The Hawera Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1931. THE PRINCE IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 16 February 1931, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1931. THE PRINCE IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’olook in Hawera. Manain Kaupokonui, Otakebo, Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Normanby. Okaiawa, Eltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Hahoe, Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Whenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Obangai, Meremerc, Fraser Boad. and Ararata.

It is not surprising that the Prince of Wales and his brother, Prince George, are receiving an exuberant welcome in Peru. Apart altogether from his attractive personality, and that inherited tact which made his grandfather in other days the friend of foreigners; the Prince is not a stranger in Latin America. He visited Argentina six years ago, and won the goodwill of the people by his charm of manner as well as by the similarity of his tastes to those of the Argentinos themselves. He has a true Englishman’s love of country life and of horses, and nothing more than these is needed there. It was certain therefore that what gained him ready popularity on one side of the Andes would win for him a personal triumph on the other side; as it has actually happened. In a recent cable message describing the cordial reception given to the Princes at Lima it is mentioned that the Prince of Wales responded in Spanish. A Prince who has the forethought and application to master a new language in order to succeed as a Royal'ambassador has success in his hands before lie starts. It is to be hoped also that his example will be copied by his countrymen. South America has become a vast field for international trade, and one of the hindrances to the development of British interests there is the fact that British traders and manufacturers are ignorant of their market owing to their lack of a working knowledge of the Spanish language. It is not. cnougli to be able to speak Spanish as an act of courtesy; it is essential that representatives of British trade in South America should be able to understand and make themselves understood in that tongue, because the Latin-Americans are a sensitive people, quick to resent being looked upon merely as a means of making money for foreign traders. North Americans have been shrewd enough to realise that need, and have made, and still are making, a special study of their Latin-American customers’ wants and idiosyncrasies. It was the Prince of Wales himself who pointed out, before leaving London recently for Buenos Ayres (where, on March 14th, ho will open the British Empire Trade Exhibition), that British exporters throughout the Empire “must recognise the need for employing a more adequate and a more appropriately educated staff if British trade is to live and grow, and not wither and die.’’