IN HAWKE'S BAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19783, 5 March 1927, Page 6

IN HAWKE'S BAY

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS TRIUMPHAL TOUR CONTINUED ROUSING V7ELCOMES EVERYWHERE. t Per Presfi Asaociatien. ] NAPIER, March 4. In the glorious sunshine of a typical New Zealand autumn day, the Duke and Duchess of York left their hotel this morning at nine o’clock to receive a welcome from the people of the Manawatu, with Palmerston North as its capital. Long before the Royal party appeared 5000 school children had been drawn up in the Square, also Boy Scouts from all over the district, Girl Guides, Flock House boys, girls’ high and technical school pupils, and cadets, the guard of honour being supplied by the 7th. Battalion. The Duke commented on the fine physical appearance of the school children, stating that he had been very much impressed with the school children of the country. Amidst a spontaneous outburst of cheering the party then proceeded to the dais in the centre of the Square, where the address of welcome was read on behalf of tch municipality and the Kairenga County Council. An address of welcome from the Scottish Society of Palmerston North was also presented, including a sprig of heather plucked from the banks of Loch Lomond. Mr James Vining, a pioneer settler, who presented a stock whip to the Prince of Wales in 1920, gave a greenstone tomahawk to the Duke. Following tho Duke’s acknowledgement of the welcome, the party entered their car and drove around the Square through throngs of cheering people to the railway station, whence tho Royal train departed for Hawke’s Bay. Through the Gorge. The Duke and Duchess had one more experience of the changing phases of of life to be found in New Zealand in the course of a single round of the clock’s shortest hand if one has rapid means of transit such as an express train affords. From the combined agricultural and pastoral lands of the Manawatu, the visitors found themselves reaching a point where the Tararua range, which had stretched its purple barrier across the horizon, seemed suddenly to open out. a cleft, and tho Manawatu River rolled its brown flood seaward alongside the railway. Narrower and narrower became the gorge, with the train on one side and a traffic roadway on the other, like a white ribbon lying closely along the hillside. The Duke and Duchess were able to feast their eyes upon natural “set pieces” quite different from anything they had yet seen, and they enjoyed it—every moment of it—except when once or twice the train plunged suddenly into tho Cimmerian darkness of a tunnel. Emerging from the Manawatu Gorge, the train entered the rolling upland country with smiling homesteads dotted over the landscape. It passed through Woodville without stopping, as tomorrow will be the day there, and so on to Danncvirkc, where a short halt was made. The Mayor (Mr A. J. C. Runciman) and his wife were presented and the party went through the station to a dias erected in the street outside. The Duke and Duchess went smilingly through the round of receiving an address of welcome, to which a felicitations reply was made in writing, inspected parades of Scouts and Girl Guides and school children, and were made known to councillors and their wives. Their Highnesses then re-en-tered the train which resumed its long trek to Hastings. To Hastings. The Duke and Duchess had been informed of the existence of Pukeora Sanatorium for returned soldiers suffering from T. 8., and with the ready sympathy that marks their every action, they decided to keep a lookout, one on either side of the Royal car, so that the waiting men would i»ot be missed when tne train passed. A wave of her hand and smiles from the Duchess rewarded them. The approach to Hastings was not allowed to go unheralded, since the Pakipaki Freezing Works men were on watch and a locomotive on a siding used its whistle to give a raucus welcome. Hastings itself made no secret of the fact that it expected th G visitors. All the countryside appeared to have come to town to augment the local people, and not only Cornwall Park, where the demonstration of welcome was held, but the streets leading to it, were all filled. Lincs upon lines of children were ranged in a great square behind war veterans and local notabilities facing the stand. Mr G. A. Maddison (Mayor) and other leading citizens welcomed the visitors. The departure from Hastings was marked by very warm enthusiasm, the crowd letting themselves go with a will, after being rather subdued during the more formal proceedings. A Night At Napier. The journey to Napier was soon accomplished. Through streets wearing a holiday air and seemingly filled with endless crowds, the procession of cars passed to Nelson Park, where the Royal couple went through a full programme of meeting local people and inspecting veterans (soldiers and nurses), and enjoying a scramble through the great mass of children. At the conclusion of the reception their Highnesses proceeded to the Masonic Hotel. The Duke had a game of tennis and dined at the hotel. Later i n the evening they returned to the train, where they will sleep to-night. H.M.S. Renown was in the outer harbour for a few hours this evening and her searchlights added to the play of [lights upOn the heaving surface of the harbour waters. After dinner the Duke and Duchess spent some minutes on the balcony overlooking the esplanade, and the huge crowd cheered again and again. At last his Royal Highness stepped to the front and spoke a few words, saying “Th e Duchess and I thank yon very much for your kind welcome and good wishes. We appreciate it very much, indeed, and we are sorry our stav among you is 80 short. The Duchess I' and I again thank you and wish you good night.” The “good night” was a. hearty one, and evoked a great outburst of cheers.