Evening Post. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1920. FAREWELL AND WELCOME

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 70, 23 March 1920, Page 6

Evening Post. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1920. FAREWELL AND WELCOME

The scenes of enthusiastic affection which characterised the farevyell to the Prince of Wales on his departure, from England for New Zealand and Australia are, we hope, a happy augury of the warmth of welcome which will greet him on his arrival in our land. The people of England during the last year have had 1 every opportunity of knowing the Prince, who has gone about in ' their midst almost as one of themselves, and their verdict is one of •unanimous approval. It is far more than the traditional loyalty of a traditionally loyal' people to the heir to the throne. There is a spontaneity about the demonstrations which have accompanied the Prince wherever, he goes, which constitutes a tribute to the man himself rather than to the exalted position he occupies. He has already won the hearts of his people to a degree which even the great and popular figure of his grand-father, King Edward VII., scarcely attained. To the same inherited tact and diplomacy he adds the charm of youth, which carried all before him during his visit .to Canada and the United States last autumn. _He has a capacity for the right word and the right thing at the right time, and when he returned from America he brought with him a reputation, enhanced by the opinion of the New World, as one of the most promising young men of the age. He has mingled with equal ease with every class, with great and small, and invariably succeeded in leaving a good impression behind him.

In his capacity as the Royal Ambassa. dor of Empire the Prince will want to see as much of the Dominion and its people within the limited time at his disposal as possible. He has already seen the representatives of the Dominion in the field of war, and now he desires to complete the picture, as he did with Canada and the Canadians, by a visit to their own land to see them at home in the works of . peace. The visit to Canada was an outstanding success, and, though the time the Prince will -spend in New Zealand is all too short, there is still the opportunity of making him at home here as he was in Canada. The brevity of the visit entails inevitably a more or less rigid programme, but there is no need to carry formality to excess. The Prince will want to see the people, and the people certainly want to see the Prince. To reconcile these paramount objects of the visit with tiie limitations of time and distance calls for wise management, and without doubt tho Prince himself will have suggestions. "He is sure in any event of the warmest welcome in ths Dominion, and, we. trust, will on his departure carry away' memories as happy as those of his American tours. ,