FURTHER NEWS OF MR DREGHORN’S TRAVELS ABROAD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 60, 4 March 1949, Page 4

FURTHER NEWS OF MR DREGHORN’S TRAVELS ABROAD

Unable To Enter { South America > Whakatane’s exploring school | teacher, Mr W. Dreghorn, who left New Zealand in January on a trip to Peru, has evidently not been able to enter South America and so he has continued on to England. Writing to the Beacon he tells of his departure from Auckland and the voyage across the Pacific. Before the actual sailing the departure was delayed about five times. “Many passengers complained about expensive hotel bills, but I was prepared for this and brought camping gear in a small kit bag and spent my remaining days camping alongside Takapuna Beach,” he continues. Leaving at night Mr Dreghorn found disappointing as he missed much of the coastal scenery. Toilet Paper—Last Link “There was the usual crowd of friends saying goodbye and scores of long paper streamers. A large crane came along and cut them. Toilet rolls were then used as last links by passengers with friends on the quayside. The gong went in vain for dinner. The ship pulled away to the sounds of a haka by some Maori “types” and the drinking of beer. “So downstairs we go to sort out baggage and sort out ourselves. The classification is a simple one—New, Zealanders on a trip to see relatives in the Old Country and returning immigrants.” Immigrants Leaving Mr Dreghorn spoke to some of the immigrants and found that the main complaints were:— 1. Bad accommodation and inability to get houses. 2. Dissatisfaction with the kind of work offered. 3. Inability to fit in with New Zealand ways of life. He continues: “Some are quite skilled craftsmen and are just the sort of people New Zealand needs, I think it is wrong to expect a skilled man to go out to Mangakino and spend his leisure time in a small hut. The break from English life is too much, except for a very young

chap.’? Antipodes Day: “As we cross the International Date line and go East we gain a day. A very tricky thing to teach in New Zealand high schools and it is on the syllabus, too. At the Whakatane school I used to begin by explaining how you could get two Christmas dinners by coming to the date line on December 25, or miss it by going Westward and arriving at the line on Christmas Eve. Clothes Pegs “By the way, a gentle hint to intending Whakatane travellers. You sometimes think of every possible article that you’ll need on board, but there’s always something that ' you’ll forget. This time I’ve forgotten clothes pegs. Very essential for your clothes line on the ship. 1 wear dark clothes to make the washing infrequent.

“And mothers please train your toddlers not to bawl at the table and play with food. I never give our children a choice of food. Eat this or starve. My family will not become democratic until the age of sense and reason arrives. It’s ridiculous to ask a child of four what would you like for dinner? I sympathise with the table waiters.” After being out a few days Mr Dreghorn was put on the sports committee. He explains:— “Our job is to organise amusements and activities for about 120 passengers from 9 a.m. to 10 pm. for 30 days. We plan deck games tournaments, totes, hofse racing, dances, housey, whist drives and so on. It is very busy organising these things, a very thankless task and a means of making quite a number of enemies, especially in games.

Know Your Neighbour “Having got the players together for a match they slope off and we walk all over the ship again, looking- for them. Now this .is a small ship in a big wide ocean, so there is little to talk about except the personal foibles of the passengers. When they disembark in England each will have a detailed life history of the others.” After not sighting any land for about 20 days Mr Dreghorn writes that he is now quite convinced that ! the world is two-thirds water.. However, the ship was approaching land, and two days later it was to have passed through the Panama Canal.