PRINCE “EDDIE”

Evening Star, Issue 21904, 15 December 1934, Page 11

PRINCE “EDDIE”

POPULAR PERSONAGE'S VISIT HAPPY OUT OF DOORS INSTANCES OF THOUGHTFULNESS It was on H.M.S. Renown, under the command of Captain E. A. Taylor, with Admiral Halsey as his guide and Lord Louis Mountbatten (his cousin) as companion, that the Prince of Wales made his journey to New Zealand and Australia in 1920. The course was as straight for New Zealand as the geographical configuration allows. Leaving Portsmouth on March 16, the Renown steered for the Barbadoes, then Colon, and witli only one other short stop at San Diego, the big ship moved on to Honolulu. No time was wasted on those early stages of the tour, and even the stay at Honolulu .was made very short—just enough to enable the' Prince to indulge in surfing during the day and dancing in the evening. April 13 was the day of his experience in a catamaran. He was piloted out into the breakers by Duke Kahanamoku, the champion swimmer (who, by the way, was a pure Kanaka, and was given the_ title of “Duke” because of his services with the Duke of Edinburgh in 1869). The surfing was glorious. The dance so-so; the crowd * was so big that nobody could dance. OVER THE LINE. The Renown crossed the Equator on April 16, and the Neptune ceremonials were .probably the most elaborate ever undertaken on any ship. The Prince and his cousin were both amongst the victims of the ordeal.

was, at any rate, groat variety in the Canterbury . hospitality hunting, shooting, dancing, and expeditions on a lavish scale to Mount Cook and other resorts. The Renown did not come further south than Lyttelton. The visitors to her in New Zealand numbered 182,463.

FUNCTIONS IN DUNEDIN. From Christchurch to Dunedin the journey was made by train, every township en route making the host of iU slender opportunity to give the Prince a hearty greeting. it was in fine weather, at a little after 7 p.m., on Monday, May 17, that the Royal party reached Dunedin. Sii William Fraser, the first to alight from the Prince’s carriage, presented the mayor (Mr W. Begg). who in turn presented his councillors. An enormous crowd assembled, and its welcome was the heartiest over accorded any visiting personage. People cheered and cheered and cheered, not as a duty, not of any prompting, but that of unfeigned gladness at seeing the . Royal lad. They took to him at once. Some of the many soldiers in the crowd noted that the Prince had largclv put off the boyish appearance ho hao had when watching the Otago Alounteds playing football on the banks of the Suez Canal some years previously. As one looked upon the Prince on that memorable evening of 1920 one would hardly have believed him to bo twentysix years old. The Prince was driven to his temporary quarters at the Fernhill Club, where he had dinner. The Male Choir, stationed in an adjoining _ chamber, supplied the serenade music, led by Mr Jesse Timson. A similar form of homage was offered -the Duke and Duchess of York when they dined at the Fernhill Club nineteen years previously, but on that occasion the choir sang out of doors. In the evening the Prince saw the illuminations, which were on a lavish scale, the Dunedin Fire Brigade excelling itself at the head of the procession.