COAST TRADITION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20509, 10 January 1935, Page 9

COAST TRADITION.

Remarkable Welcome Given ( to Duke. END OF ROYAL VISIT. 11 is Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester will probably remember the West ('oast, not merely as a place that provided him with scenery of a . grandeur that surprised him, but that 1 gave him a welcome that was so warm . and spontaneous that he cot:ld not but . be affected by it. The tradition of the West Coast for hospitality and loyalty , was never better justified than during the Royal tour that has just concluded < there. Every town and hamlet gave him a welcome of genuine cordiality on his arrival. but what im- , pressed the members of the party as , the train bore them from Westland to , Canterbury last night was the way in , which the people turned out to bid , the Duke farewell. Cordial Farewells. The first demonstration of this 1 occurred at Ross, where his Royal Highness joined the train after the run from Waiho. A very large crowd J had collected at the railway station, and they cheered the arrival of the Duke vociferously. The Royal train was an object of very great interest, : and the people of Ross had an opportunity to inspect it at their leisure as it spent a considerable time there awaiting the Duke. There was loud cheering as the train drew out to commence its long run to Canterbury and Otago. Darkness had fallen by the time Hokitika was reached, but the station and its approaches were packed with people, and the train passed through the station to the accompaniment of continuous cheering. There was no stop scheduled for Greymouth, but here again a considerable proportion of the population had assembled to bid the Royal visitor Godspeed. It happened, however, that the train did stop just long enough to permit the Post and Telegraph Department to give one of those demonstrations of its efficient organisation that were i. feature of the trip. Although the Duke did not appear. Greymouth had the satisfaction of feeling that the Royal visitor was in the Capital of the Coast for a second time. Cheers in the Darkness. Thereafter there were none but service stops, the first of them at a l.ite hour. But, every now and again, as the train steamed through, the night there came the sound of cheering. Unknown people at little places that those on the train failed to identify, at road crossings and small wayside stations, had gathered and waited in the dark to give the Royal visitor the only evidence available to them of their goodwill. Every now and again those cheers rose, gathered in volume as the train came opposite the people, and then died away •as it dashed by. There was something particularly impressive in these welcomes that came out of the darkness of the night lrom unknown people. Even at a very late hour the voices of children could be heard as they excitedly applauded the passing train. Goodwill of People. The goodwill of the people generally has been an outstanding and very ; pleasing feature of the tour. It found 1 expression not only in the welcomes given to the Duke, but also in the remarkable manner in which the roads were cleared when the Royal visitor was motoring. A good deal of the credit for this, of course, belongs to the police, who have worked with remarkable efficiency, smoothness and tact throughout, but a more substantial portion of it belongs to the people for the manner in which they co-operated. . On the long run yesterday from Waiho to Ross there was not a single traffic delay, although an hour before the Roval procession passed there were a large number of south-bound vehicles on the road. It is not easy on the Ross-Waiho road to make way for passing vehicle. The metalled section of the road is narrow and to get off the metal is to run the risk of sinking axle deep in the yielding soil at the sides. But in some manner the motorists managed to get out of the way, with the result that the Royal procession had an uninterrupted run to Ross. The Duke’s tour has called for an enormous amount of detail work. ■ Every member of the party has to be accounted for and booked ahead not ' only by train or motor, but also at ; hotels, and the omission of any point, i no matter how minor, is likely to • result in a disruption of a major character. Members of the staff of the l Department of Internal Affairs have - been working the longest hours they I ever worked to keep things running smoothly, and so far they have i succeeded admirably. They have had ' the novel and disconcerting experience : of working while travelling in trains 5 and motor-cars, while the hours of - play that other members of the party f have managed to snatch at the points r where there has been any appreciable i stop has meant for them just another i burst of work in an effort to make - good the delays inevitable where ) attempts are made to work in moving vehicles. About four hours’ sleep per - night has been their average, but there l have been no complaints. Their i slogan is: “We have a job to do and ’ we are doing it.” - The success and smoothness with ' which the tour has been carried i through are a proof that their slogan i is not a boast.