ROUND THE WORLD IN SIX MONTHS.

Shannon News, 13 October 1925, Page 3

ROUND THE WORLD IN SIX MONTHS.

-_.; * - . • A LEVINITE’S IMPRESSIONS. A “News” .representative who sought some account of their; travels, • had the pleasure of a very interesting chat with Mr W. Stewart Park, who with Mrs Park has just returned to ■ Levin after an absence of six months in America and England. They left New Zealand at the end of April last •and journeyed toi England via the United States, returning through the Suez Canal, thus .encircling the earth and travelling over 25,000 miles. They had a very pleasant and enjoyable holiday, during which they saw a great deal of the world, and Mrs Park was enabled to visit her relatives in England. ' NEiW YORK AND CHICAGO, The travellers left New Zealand at the end of April en route to England via the United States. They landed a? San Francisco and spent some time in the States, sojourning ' awhile in' Chicago and New YOrk, and contriving to see as much ,of these great cities as possible in the necessarily brief ' time' at. their, disposal. Sight-seeing is greatly simplified by the aid of a perfect system of, ‘motor, charabancs equipped most luxuriously and accompanied by a lecturer with a megaphone, who discoursed upon the features of- the cities. ' The Levinites found much to marvel at in the architecture of New York. Mr Park said that, like most people who form their impressions from photographs or descriptions, he expected' to find the famous skyscrapers mere mountains of unlovely, masonry and steel. It was an agreeable surprise, to discover that these, vast buildings present a spectacle of great architectural beauty, graceful despite their huge inass and embellished with great dignity and magnificence. There could be ; few more impressive sights than the giant Woolworth edifice, about 60 storeys in height; and the First National Bank in Michigan Avenue, the latter more, like a. great marble temple than a. t building for the commercial purposes. Fifth Avenue—the location of the pa-

latial'residences of the mitlti-rnillion-'aires hnd the great hotels was visited. Mr Park found that the average American measured everything by the dollar standard—it might be said that he knew' the cost of everything and the value of nothing. As an instance, the man with the megaphone, as he passed the great houses of the Morgans,' Vanderbilts, Gblulds, Schwab of the Steel Corporation, arid Clark, the Montana Copper King, told the tourists the exact cost of each palace arid of all that they contained. 'lt » was a typically American touch that, amused the New Zealanders. , While in Chicago Mr Park was interested to find e»ric of the greatest murder trials of the day in progress —the arraignment of a millionaire named Shepherd for causing the death of his ward, a young'man, by the introduction of typhoid bacilli into his food. Tfhe preliminaries had taken weeks, every point being fought tenaciously by the attorneys for the defence. The empanelling of a jury— a' matter’ of a few minutes in a British. Court—took a fortnight. Each juryman was examined closely upon such points as his views on capital punishment, and the possibility of his being a relative of the. accused. One illuminating incident , was the disappearance of aparticular Witness for the prosecution, each side the other of doing away with him. -i. Tiie Lfevinites crossed the Atlantic in the Majestic, the largest liner afloat—though, remarked Mr Park, the Americans claim that honour for the Leviathan—except when she is tied up at a, wharf and they are asked to pay dues on her! The Majestic is the last word in luxury as applied • to ocean travel. Equipped with a picture theatre, swimming baths, .winter gardens, gymnasiums, with electrically operated “horses” for exercise purposes, and electric lifts to go from deck to deck, the Majestic is a wonder ship.- Nine hundred feet long,' of 57,000 tons, she logged 578 miles 'the first day out from New York.. ■

