THE PRINCE IN CORNWALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21993, 30 June 1933, Page 14

THE PRINCE IN CORNWALL

A TALK TO FARMERS VISIT TO CHINA CLAY WORKS NEW LINES OF PRODUCE. (Fkom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 26. The Prince of Wales has been spending n few days in the Duchy of Cornwall, which includes the.Sc.illy Isles. He leit London at 1.40 a.m. by, the newspaper train for Falmouth, and crossed over; in a flying boat. He had a wonderful reception in the beautiful islands. It was his first visit for 12 years. : __ Before landing, the Prince made an aerial tour of his scattered Atlantic domain and repeatedly waved to ins tenants. He toured St. Mary sby ear in order to call on some of his tenants and see their work. The weather was so hot that he took off his coat and completed the tour hatless and with shirt sleeves rolled up. Most of the farmers were also in their shirt sleeves as they showed the Prince over their land and greenhouses. On returning to the mainland, the Prince visited St. Austell to attend the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show, and he spent a considerable time visiting the North Goonbarrow china clay works, viewing at close quarters the production of this substance which has considerable use—from utility pottery to _ paper, chemicals, cosmetics, and dressing for some fabrics. , , . . The simple, open-air process of obtaining this soft, white, powdery substance (says The Times representative) has not changed materially in 60 years. difference between what the Prince saw and what the King and Queen'saw when, as Prince and Princess of Wales, they visited North Goonbarrow in 1909, was in mechanical appliances. The advice was typified by the contrast between the old gaunt beam engine houses and the modern oil engine power-house. n The Prince was shown “mica drugs. , which remove coarse particles from the clay in suspension in.; water, and the settling pools where most of the water is removed, and he went inside a drying kiln. ■ , , e After visiting the service schemes ol voluntary work'for the unemployed--mainly clay workers —at Stenalees. T enwithick, and St. Austell County School—the Prince saw the Service Institute in the course of construction, and commended the movement to give the men something more than amusement. : BROCCOLI AND BACON. At the Agricultural Show the Prince, chatting with Mr Roynon (the manager) and Mr A. Gregg (the county agricultural organiser) expressed admiration for the equality of the sides of bacon and the bacon pigs. He remarked that the most important factor in successful bacon production was to concentrate on the right type of pig and realise the folly of attempting to produce bacon from unsuitable breeds. In a speech after luncheon, addressing !)000 people, the Prince referred to his own success at the show, and said that, generally speaking, people in Great Britain should regard farming as an industry, their farms ns factories, and the farmers ns managers. If they could not find a market for the goods they produced it was up to them to explore another line. He suggested commercial horticulture as one for which the climate and soil of Cornwall were eminently suitable. It had not only helped farmers who had gone in for it, but meant that the land carried more men. The success of broccoli production was a witness of what he meant, as well as flower cultivation in the Scilly Isles. After referring to what he saw of the bacon industry iu Denmark, the development of which had followed upon an agricultural crisis in that country and had grown through the exercise of efficiency and co-operation, he said that in time he was sure this country could in-

crease her own bacon industry by concentrating on a minimum of selected breeds and eliminating all others. Referring to the “great outstanding problem of unemployment,’’ he said that ns regards percentage, though nob in numbers, the people in Cornwall were carrying almost as heavy a burden as any county in Great Britain. The tin industry offered very little promise just now, and, although he had visited one of the china clay pits, and felt the encouragement) of the recapture recently of an order for a higher grade of china clay in America, h'e realised that, however great the improvement might be, the industry would never absorb the same number of men it did before the War. This was where the National Council of Social Service could help and was helping in that district to fit men for their _ jobs and keep them mentally and physically fit. He had seen the wonderful spirit in the district and the activities of the unemployed on the work schemes. “Whether it be shipbuilding on the Clyde oi- at Newcastle, or coal mining in South Wales or Durham, these industries can no longer expect the monopolies they were used to. Those who cannot he absorbed into these industries must he given the opportunity of learning other trades. We must realise the necessity of some occupation, mental or physical, being given to those less lucky than ourselves,” concluded his Royal Highness. While in the Duchy the I’rince reviewed a parade of the 4th/sth Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (of which regiment he is colomd-in-chief), a detachment of Royal Engineers, 2000 British Legionaries, 500 Scouts and Guides. He expressed great interest in the handicraft and produce exhibition of the Cornwall Federation of Womens’ Institutes, examined the exhibits. and discussed their merits witli the organisers. The return to London was made by air from Roborough, the Plymouth airport.