NORTH ISLAND TOUR ENDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18596, 5 January 1935, Page 8

NORTH ISLAND TOUR ENDS

THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER VISIT TO WAIT? AIIAPA TUMULTUOUS RECEPTION i

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, last night. (Marking the completion of the North Island tour, the Duke of Gloucester's visit to the Wairarapa was eminently successful throughout a day which the districts should mark with a white cross of satisfaction. Woodville lost itself in enthusiasm and its juvenile population will never forget the moments when the Duke walked along the station platform in order that several hundred boys and girls, drawn from Woodville and (he surrounding districts, should have their greatesl wish gratified—a good view of the Prince. The reception at Masterton was of the tumultuous variety. The Duke planted an oak tree in the same plot where a similar ceremony was performed by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. Of his own initiative ihe Duke paid a surprise visit to the public hospital and spent ir> minutes talking to the patients in the various wards. In the maternity wards he saw three babies and spoke to the mothers. ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON With the arrival of the Royal train at Lambton station at 7.15 o'clock tonight, u total rail mileage of 040" miles had been covered since the start of the tour. j At Cross Creek, great interest was i taken by the Duke in the operation I of the centre rail, gripping the 'Fell engines, which were there hitched to

the train and two A.'TJ. locomotives' displaced. The train pulled alongside IL'M.A.S. Australia at Pipitea wharf at 7.20 p.m. and the Duke embarked until to-inorrow afternoon. An heirloom of the Ngatikahunguhu tribe, a war-scarred taiaha, is now the property of the Duke of Gloucester, having -been presented to him in Masterton by Chieftainess Arepera Hawea, of the sub-tribe Ngaitahu. The taiaha, which was owned by her great-great-grandfather, and 'bears the name "Mflkuhea" after the owner's wife, saw service in the Maori wars. MAIL FOR THE DUKE

While the Duke of Gloucester is in the South Island his mail from England will be taken from the port of arrival to wherever he is at the time by aeroplanes of the New Zealand Air Force. The 'first batch of mail is due on Monday by the Monowai, which is bringing to the Dominion the third England-Australia air mail, Flight-Lieutenant M. W. Buckley, R.N.Z.A.F., will leave Wigram aerodrome to-morrow to fly to Wellington. As soon as the Monowai arrives, she will take the Duke's letters and leave

for Hokitika. A week or so later, when the next air mail reaches the Dominion, the Duke will probably.he at the Hermitage, 'Mount Cook, and an Air Force aeroplane will take his letters to the nearest landing ground, probably Simon's Pass station, near Lake Te Kapo.