OUR ROYAL VISITORS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 17

OUR ROYAL VISITORS

"Te Sfanuhiri Tuarangi" was the name given by the Maoris'-'to-'■ Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, when he visited New Zealand in 1869. That is the name of the great'white crane, seen once in a lifetime, and it expressed the Maori sense of the rare honour of the visit. Yet in a lifetime of less than sixty years three Royal Princes have visited New Zealand upon five occasions. The Duke of Edinburgh came three times. Thirty-one years after he sailed .away, came the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York; and after nineteen years more the Prince of Wales repeated the triumphant progress of his Royal- parents. Now we have another Duke and Duchess of York —the fourth Prince and the.sixth visit. Fifty-eight years cover the whole period. There are many yet;among us—and not too old to join in;the celebrations —who can remember the first Royal tour —yet what changes have been wrought in the interval! Fiftyeight years is less than a lifetime; but in that period New Zealand has changed beyond. all recognition. Reading the accounts of the Duke of Edinburgh's tour one is constantly noting the evidence of an old" order that has passed. Yet throughout sixty years and more one thing has remained constant —the love and loyalty of the people for the Royal Family. The colonists of 1869 cheered Queen Victoria's son as they had cheered the Queen herself on her- way to Westminster or in some well-remembered city of their Homeland. Their sons .and guardians, daughters and granddaughters, many of them born here, and some of them having never seen the Homeland yet claim the Duke and Duchess as their own. Distance seems to have intensified their loyalty and strengthened their attachment to the Crown.

IN H.M.S. GALATEA

It was on 11th April, 1869, that the Duke of Edinburgh landed at Wellington from H.M.S. Galatea. He received a warm welcome, for the settlers, though troubled and poor, were thoroughly loyal. New Zealand was a struggling country in those times and the Premier of the day, Mr. Stafford, had more than his share of troubles. The Imperial troops had been sent Home, but the Maoris were still showing fight. Te Kooti on the East Coast, and Tilokowaru on the West, were giving no little concern. Indeed, it had even been suggested that a force of Ghurkas should be brought from India to deal with the rebels. There were of course loyal Maoris, and these joined in the welcome with enthusiasm, though some of them demanded (and received) a fee for performing a haka. The Maoris of the Hutt Valley, however, made a spontaneous demonstration, and it was they who christened the Prince "Te Manuhiri Tuarangi." There was one warrior of note also, who met tlie Prince and honoured him signally, though rather pathetically. The son of Te Rauparaha had no son of his own, so he presented to the Duke a prized greenstone heirloom. "As my house has gone like the moa," he said, "I bequeath the talisman of my fathers to the son of the Queen of England and New Zealand."

COLD BUT LIT|LE WEALTH Economically, also, the colony was experiencing its dark days. Sir Julius Vogel's big public works policy had not then been put into operation. Prices were low and the dawn of the brighter days of export was not perceived. With a quarter of, a million population the exports were [ about £5,000,000, and half of that amount

was accounted for by gold. Yet the colonists were happy and contented; and they made the most of the simple pleasures of their lives. The Duke's visit was an occasion for great rejoicing. His Royal Highness was formally received by the Governor, Sir George Bowen, the Premier, and the Superintendent of the Province, Dr. Featherston. Volunteers formed a guard of honour. Afterwards all threw themselves heartily into .the festivities. There were sailing and rowing races in the harbour, in which the' crew of the Galatea competed, receptions, banquets, and balls.

IN A CARRIAGE AND EIGHT Those were the days before trains or motors. It was notJ until he reached Lyttelton that the Duke saw a railway j station in New Zealand, and except for the short journey from Lyttelton to Christchurch all his travelling on shore was done by carriage or on horseback. But there were good horses and splendid teams then, and there was much competition to see which district could provide the best outfit for the Royal traveller. Wellington and Nelson each produced four greys. In Nelson the team bolted with His Royal Highness on the box, but he quickly got them under control again. Christchurch produced a jet black team of six, but Dunedin won with eight wonderful greys, by Ned Devine, the greatest whip of the coaching days. H.M.S; Blanche, in which the Royal Party travelled from Lyttelton to Port Chalmers, berthed at the Port, and the Duke completed his journey to the city by carriage with Devine handling the eight with the superb skill of the old-time coach-driver. That was the Royal equipment, but the people who came to see the Prince also had their carriages. One in Wellington excited particular attention. It was a timber wagon fitted with seats for 80 people and drawn by seven horses driven by uniformed postillions.

