SCHOOL TEACHER SEES NIGHT LIFE OF COLON CITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 61, 7 March 1949, Page 5

SCHOOL TEACHER SEES NIGHT LIFE OF COLON CITY

Mr W. Dreghorn Lands At Colon His experiences in the city of Colon on the eastern coast of Central America, is contained in a further letter to the Beacon from Whakatane’s wondering school teacher, Mr W. Dreghorn, on the Wairangi, the ship in which he is travelling to England. Intending originally to travel to Peru, Mr Dreghorn was forced to change his plans and continue on to his home land.

; “We saw land for the first time , after 18 days across the vast Paci- . fic. U.S. Patrol boats came out with . the local officials. A bunch of jet ; black negroes came on board to assist us through the canal. One Yank remarked, “the niggers right down ; here are so black they spit ink.” | The trip across the canal takes about seevn hours and costs the shipping company £3OOO. Unable to believe this Mr Dreghorn checked on the figure several times but found it to be ; correct. _ At Colon “Colon at night is terrific.” This is how Mr Dreghorn describes this city. “The streets are ablaze with neon lights and swarms of negroes, U.S. soldiers and sailors are patronising all the cafes, bars and night clubs. A good many of the passengers went ashore with po money at all. We just could not get any dollars. The official rate was four dollars to the pound but two dollars 50 cents was the local rate in shops. “All the shops are stocked with American goods at cheap prices. Watches, cameras, fountain pens and good shirts are cheap compared with New Zealand prices.” ■ : Later he went exploring the city, on his own. . - “You Drink Sir?” “Tiring of all the din I went into a cafe for some peace and quietness only to be greeted by a blaring jazz band. I was plagued with waiters but my answer was always NO. ‘You drink Sir?’ ‘No.’ “Another Negro waiter bears down on me. • ‘What are you going to' drink?’ ‘No.’ And still another. ’ ’ ‘What you drink Sir?’ ‘No.’ One waiter says to me, ‘No drink, can’t stay.’ “My answer is NO. I remained here anyway.” Later Mr Dreghorn experienced the apparently common life of the night club frequenters. However, , he did not take advantage of what ' was offering. He explains: Strip Tease Acts “The night clubs begin a show at 12.30 a.m. It just consists of noveltydances and a strip tease act. The girls employed by the establishments are the sort which make you j ] want to buy six whiskies to get j ' along with them. What they must', look like first p thing in the morning , surpasses my imagination. , J “A negro girl comes up to me. She wants to know if I’ll buy her a 1 ' drink. I don’t. Another wants to < 3 dance'with me. I don’t. After being' 5 tackled about four times I am left | alone. !

“After a few night clubs I went to the old Spanish part of the town where the narrow lanes have two policemen at either end. This is the

negro, quarter. As you grope your way through the narrow streets you are approached by negroes. They ask, ‘You wanna girl one dollar fifty?’ No.” Hard To Live

Mr Dreghorp says that negroes find it' very hard to live now. The average wage of a canal worker is 100 dollars a week. A very cheap meal costs 65 cents.

I “When the ship left,” Mr Dreghorn adds, “two of the drinking members of its crew were left be- , hind. They got a launch and chased : us. Flow these drunks clambered up a rope ladder in a rough sea at 3.30 a.m. is beyond me. It is a feat only for the super human powers of the . intoxicated.” i The ship left the'Canal Zone and headed for Jamaica. Apparently'Mr Dreghorn suffered somewhat on this stretch of the voyage. He con- , eludes:

“I’ve had fish for breakfast and my stomach is going in and out with the tide.”