LORD BLEDISLOE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22108, 14 May 1935, Page 6

LORD BLEDISLOE

[WELCOME AT LYDNEY ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION SPEECH REGARDING DOMINION [feoji otra own correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON. April 27 Lord Bledisloe appears to have felt the result of his strenuous life in New Zealand when he went on board ship for the voyage home. No sooner had the tension relaxed than he suffered a temporary breakdown, eventuating in a severe attack of sciatica that deprived him of his sleep. After tho vessel left Wellington very rough weather -was experienced. In London, however, two nights of natural sleep resulted in an improvement in his health. He has been warned by his doctors that he must take a prolonged rest before he undertakes any active work. After their visit to Windsor Castle Lord and Lady Bledisloe wont to their home at Lydney, where, on Easter Monday, they were given a public reception. The police, the fire brigade, Boy Scouts, members 'of the British Legion, Girl Guides, schoolchildren, shopkeepers, tinworkers and tenants and employees on the Bledisloe estate thronged the streets under arches gaily decorated with bunting. Lord Bledisloe was obviously touched by the warmth of his welcome, and he gazed round the streets of his home town with undisguised pies,sure, and acknowledged many familiar faces of townsfolk and tenants. After the first reception in the streets a procession headed Lord and Lady Bledisloe's. car through tho town of Lydney to the Bathurst Park (one of Lord Bledisloe's gifts to the town), where another big crowd awaited the official ceremony of welcome. The home-comers were greeted here by cheers from Children from all the surrounding schools. They were then conducted to the bandstand in the centre of the park and here each received gifts from the Lydney townsfolk and an official addrests of welcome from Mr. C. H. Steel, chairman of the Lydney Parish Council. ! ■ Courage and Steadfastness Following presentations and speeches, Lord Bledisloe said something about his •work in New Zealand. " Within my administrative area," he said, " were to be found tie most warm-hearted and lovable people in the whole of the British Empire, without distinction of race, dlass, creed, or political attachments. Following upon the disastrous Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931, which caused immense financial loss to the Dominion, New Zealand has, for the last three years, been* passing through a period of economic tribulation unsurpassed in part of the British Empire. "The courage, the steadfastness, the patience and the dogged optimism with which Europ€ians and Maoris alike throughout the Dominion have faced their difficulties and privations have been to both me and my wife a great inspiration, and have imbued us with the determination to do all in our power, so far* as the powers of the GovernorGeneral of - a self-governing Dominion permit, to render them assistance and practical symjiathy. "What has appealed to me in my work in New Zealand," said Lord Bledisloe, "from the conversations I had, is the lamentable ignorance which, unfortunately, prevails on the part of Great Britain of the conditions of the people of the overseas Dominions, and similarly tlhe ignorance of the Dominions people of the conditions in the homeland." Demoralising Literature Referring to the influence of the Mother Country on New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe said that the habits, ideals and outlook of the British settlers overseas were copied from those in the homeland, gnd he emphasised that this country should set an example. "There are fjreat numbers of people, school teachers, ministers of all denominations, and social reformers," he said, "who view in 110 small alarm the baneful effect of much modern literature and cinema :51ms on the morality of the youth of the New Zealanders. Nothing would please me more than to see a very genuine effort made through our various Christian organisations to prevent anything that is demonstrably demoralising passing from the Old Land into a country like New Zealand, and thereby lowering the prestige, honour, and reputation of the Old Country in the minds and hearts of our cousins overseas."

Throughout the afternoon bells were pealed from the parish church of St. Mary's in honour of the homecomers, 900 scholars sang an ode of welcome, and in the evening the Lydney Town Hall was crowded on the occasion of a public dinner of welcome.