Crowd mobs Royal party at Nelson

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33452, 6 February 1974, Page 2

Crowd mobs Royal party at Nelson

Zealand Press Association’ W HANGAREI. February 5. Crowd control for the rest of the Royal visit will be tightened, after the mobbing of the Queen and other members of the Royal Family by over-exuberant crowds at .Nelson today, and to a lesser extent at Wellington on Sundax.

The police have beei? told to erect rope barriers to keep the crowds back when the Queen visits Auckland on Thursday. When the Queen visited the Tahunanui Beach carnival at Nelson today, almost 10.000 people were present. They failed to remain behind drawn lines between which the Queen was to walk. The crowds pressed in around her and at times blocked her path, but the Queen was reported to be unperturbed Officials emphasised that they were not worried about the security aspect. When the crowds broke defined lines—usually marked by a rope or whitewash on the

l ground—it meant that few . people had a chance to see the Royal visitors. , GALA DAY i The Royal party came to Nelson to meet the people and in the light-hearted ; festive mood of a family outj ing, they met them by the j hundred. They stopped to chat, they joined the fun and j.they threw all formality to } the winds. Dressed in casual clothes, 5 the Royal party first watched a performance by the ’ Kotahitangi Maori group be- ; fore going separately to see various activities. t The Queen walked on to, t the beach to watch a “big‘ ( dig” competition. Then she I received an enthusiastic Wellcome from a large group of' > elderly folk before walking - among Nelson girl guides and viewing displays of rural' activities. She also saw a display of horse-riding by the disabled. The Duke of Edinburgh was shown Highland dancing; and stock-car racing, and , Prince Charles was shown . arts and crafts, a Maori} p hangi, and go-kart racing. RUG BOUGHT Prince Charles stopped to • speak to Mrs Natalie Harrii son, of Nelson who, with l • Julia Young, 13, were demonstrating macrame. From there he entered a 1-marquee housing a display j ■of arts and crafts, and stood' } for several minutes talking to

and watching spinners at work. Next to them Mrs Nancy •Mason, of the Fo’c'sle Weavers, of Nelson, was working on a lambswool rug. Prince Charles leaned across to admire it and joked, “I'm sure I heard it bleat." Then he took Mrs Mason by surprise and said “Is that for sale? I'd like to have it.” Mrs Mason offered it to him as a gift from Nelson but the Prince insisted that he pav for it. Prince Charles then walked to where the Nelson Maori Council was preparing a hangi. The cooking process was described to him bv Mrs Elaine Hemi, of Nelson. The Queen took special intest in the work of Mr P. Gibbs and his sheepdogs, and later had a short conversation with him. She also paused to watch one of the woodchopping events. Throughout her excursion around the beach carnival the Queen moved at a leisurely pace, often stopping to talk to people in the crowd. She never seemed to be disturbed in anv wav by the threat of the crowd engulfing her.