THE PRINCE OF WALES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17942, 22 May 1920, Page 9

THE PRINCE OF WALES

FAREWELL MESSAGE.

TOUGHED BY WONDERFUL WELCOMES. HIS IMPRESSIONS. fl * MILITARY TRAINING SYSTEM EULOGISED. WOMEN WAR WORKERS CONGRATULATED. "LUCKY CHILDREN." (Pee United Press Association.) CIffiISTCHUECir, May 21. Tho following farewell message wa3 handed to the Prime Minister by the Prince of Wales to-night on board 11, M.5. Renown: — "TO THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND. " My delightful visit to New Zealand has come to an end, and I cannot sail to-morrow morning without sending a message of affectionate farewell to the people of the dominion. " When I spoke in Wellington I tried to express tho great pleasure which my travels through the North Island, rapid as they were, had given me, and I said that I looked forward to having just as good a time in the south. The event has exceeded my expectations, liigh though they were. I can say now that not a day has passed since I landed on April 24 which has not added to the pleasure and value of my tour. I have been most deeply touched by the wonderful welcomes which have met me everywhere, and I can never think of the people of New Zealand without affection and gratitude. " I should like to renew tho thanks, whicih I have expressed before, to the Government of the dominion, #nd to all the authorities throughout New Zealand who have been at such pains to make my journey punctual and comfortable. The excellence of all the arrangements has enhanced the pleasure of my travels, both by road and by rail, and I am particularly glad to have seen even a very little of the magnificent scenery of mountain, river, and lake for which this dominion is famous throughout the world. "I have only one regret: that my visit has been' too short to enable me to see all that I should like to have seen. I have stayed nowhere without wishing that my stay could be prolonged, and I feel that I have missed' a great deal. I am particularly sorry that owing to the shortness of time at my disposal I could not travel a little through the less settled districts and see for myself something of up-country life.

" I have seen enough of town and country, however, to realise that a splendid future awaits the dominion. Your achievement since the country was annexed to the British Crown, only eighty years ago, justifies the almost visionary confidence of your pioneers, and constitutes an, amazing monument to the grit and enterprise of those who have so rapidly civilised and developed the land.

" Two things have particularly impressed me here. In the first place New Zealand is a land not merely of opportunity for some, but of equal opportunity for all. I have neVer seen wellbeing and happiness more uniformly evident throughout the population of Country and town. In the second place this dominion is a living example of the fact that the European race may take over new country without injustice to its original inhabitants, and that both may advance in mutual confidence and understanding on a common path. Both races of New Zealand, the pakeha and Maori, are an essential element in the life of the dominion, and I have been deeply gratified to see what progress the Maori people are making, hand in hand with their fellow subjects.

'' " New Zealand is one of the greatest monuments of British civilisation in the vworld, and I have felt from end to end of the dominion that there is ncftvhere \he British people are more set in British traditions, or .more true to British form. I have found the strength of your loyalty to the Empire and its Sovereign as keen and bracing as the mountain air, and I know that you will never weaken in your devotion to British unity and British ideals. '* The spirit (of New Zealand was shown most signally by the! splendid troops which she sent to the front in the great war, and also by the way in • which the whole country threw 'itself, without hesitation or reserve, into the Empire's cause. It has been a special pleasure to me to meet again so many of your returned .men, and I should like to thank them once more for turning out in euch large numbers to meet me wherever I have been. I regard them always as my old comrades-in-arms, and I am happy to see that they are maintaining- the rlose ties of comradeship which bound them together in the field. New Zealand need fear nothing of the future if her manhood preserves "the same spirit in which this generation fought and endured for dom and right.

"In its permanent forces ( the | dominion po<A esses a very valuable nucleus ,of trained officers and men. I have been struck by their smart and soldierly appearance on parade, and have have also been impressed by your terri torials and cadets, who have turned out in large numbers, and always looked very well. You have reason to be proud of the results which your system of training has achieved. " Your confidence in the future has another solid ■ ground. No one realises more keenly than I how heroic was the part which the women of the Empire played in the prolonged and terrible ordeal of war. I should like to take this opportunity of congratulating again the women of New Zealand on their great services and brave endurance dur in the last five years, and also of offer ing my heartfelt sympathy to those whose gallant men will not return. The New Zeaand women have proved themselves indeed a valiant counter part of their husbands, brothers, and sons.

" Both men and women, moreover, have created a noble tradition for the new generation which is- growing up to-day. I have been greatly impreaH by the gatherings of school children which have been organised for me everywhere, and I have never seen a mor« rob«st, good-mannered, and promising

race. I always felfc when seeing them that thoy -were very lucky children to have been born in such surroundings, and .amid such promise, and they made mo confident that they would Ik; n credit to their country and their King. "I must end tins mcwsage now, but I shall not say good-bye. I feel myself a true NoW Zealander in heart. I look upon you, the people of New Zealand, as my own kith and kin, and I trust that you on your part will aways regard mo as one of yourselves, who belongs to you as much as to the Old Country or any other of the King's dominions.

"There is a good part of the world for mo to traverse still before I, can say that I have seen tho British Empire as a whole, and I do not know how long it may be before I can p&j you another visit here, but this at least I can say, that I shall be drawn to New Zealand by very happy and affectionate memories, and that when the opportunity arises of returning here again, I shall take it with delight, and without delay. ' Kia ora.' "Edward P."