BY MOTOR ROUND BRITAIN. In England the visitors found that motor transit was Hie'"best and most popular means of seeing the country, especially for the people with limited time. England and Scotland are simply, grid-ironed with motor charabanc routes, offering a wade choice as to locality and period, arid in- ' volving a cost of about £2 per day for travel and hotel expenses. Mr and Mrs Park joined one party of eighteen, thirteen of whom were Americans, two Australians and one Englishman, on a fortnight’s tour. Leaving London.they went north to King’s Lynn, York," Newcastle, Melrose, Abbotsford (Sir Walter Scott’s home), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayr and the Burns country, Carlisle, the English Lakes, Stratford on Avon, and so back to London. Such a trip would have been impossible in the time a few years ago, and it illustrates what a revolution, motor transit has effected in countries where it has been fully developed. BY AIR TO FRANCE. . The pressman enquired as to the Levinite’s experiences on the crosschannel trip to France, tvhich Mr and Mrs Park made by air, 'both ways. Mr Park confessed to a certain amount of trepidation in anticipation of the event, but when' one got to the .' aerodrome, and fount] a dozen other

people already seated in the girint plane and exhibiting no more excitement than over an ordinary railway journey, one’s own nervousness vanished. Before the plane had been ten minutes in the air, in the words of the Air Service advertisement, one was “throwing overboard the seasickness remedies he had provided himself with and was starting in on the hamper.” Very little motion was noticeable in flight. There was no lateral sway and • only "an occasional drop when an air pocket was struck. Over the water,, where the atmosphere seemed to be, of even density, there was absolutely no oscillatory motion whatever, i The planes were, giants of the air, measuring 33 yards across the wings and the same distance in length. Double engined and propellered, they carried a pilot and I a mechanic, each capable of taking I charge, as well as a dozen passengers. The plane was equipped with wireless and received and sent messages throughout Its journey at quar-ter-hour intervals. . These specified the position of the plane, and gave the positions of all other planes in the air at the time, and also gave information as to the state of the weather. • The crossing from London to the aerodrome at Le Bourget, a suburb of Paris was made in 2| hours, the distance being 245. miles, and the general altitude attained being 6000. feet. The return fare is £9. The cross-channel service is a very regular one and runs to, schedule .with more certainty and safety than a railway service. On the morning that Mr 'and Mrs Park crossed, five planes belonging to the same service left within five minutes of each other, and descended in France at the same regular intervals. They carried over 60 passengers, the majority of whom were Americans. “The safety of the air service” remarked Mr Park, “will be gauged from the fact that in one week while we were in France, there were no fewer, than four railway accidents. including 'the shocking dis aster at Amiens.”

A WORD ABOUT WEMBLEY. Mr and Mrs Park visited Wembley as a matter of course, >and the former considers that, for the purpose for which it was conceived, namely a demonstration of the products of the British Empire, the great Exhibition is a wonderful object lesson. Whatever. it was last year the New Zealand pavilion, this year was excellent, and could not have been' improved on. * It drew attention very effectively to tt\e wonderful volume and value of the primary industries, to our unique scenic beauties, and to the attractions offered to the sportsman. Mr Park says he was astonished at the number of enquiries that were received from people anxious to. know about emigration to New Zealand. The amusements park at the Exhibition was simply wonderful and excelled even'the much boomed Coney Island at New York.

AT ASCOT. Mr Park had the opportunity of visiting both. Ascot'and-Sundown, hut considers New Zealand has nothing to learn from England about conducting race meetings. Very little is done for the .comfort of the general public, the whole idea! apparently being to cater for the pleasure of the aristocratic membership of the clubs. The average New Zealander . would go home in a very disgusted frame of mind from an English race course. Mr Park, remarked upon the great personal popularity of the King with iris pflUple. His Majesty was present at • Ascot and also at the historic ceremony of drooping the colours at the Horseguards on the Royal Birthday and on both of these occasions the New Zealander was impressed by the affection ’for the Sovereign that manifested itself and that struck one as being something deeper than a mere lip-loyalty. THE STRIKE.! The travellers’ home coming was dogged by the shipping trouble. They were due to sail from Tilbury . on August 22, the day the seamen’s strike began, and on arrival at the dock, they found the Orvieto moored out in the stream with her firemen missing. However, a scratch' crew was 'Obtained from Southampton after a delay of 24 hours, which was enlivened by the efforts of launchloads of strikers to incite the loyal crew to desert. The stokehold crew gave a good deal of trouble and three of them were sent ashore in irons at Toulon and three more at Port Said. Good progress was made, however, and by passing Perth, Sydney was reached only a day behind schedule. Here the Orvieto lay out in the harbour and the New Zealand passengers were transferred by launch to the Moeraki without going ashore.