PIG-HUNTING ON THE PENINSULA

Horse-racing, hunting, and fishing were the sports of the times, and the Duke shared them. There were special racemeetings at Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin; and it is recorded of the sailorPrince that he was'more out of the Royal box than in it. He mingled with the. crowds, had his bet, and enjoyed himself thoroughly. While in Wellington he went pig-hunting on the Miramar Peninsula, then a station with much swamp, undergrowth, and uncleared land. The lairs of some big boars had been marked down for the expedition, but the quarry did not wait for the Prince. As a good sportsman, he went after it through the swamp and brush, and finally two big tuskers were brought to bay. One the Duke shot and finished with his hunting-knife. The other he wounded and it charged straight for a

member of his escort, who finished it with his sabre. On that trip the Duke visited Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and afterwards he went to Auckland. It had been proposed that he should go also to Rotorua, but the unsettled state of the country made the postponement of that excursion necessary. While in Wellington the Duke planted four trees in the grounds of Government House, and one is stated to be still preserved. '

RIDING TO ROTORUA The Duke paid two further visits to New Zealand in 1870, but he came then as Captain of H.M.S. Galatea and, at his own desire, was received as a naval officer. His third visit, however, was the most interesting, for he was then the guest of the Governor upon a special excursion to Rotorua. He took ship to Tauranga (there was no railway to Rotorua then) and" travelled overland to the Thermal District. He was received on landing by the Arawas, who had been consistently loyal to the Queen, and by the Ngaiterangis, who had garrisoned Gate Pa. That fact, however, did not cause any embarrassment to Enoka Whanake, the Ngaiterangi chief. "It is true," he told the Duke, "that I fought against the Queen at the Gate Pa, but I have repented of that evil, and am now living under the shadow of her laws. As for this Tawhiao, who calls himself the King of the Maoris, let him be brought hither as a footstool for the son of our Queen." As consistent loyalists the Arawas claimed the privilege of guarding the Queen's son, and night and day they kept watch over him. They allowed no stranger to come within coo-ec of his camp. Dispatches written at the time of the tour record that white settlement had not penej- trated into the districts traversed. For the ;' last forty miles to Ohinemutu the journey was over a special Royal road constructed by the Arawas when they had expected a visit from His Royal Highness in 1869.

AFTER THIRTY-ONE YEARS It. was. a. New Zealand much changed to which the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York came, thirty-one years later. They came by the Royal Yacht Ophir, after visiting Australia to open the first Federal Parliament, and they found here a country peaceful and prosperous, railed, roaded, and thriving. Native troubles had long ended. They were almost forgotten, and at Rotorua there

was the greatest Maori demonstration of loyally and welcome that New Zealand had ever known. It was led by a Minister of the Crown of Maori blood, Mr. Carroll, and by a young Maori lawyer, Mr. Ngata, who was then coming into prominence in a movement which gave new hope to the Native race. That Rotorua gathering will

always be remembered as the outstanding' event of the Royal tour of 1901. It was a union of the old and the modern Maori. For example, the Duke's guide through Whakarewarewa was Maggie Papakura, a cultured representative of the younger | generation, while the Duchess was escorted

by Sophia, the heroine of the Tarawera eruption. Not only in the set events—the dances, the singing, and the tribal welcomes—was the Maori hui notable. It was remarkable also for many sponi taneous demonstrations of love and j loyalty.

