Australia -- Description and travel; New Zealand -- Description and travel; Windsor, Edward, Duke of, 1894-1972
Old Government House, which still serves an Excellency from Wellington
on tour, where the Dominion's address was read by the Hon. Mr. Massey,
Prime Minister, with his Cabinet standing by, is a spacious, Georgian
building surrounded by an old-world garden of lawns, shrubs and flowers.
It has a homely charm and beautiful views; it made one think of Surrey,
and must have been left with regret when New Zealand changed her
capital. Thence the route led back through the city to the Town Hall,
which was packed to its utmost capacity with well-dressed people who
gave the Prince a rousing reception. Here more addresses were presented,
and an informal levée was held, everybody present filing past. Large
crowds, meanwhile, waited patiently outside for his reappearance.
Later in the day the Prince was taken to the Domain cricket-ground,
where he reviewed five thousand returned soldiers and cadets and again
received an ovation. This cricket-ground is at the bottom of a shallow
valley, grassy hills forming a natural amphitheatre. Looked at from the
central stand while the review was in progress, the slopes of the
amphitheatre were as if covered with a fine Persian carpet, so thick was
the crowd upon the ground. It was a carpet that had frequent spasms of
agitation, the cheering and hat-slinging, whenever the Prince came near
to it, being exceedingly lively. H.R.H. first went down the lines of the
troops and had a friendly word for every officer and a number of the
men. Later on every man who had been wounded or disabled was presented
to him individually, the Prince going round to search them out himself.
When this had been completed he presented war decorations to those who
had won them at the front. It was nearly dark by the time the last hand
had been shaken and the last word said. The cheering, when it was over,
was something to remember.
The following day was Anzac Sunday, and was taken up with religious
war-services, H.R.H. attending those at St. Mary's Cathedral in the
morning, and at the Town Hall in the afternoon. The Town Hall service
was especially impressive. The Prince, slender in the world-familiar
khaki, stood in the crowded gathering, and as the Dead March was played,
and the Last Post sounded in memory of sons who had fallen, the people
knew him the Empire's symbol of their sacrifice. Perhaps there, where
the women sobbed to see him, he touched the supreme height of his
mission.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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