for the Prince, and took their hats off. As he came out. the Prince looked at them, and exclaimed, “Why, it’s Mr Harper!” and stopped and chatted to him in a friendly way for a minute, while Mr Walpole looked on like a man in a trance. When the Prince had gone, Mr Walpole recovered his speech, and said in amazement, “I didn’t know you knew the Prince of Wales.” “Oh, yes!’’ said Leonard Harper, “We were on holiday together in Norway some years ago.” Arthur Harper told this story, as illustrating the extraordinarily good memory that Royalty needs, and must cultivate, and the quickness of the Prinqp of Wales in recognising Mr Leonard Harper, despite the changes that time had brought. This is an ability that everyone must respect. I like to think, also, that for the rest of his days, Mr Walpole probably found great pleasure in saying that his New Zealand friend was a very close personal friend of the Prince of Wales.