The Prince & the Dominion

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6667, 21 July 1928, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Prince & the Dominion

H.R.H. AT TOP OF HIS FORM AT NEW ZEALAND DINNER . SOME ENTERTAINING COMPARISONS '*

I .mi i ■ mii HE Prince of Wales was at the top of his form at the dinner given by the \JAU%y the New Zealand r Assoelation at the Savoy Hotel recently. Sir James ■ • Parr, High Commissioner for New Zealand, was in the chair. • “I do not know whether your invitation to me to-night is in'the nature of a hint that ■ it is about, time I was hack in New Zealand again,” said the Prince, “but l am afraid that, although the spirit and the flesh are both of them willing, I have other plans in view at the moment which will prevent this happening in the very near future. I: shall have to content myself with memories, very happy ones, of my first visit. I regret to say that all happened eight years ago. It seems a very long time, and yet I do not believe that my recollections* my memories oif the experience that-I had of New Zealand are really any less vivid than those of my brother last year. How could either Qf us possibly forget those wonderful and enthusiastic welcomes we received on all sides and the good friends we felt we had made? * '”• Visits Compared

.-./‘My brother and I have compared notes of our two different trips .We have compared our programmes and our experiences, and I must say that in most cases we covered both in the North and the South Islands very much of the same ground. Comparisons are odious, but, when we compared notes, naturally small differences arose, and ode I noticed particularly concerned the geysers of Rotorua. Not, only from what my brother told me, but from the newspaper reports, the geysers Piayed up very much better for my brother than they did for myself ; I -dp not- know whether that is .a- reflection upon your High Commissioner, who vtas at the time Minister of Education. It might be a slight reflection upon him that he had not trained the geysers to work : ;as- well, as he trained the children to sing. I remember Sitting for a very long time, at the mouth of Old Pohutu while quantities of soap were poured into it with the hope of . inducing it to spout, and even the efforts of a bunch of Maoris who sang to us to pass the time and concluded their impromptu programme With -.. a', somewhat ribald war song abbut the Kaiser, had no effect. With gfeat reluctance we had to give it up. : ?*.‘Then! again we compared notes, and I told my brother that the New Zealand Government had not provided him ■with one of those very - slight, very peaceful, and short industrial disputes that happened in . New Zealand. That was excluded from his programme. I told him that he had missed a good deal.' But 1 had to assure him that I had never handled any 6f' : your officials: so roughly as he," or maybe the members of his staff, treated the town clerk of Nelson, for, if %e can believe the reports, he was literally pushed into the sea. - ■ ‘‘Then Mr., Amefy # ; has been to New, Zealand, I have, reafl of his trip, and .{ have read some of the admirable speeches he - has made. I have also re|ad that he ..climbed your highest mountain. I could tell you stories and incidents —some of them serlous, some' possibly amusing—that happened to mb those eight years ago. I could talk on the.; subject, of .rhe recent development 4 of the Dominion, but from what the, High Commissioner says I do not feel that at this moment New Zealand is in want of ‘booming.’ I would like to congratulate ypti on having secured the presence of s,o. many distinguished men to-night—-those who have done'great work for thb Empire as well as for New Zealand. ■ ’* . s. ' Seeing the Dominions ’T wish sometimes that New Zealand was not quite so far away. If it was not quite so far I might knpw it . almost as well as; I know Canada. I made the suggestion at the Canada Club dinner ' last winter that . the people of Great Britain should, if they cap, do if with their own rpeans, and, if they cannot, they should be encouraged to do so by other means—step right over, and see the Dominions for themselves, even if they do not mean to settle there. If they see the Dominions‘in the right way and come ba’ck they are very good agents.for the. Dominions. There is a scheme which carries out in practice the ideas I ; have often advocated. There, lias been recently a very successful tour of public school boys to South Africa. They are to go to Canada this year, apd I hope that a tour to New Zealand and to Australia is contemplated for next year. I envy those boys. I think they are very lucky to have this great opportunity. You cannot go away from this country too young. They will have even a better opportunity of seeing New Zealand than I had, though I do not say that they will have such a good time as I had. They will have an opportunity of really learning and getting down to bedrock. “With the advance of aviation, who knows that one of these days I might