N.Z.’S WELCOME

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18581, 15 December 1934, Page 5

N.Z.’S WELCOME

OFFICIAL ADDRESSES LOYALTY OF DOMINION GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE KING’S VISIT RECALLED (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, extended a most cordial welcome to His Royal Highness on behalf of till classes and both races in New Zealand.

His Excellency said: “We are indeed gratified and honored that, after your strenuous tour in Australia, you tire, with the King’s gracious permission, about to spend six weeks among us, and we hope and believe that your sojourn in this attractive outpost of the British Empire will prove enjoyable and interesting. “Nowhere within the wide ambit of our Empire territory will you find people more loyal to the Throne, more devoted in their affection for the Royal House, or more steadfast in their attachment to the Old Country and its traditions and ideals than those who inhabit this Dominion. Nowhere, moreover, will you meet better or keener sportsmen. You can be assured of a greeting of enthusiastic sincerity from persons of every class and occupation wherever you may travel within these ocean-girt islands, evoked spontaneously both by their deep respect for our much-beloved King and Queen, and also by your own personal qualities and sympathies, which are such as appeal strongly to the highest instincts of the virile, Godfearing and progressively minded nation, characterised by resourcefulness and energy, which New Zealand aspires to be.

DOMINION'S ATTR ACTIONS “The visit of your royal parents to this country 33 years ago has left behind in the minds of her people the happiest recollections of the gracious and sympathetic interest displayed by Their Majesties in all their activities and in the pleasant environment with which a bounteous Nature has endowed them, and the indissoluble link of affection for the Royal House is destined to be still further cemented —if this indeed be possible—by your welcome appearance in our midst on your way back to the Motherland, which all New Zealanders describe as Home. It is our earnest hope that you will, during your all-too-short visit to this Dominion, feel thoroughly at home among the people of this particularly ‘homely’ branch of the British family of nations. “Our economic horizon has been sadly darkened by clouds of industrial and trade depression during the last three years, but the clouds are lifting and the advent of Your Royal Highness will materially aid in their final dissipation. “In expressing the hope that you wiil thoroughly enjoy your stay here, I would remind you that New Zealand, apart from its healthy, sunny climate and fertile soils, possesses many advantages and attractions, unique throughout the Empire, in the wealth of scenic beauty within a relatively small area displayed by its mountains, rivers, sounds, glaciers and lakes, and in the wonders of its thermal area and its glow-worm caves, not to mention its sporting facilities, and tho rich feast which it offers to the naturalist. The loyal, happy and accomplished Maori race will join whole-heartedly with their European compatriots in this welcome which, in the name of nil alike, I now warmly extend to Your Royal Highness. May you have a happy Christmastide in our midst.” GOVERNMENT'S WELCOME

The Government's address of welcome was read by the Prime Minister, who said: “On behalf of the Parliament and people of New Zealand, His Majesty’s Ministers extend to Your Royal Highness a most hearty and cordial welcome upon your arrival in the Dominion. The most distant of the self-governing Dominions from the heart of the British Empire, New Zealand stands unswerving in her loyalty to the Sovereign, and it is, therefore, with unfeigned pleasure that we warmly greet in person Your Royal Highness, the third of His Majesty’s sons whom we have been privileged to welcome to our country. “The growth and development of New Zealand in less than a century forms a living tribute to the colonising genius of the British people, and to the sturdy manhood of the pioneer settlers who laid so solid a foundation. The qualities of courage and tenacity handed down from those earlier days have, in no small measure, helped the citizens of the Dominion to meet the trials and tribulations inseparable from the recent ditli cult years of world-wide economic stress. “We are confident that in no part of the Empire will the welcome to Your Royal Highness from all classes of our population be more enthusiastic and sincere. We trust that you will enjoy the scenic beauty and natural wonders for which the Dominion is justly renowned, and carry away with you lasting and pleasant memories of your visit to us.

“We Parliamentary representatives of the people of New Zealand, pakeha and Maori, unite in wishing you a very happy Chrismastide in this Britain of the south.” COOK ISLANDS MESSAGE

Signed by Judge 11. F. Ayson, Resident Commissioner and president of the island council, and by the arikis and members of the council, a loyal address from the people of tho Cook Islands was presented by the Prime Minister. In saluting the Prince, the signatories said the Cook Islands were always proud to claim that they were the youngest child of her late beloved Majesty, Queen Victoria. European and Maori peoples of the islands were living happily together in a spirit of goodwill and mutual respect. They had always fully recognised the great privileges they enjoyed as an integral part of the Empire, and were well contented with the administration of the New Zealand Government.

They asked the Duke to convey to the King a message of devotion and attachment from the hearts of all his subjects in the Cook Islands, and of gratitude for the interest he always had taken in their welfare, and to assure him of) their continued unswerving loyalty to the flag and the Throne.