SOME QUEER CARGOES

Hokitika Guardian, 5 October 1931, Page 3

SOME QUEER CARGOES

“.S-I.I'VKMKS” FOR A.MFRICA. .MILLIOXAIRii«’ COLLECTSNO HOBBIES. I .'ON DON, August n. J lit- oiul of the summer is tlio season ol tin- your wliou BiLisli railway :imi shipping companies have to exert ail their ingenuity in arranging for the transportation home of souvenirs*' acquiied by American millionaires during their travels jn England or < n the Continent, Sometimes it is an English castle or man ion that has to be “moved,” sometimes a row of cottages from a picturesque English village, or perhaps it wi.l be merely an aeroplane or a fleet of motor ears. All the London hotel malingers will tell a sceptical Englishman that an American always leaves England with twice the number of trunks he or she arrived with. Certainly a multi-mil-lionaire recall ly went home with am aeroplane, two cars and twenty suits of clothes; and American women ■■•■(' usually suspected of Idling tlieir trunks with English clothes, jewellery and quaint souvenirs in the trinklet line. One well-known woman, reported to lie a millionairess, always returns to the States with a quart milk bottle full of gin ! This is her souvenir of England, and no one ever asks how she gets it through the. American Customs or what she does with it. Another millionaire—reputed to be one of the richest men in the world—has a passion for collecting old English sweets and confectionery. He is said to have a gin:at weakness for “bulls eyes.” coconut ice and barley sugar sticks, and whole cases of these commodities are included in his return luggage to America. ft is interesting to know what film stars take back home. Norma Shearer brought three “howler” hats in Lon don. several smart handbags, and lots of cardigans for herself and friends in Hollywood, in biege ‘and green. For her baby she bought English-made toys, clothes and rubber animals that “swim.” The transportation of English hunting horses and hounds is now so common that most of the big trans-Atlantic liners ha.ve stables and special accommodation for dogs which are bought in England in large numbers. A prominent American recently organised a Tlunt throughout England for an old horsebus, which lie wanted to have made into a summer house for his American estate. and another took a hansom cab back to his home. But nothing ever surprises the railway and shipping companies, ami they are proving equal to any demands made on them in the way of transports.