PRINCE OF WALES ON HIS TOUR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3135, 18 September 1922, Page 8

PRINCE OF WALES ON HIS TOUR.

Replying to the toast of hie health at a dinner given in his honor in London by the Prime Minister, the Prince of Wales said: I left England just over eight months ago, eigh tmonths crowded with the most wonderful experiences, during which I travelled 40,000 miles; and it would ,1 fear, take me a very long time and, incidentally,, try your patience were I to attempt to give you a detailed account of all that T have seen and done during that period. After the holiday that you have recommended to me—and which I may say I have every intention of taking—l shall 1 look forward to telling the City of London of some of mv impressions, and giving the narrative of a. tour, the experiences of which I realise will be of lasting value to me.

As 1 am at the moment speaking to his Majesty's Government, T would like to record the de'bt of gratitude that I owe to the country for having enabled me to make this long voyage in such a fine ship as his Majesty's Renown. During the last three years I. have come to regard the Renown as my second home —and. I am glad to cay, a very steady home too. for love of the sea does not. I fear, necessarily make one a good sailor. The Renown, as you know, took me first to Gibraltar; to Malta, where I had the privilege, in the King's name, of inaugurating the new Constitution recently granted to those islands; to Aden, and then to Bombay, the Gateway of India, where I landed on November 17 last. You have spoken. Mr Prime Ministor, of India as she is to-day, and ft would be presumptuous here on my part to add much to what you have already said. L will merely say that I went to India in the hope that I might get to know something of India, and that India might come to know me. I had no easy task, for I soon realised that India is a continent and not a country, that he races, languages, and religions differ more from one another than anything we have in Europe. In the short time at m ydisposal. however. I ha dopportunities of meeting representatives of all classes, many of tho native rulers, and a very great number of Indians who fought in the wai and I left India an optimist. Some difficulties there must be in the way of the smooth and peaceful realisation of our ideals, for in the aftermath of the war and in the present economic stringency with the advance of civilisation and education, into unfamiliar fields, conflicts of ideas are inevitable. But the wise hand of our distinguished Governor-General is on the helm, and the. new legislatures are facing thentasks with energy, patience, and courage. The new era in India calls as much as ever before for the genius of our officers and officials with their great, tradition of distinguished public service. They are loyally assisting India to fulfil her destiny and deserve in thei rturn the loval support of all at home. Of my abiding sympathy in India's great future she may resj. ascured. After leaving India I passed through Cevlon. Malaya, and Hong-Kong (of which I will speak in detail at a later date), and to Japan, where I spent a most interesting month, I.was .delighted to return the visit of the I'rincu Re-'ent and learn at first hand something of a country with which Great Britain is bound by ties of traditional and intimate friendship, and the welcome :md hospitality extended to me bv the Imperial family, the Government, and people of Japan I can never forget. T Of my return journey from Japan, it is I fear, impossible for me to speak, though I must mako mention of my all-too-short stav at Manilla as the guest of the United States Government and the Governor-General. I reached England three weeks ago, and the welcome that I received from my fellow-country-men is still fresh in my memory, and left no doubt in my mind that 1 was really home at last. I regard it as a great privilege to have been able to undertake this tour, and, following the example of their Majesbes, to familiarise myself with those wonderful countries that lio east of Suez Though mv travels have taken me far from England, I have never during the vb!"> -f mv eight months absence been unmindful of the problems cultieu which you at home haye had to face- I have particularly at heart tnc great numbers in this country whom the universal depression in trade still keens uneniplovod. and 1 trust most oarEestK- th? world may be on the eve of a period of steady and peaceful reoven I have watched the problems and of Europe wit^£n whicl. I have recently visited, and who look to our courage and common-sense for a lead.