OFFENCE TO AMERICAN VISITORS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 29, 27 April 1927, Page 8

OFFENCE TO AMERICAN VISITORS

ID it he that the had taste of some New Zealanders, and of a. section of the Dominion Press, in criticising visiting Americans is responsible for the abandonment of the tours arranged by Raymond, Whitcombe and Company, of Boston, then it has proved rudeness to be very had policy. It is true that the criticism said to be so bitterly resented was made in a spirit of levity, and without any malice against our American friends, for whose country and people New Zealand has much admiration; it is also apparent that the Americans are very “touchy.” But discourtesy to guests is not an offence to be lightly condoned, and the question of the other party’s sensitiveness is immaterial to the point. During the visits of the Carinthia and the Franconia, reference was made in some newspapers to the “Yankee twang” of tlie tourists, and their clothing and manners were discussed much in the same manner as the points of a racehorse might be summed up, while the fact that they were not free spenders, but wanted value for their money, was emphasised. The manner of their speech is not personal but national; their clothing and their manners are those of over a hundred million of their compatriots, and they cannot be expected to dress and conduct themselves strictly according to New Zealand conventions, however correct New Zealanders may consider themselves to be. As for their desiring value for their money, they are quite entitled to seek satisfaction for what they spend. The tourist traffic very largely maintains Switzerland, and entirely supports large towns elsewhere in Europe, and in America. New Zealand claims all the scenic advantages that have made other places famous, and the very newspapers that have urged the Government to encourage tourists, and pointed out tlie immense benefits of the tourist traffic, were those to ridicule the guests whom they were partly responsible for bringing here. Americans are deservedly noted for their courtesy toward visitors from other lands, and many New Zealanders have been lavish in their tributes to American hospitality. That hospitality appears to have been poorly repaid, and the thoughtlessness of a few New Zealand newspapers may earn for New Zealanders an unenviable name in the United States. We may think what we like concerning the strange ways of people from other countries, but as long as they behave themselves and conform to the laws of this country while they are here—and nobody will suggest that the visiting Americans did anything else—we should refrain from criticism and treat them with a proper courtesy.