"DIGGER POWER."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 1912, 31 March 1920, Page 8

"DIGGER POWER."

TO DRIVE PRINCE'S CAR. WANGANUI SOLDIERS EXCITED. [Special to The San.] WANGANUI, March 31. The returned soldiers of Wanganui, being anxious to take a prominent part in the welcome to the "Digger Prince," feel that an attempt has been made to keep them in the background, and this they are resenting. They are equally determined that they shall have some say in affairs. The question was discussed at a meeting of the Returned Soldiers' Association last evening, and, in reply to a query as to whether the car arranged for the Prince was one owned by a person of foreign extraction, the president said he had given the Mayor thoroughly to understand that, if the Prince had to be driven, a returned soldier should drive him. He had also told his Worship that, if other than a purely British-owned car was hired to convey the Prince from the railway station, it might be necessary for the returned soldiers of Wanganui to remove his Royal Highness from such a car—and they did not want anything'of the kind to occur. It was unanimously decided that a returned soldier should be given the privilege of driving the Prince, if a car was required. The president suggested that it would be a good idea on the occasion of the Prince's arrival if they used "digger" muscle, instead of benzine, to propel the ear from the railway station to the hotel, a suggestion which found favour with many. The Mayor to-day explained that all the cars to be used had been arranged for by the Government, but the Prince was bringing his own car and chauffeur.