RECEPTION FOR QUEEN

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32379, 19 August 1970, Page 2

RECEPTION FOR QUEEN

; Queen Halaevalu Mata’aho of. Tonga met nearly 50 Christchurch women at an informal reception at Mona Vale yesterday morning, held in her honour by the Mayoress (Mrs A. R. Guthrey) and Cr H. L. Gfirrett. Though she was at school in Auckland, this is the Queen’s first visit to Christchurch. The gracious, friendly Queen met all the guests and seemed particularly delighted to see many of her countrywomen, who are nursing sisters in religious orders, or training to be teachers and nurses here. Ceremonial Belts Some of the Tongan girls wore their long cotton dresses with ceremonial belts, which they had made themselves for the Royal occasion. To two of them the Queen remarked jovially: “See you come back after your training. We need you.” The girls assured her they would. The Queen also.spent mueh time talking to Maori guests and to New Zealanders she had known when they lived in Tonga. Welcoming her, Mrs Guthrey said Her Majesty was the first Queen to visit Mona Vale. Prince Charles and Princess Anne had attended a garden party there earlier this year—in the rain. “Aply Named’ When Captain Cook discovered Tonga and named the area the Friendly Islands he had chosen a very apt name because of the friendliness of the people, particularly the women, Mrs Guthrey said. “Today we have here sisters and nurses who are Tongans, girls from Samoa and some

of our Maori friends, so it is quite a Polynesian gathering,” she said. Discussing the ties between the people of Tonga and New Zealand, Mrs Guthrey said it had been a privilege to send milk powder to a country which was not as fortunate, agriculturally, as New Zealand. There it would help babies and children of many races.

Thanking the Mayoress, the Queen said she was very pleased to meet so many women. Her own work, she said, was among women’s organisations and she liked to meet women of different nationalities.

The Queen takes an active part in the Pan-Pacific and South-East Asia Women’s

Association at home, as well as the Langs Fonua, an affiliated society to the PanPacific Association. She is a leader in women’s church groups, the Parent-Teacher Association and the Red Cross Society, holding office as president of most of them and as patron of the Giri Guide Association in Tonga. Attending the Queen were her two ladies-in-waiting, Misses Latuniua 'Ahome’e and Tupou Sisilia Tonga. The Queen, who feels the cold in Christchurch but enjoys the crisp air, wore an ankle-length ensemble in pale cyclamen wool. Others at the function included wives of Christchurch city councillors and repre-

sentatives of women’s organisations, many of which have affiliations in Tonga. Spring Setting Mona Vale made a most attractive setting for the reception. The long drive was flanked by prunus trees blooming in the sunshine, snowdrops and narcissi, and by willows in their lacy green foliage of early spring. The reception rooms were also gay with attractive arrangements of spring and hot-house flowers, which were greatly admired by the Royal visitor. The photograph shows the Queen of Tonga (right) with the Mayoress (middle) and Mrs H. P. Smith.