NEW ZEALAND TOUR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3899, 10 May 1937, Page 10 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND TOUR

DAYS OF 1927. TRIUMPHAL MARCH. WILD ENTHUSIASM SHOWN. Still fresh in the memory of New Zealanders is the visit of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York, in February, 1927, when the Duke, with his smiling Duchess, won a firm and affectionate place in the hearts of the people of the King’s furthest Dominion.

The Royal visitors came to New Zealand in H.M.S. Renown, which was first glimpsed as a grey smudge on the misty horizon of the Hauraki Gulf on the morning of February 22. As the great ship of war steamed majestically towards Rangitoto Channel, scores of small craft went scudding round North Head to welcome the ambassadors of Empire. Three ferry boats packed with sightseers steamed out, and H.M.S. Diomede put into the channel as a welcoming escorter. Wlith slow, majestic motion, the Renown came around North Head to be greeted with a tornado of acclamation. As the anchor was dropped in the Waitemata, gay flags broke out from the stem of the truck of the tall mainmast and down to the sterm, while launches and whitesailed yachts clustered round. Nothing could have been more typical of the warm welcome awaiting the guests on shore—and, indeed, awaiting them everywhere in New Zealand than the yachts and launches weaving backwards and forwards round the monster battleship. All the newspapers in New Zealand published souvenir supplements, and southern centres waited impatiently for their turn to offer hospitality to the King’s son and the charming Duchess. All the appearances of the Royal visitors were marked by record crowds. Twelve thousand children in the Auckland Domain gave the Duke and Duchess a welcome which more truly than anything else represented the spirit of the young nation and it was a welcome that must have seemed royal even to Royalty. Here were the future men and women of New Zea land, future mothers and fathers of the race, and, as it has transpired, undreamt of at that time, the subjects of the future King and Queen. HOLIDAY AT BAY OF ISLANDS. After leaving Auckland the Royal couple went to the Bay of Islands for a fishing holiday. Though the Duke did not have the luck which is sometimes vouchsafed to commoners, he caught a 1501 b reremai shark. When it was seen that the Duke was about to land his catch, other launches in the neighbourhood drew near to see the end of the struggle, and when eventually the shark was hauled aboard, the other fishermen cheered wildly. After this welcome break, their Royal Highnesses returned to Auckland, and the next ten days, during which they toured by rail and motor right through the North Island, were some of the most strenuous in their journey. STAY AT ROTORUA. When New Zealand’s visitors left

Auckland they were bound for Rotorua, on the way stopping at Pukekohe, Ngaruawahia, and Hamilton An hour was spent in the last-named place, where they drove through decorated streets lined many feet deep by Tesidents to the sports ground, where they were many times cheered by 7000 children, many of whom had come in 100 miles from the surrounding districts. On the ground several hundred ex-service-men were paraded, and iftie Duke found time to shake hands with the little daughter of one of the bemedalled veterans.

Here is an incident typical of many unobtrusive acts done by the Duchess on her tour. As she passed through the Wfar Memorial Park, where stands the town’s cenotaph, she reverently placed at its foot a little bouquet that she had been given by a little girl earlier in the day. Despite a drenching downpour a truly Royal welcome was provided at RotJorua, one of the main home? in New Zealand of the Maori race. The native welcome they received in that town will live long in their memory. The address of welcome was couched in picturesque Maori phraseology. It began: “Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Son, welcome! Thrice has Royalty deigned to honour our courtyard, to enter our humble house, to. walk amongst us. It is good . . . Welcome and farewell. Pass on to that larger land where awaits your ultimate duty, the dedication of yet another corner-stone in the proud edifice of Empire.” WELCOME AT WELLINGTON. A fishing holiday of another kind was enjoyed at a rest camp at Tokaanu, after which, on the way to Wellington, the visitors passed through the National Park. At Stratford, both the Duke and Duchess joined in the general merriment when, as well as the ordinary cheers, three were given “for the baby at home.” In Wanganui the Duke and Duchess were accorded a typical welcome in Cook’s Gardens, where a spectacular display was given by school children. The welcome at the Dominion capital was in essential respects a repetition of what was accorded the visi tors at Auckland. Fifty thousand people gave their Royal Highnesses a magnificent ovation when they attended a military pageant at Newtown Park. The pageant was preceded by a stirring children’s demonstration, the outstanding feature of which was the formation by 4000 children in red, white, and blue hoods of a living Union Jack. At the lunchetth given at the Town Hall by the New Zealand Government His Royal Highness gave an indication of that interest in children which has characterised his later years. “Take care of the children and the country will take care of it,self,” he said, “and if we can judge by the appearance of the future citizens of. New Zealand, I think we can safely say that the future prosperity of the Dominion is assured.” MISFORTUNE OF DUCHESS. Dire- misfortune overtook the Royal party right at the outset of the South Island tour. The Duchess got as far as Nelson and then, suffering from a bad attack of tonsilitis,-was forced to abandon the remainder of the tour and return to Wellington. It was a bitter disappointment for the residents of the South Island, who, having heard so much of the “smiling Duchess,” were looking forward to seeing her. With everything now depending on him alone, the Duke threw himself

even more whole-heartedly into the work that lay ahead. His sincerity in all things, his kindliness and thoughtfulness for others gained him receptions which, it seemed, could scarcely have been more enthusiastic if the Duchess had been with him. The reception accorded the Duke in the Labour strongholds on the West Coast of the South Island was peculiarly significant. Wherever he went in the mining districts his welcome was, if anything, more enthusiastic than anywhere else. It has been said that the welcome at Christchurch was the most enthusistic of the whole tour. However that may be, the people of the most English of the New Zealand cities certainly laid themselves out to do their best, and it is interesting to note tihat a friendship was struck between the Rev. J. K. Archer, the Labour Mayor, known throughout the South Island as the “Bolshie Mayor,” and His Royal Highness. Incidentally, in Christchurch, the Duke became a life member of the Returned Soldiers’ Association of New Zealand, and the speech he gave to the “Diggers” on that night is still remembered. MAORIS’ FAREWELL. And so at length the Duke came to Dunedin, where an impressive ceremony was his unveiling of the citizens’ wai- memorial. It was in this town that he heard many times the stirring music of the bagpipes. Here, too, the Duke played a barrel organ to the approximate tune of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” and was rewarded with twopence by a member of his staff. After a tour of the cold lakes district, the Duke left New Zealand from the Bluff. Tuesday, March 22, was his last day in New Zealand. In his farewell message he said: So long as we live, we shall always carry with us the happiest memories of our visit to New Zealand.” This was the last message of the Maori people: “Farewell to you, the snowwhite crane which flies but once in a lifetime, and to your priceless garment of heaven.—Kia Ora.”