In many other respects that Royal tour marked a notable epoch in New Zealand history. The Maori wars had ended and New Zealand had won her spurs in the Empire by sending her contingents to fight beside the troops of the Motherland in South Africa. The presentation of medals to these youngest veterans was an event on the programme wherever the Royal Party went. In economic prosperity and political stability also New Zealand had advanced. Instead of the swift changes of thirty years earlier the colony had the long Liberal Government with Mr. Seddon at the zenith of his power. Evidence of prosperity was to be seen on every hand in the extension of railways (horses and carriages were required only in local travelling), in the lavish schemes of decoration and in the great crowds of prosperous people who gathered in all the towns to welcome Their Royal Highnesses. In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, the Royal visit was marked by receptions and balls upon a grand scale, and by illuminations and celebrations in which the whole populace shared. The Main Trunk railway was not completed at that time, so the Royal Party after visiting Rotorua took ship again from Auckland' to Wellington, but the journey between Christchurch and Dunedin was made by train. As a passing evidence of the prosperity of die times, it may be recalled that the Duke laid the foundation-stone in Wellington of two of the buildings which were at that time considered a great advance on previous structures —the Town Hall and the railway offices.

THE PRINCE'S TRIUMPH That Royal tour was a short one—only 17 days—but New Zealand had not to wait so long for the next sign of Royal favour. Thirty-one years separated the tours of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, but the Prince of Wales came to our shores nineteen years after his Royal parents had sailed away. In the lesser interval New Zealand had changed greatly; but'the changes were personal even more than material. The Great War and this Dominion's part in it and in the Peace negotiations had led to a new con-

ception of the Crown. • It may be said that 1 New Zealand in 1901 welcomed the future King and Queen as England might have welcomed them. When the Prince of Wales came in 1920 we recognised in him not only the son of the King, but the representative of the Grown, our strong and permanent link with the Mother Country. The events of that tour are still fresh in the memory of all. The Diggers will never forget the Prince's great and sincere interest in them, his readiness to allow them to claim him as one of themselves. The children also will long remember his appearance at their gatherings, and how he was seldom content with the formal part of die programme. One little story of his habit of breaking down formality is worth recalling. It was on the West Coast and there was a roadside reception to the Prince. A little girl had an address of welcome to present and she shyly tendered it to His Royal Highness. "Well, read it," he said with a smile. The little maid was embarrassed: "But the Mayor j said no addresses were to be read. There wasn't time," she explained. "I have a lot of time for you children," replied the Prince. So the address was read. It was ; the personal touch that won the hearts of I the people. When the Prince left a signed ; menu-card for the chef of the Royal \ restaurant-car, for example, he under- : lined "Toheroa soup" with the comment I "very good." The Prince's evident pleasI ure in everything that was done, his desire 1 to meet the people informally, and to know diem well, and his consideration won I him their affection and esteem. When the j railway strike upset his programme }ie immediately sacrificed his deer-stalking, ) the one bit of relaxation which he might have had, rather than disappoint .the people.

.'... VENTURESOME AND HUMANO4f;C He was a Prince, moreover,;'.who Jap« ;:: pealed^.to youths His Ventur6S6m^ spirit;..'' and daring delighted the young.' Wheia . '.. he insisted upon driving the car through, : the most dangerous . part of the- Bullet; Gorge, when he chose his own partners for the dance, youth applauded him as thoroughly human. He had more ample scope for giving rein to his own desires, .' because his tour included, some.parts-.of.- y. New Zealand off the beaten-RoyaL track. The chief cities and towns, of -course, were visited, but an effort was made also | to show the Prince New Zealand in the , making, the farms and mills, and mines which lie behind the towns. In this parti . of his tour His Royal Highness'evinced j the deepest interest. ...... . . I The tourjasted from 24th April to : ?3rd; ! May, and by constant travelling, the Prince;- I was able-in that time to see the towns and ': ; ! country of tlie Dominion and to;learn4q: . ' know its people. What he thought--pfo** | them was expressed in two extracts frop,:;: liis speeches. Shortly after landingjne .: r ~ said: "I feel myself no stranger-in^a strange land, but one of yourselves among my own kith, arid kin." Later, having; I seen the North Island and- its people,zfe ! said: "There is no country more solidly . and unrepentantly British." What.. the ■ people thought of the Prince was: shown : unmistakably throughout his stay.among ■ us—from the time of the jubilant welj come of Auckland till the final departure, ' > from Lyttelton. The enthusiasm-of a';! 1 people not given to. demonstration">W*4:' ; unparalleled. It gave proof more-lc"Dii« ~: 3 vincing than dozens of loyal addresses': ;, * that the people of New Zealand held "the" t Crown in the highest esteem.and'foir thee heir-apparent they treasured the wanhestr , personal affection. •.•-..