Who’s Who on the Aorangi

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 550, 31 December 1928, Page 7

Who’s Who on the Aorangi

BIG PASSENGER LIST The K.M.M.S. Aorangi arrived at Auckland from Vancouver last evening with over 40U passengers. The Christmas cele bra Lions were a feature of the voyage and the ship’s officers and staff wurKed industriously to make the ’•paig.y” a royal one for everyone. in botli the first and second-class saloons tancy-dress dances were organised and the greatest fun prevailed. A liuge Christmas tree the diningroom made an imposing sight anil favours were distriouted liberally.

JJr. and Mrs. J. Power are returning to Brisbane after a trip to England. Mr. A. W. Cliffe is a company agent from London who has come out to spend three weeks in New Zealand before going on to Australia. * * $ Mr. C. Park, a banker from the United States, is making a tour of New Zealand and Australia. Father McKean, of Bathurst, is returning to Australia after a year’s holiday abroad. “Prohibition is a farce in the United States,” said Mr. J. A. Walker, manager of the Ashburton Woollen Mills, who returned from a tour of America. “They know little or nothing about us,” lie remarked. "And we never saw a line of news in the papers about New Zealand.” Mrs. Walker, who accompanied her husband, said that one woman asked her seriously, “They are not all civilised people in New Zealand, are they?”

A contingent of Boy Scouts arrived from Fiji to take part in the jamboree at Stratford. There are two Sea Scouts, Harry and John Stackhouse, of Suva, and six Indian boys from the Samambula and Toorak Troops. No native Fijians are coming. Harry Stackhouse is a King Scout, and he is to be presented with the “all-round cord” at Stratford, an honour which is held by only one other scout in Fiji.

After eleven months* tour of Europe, the Continent and the United States, Mr. and Mrs. J. F. M. Shortt and Miss A. Shortt, of Dunedin, find themselves in excellent health. Mr. Shortt, who has combined business and pleasure on the trip, is one of the directors of John Chambers and Son, Ltd.

The Hpn. W. E. V. Robson, M.L.C.. New South Wales, has been on a holiday tour lor 10 months through England, the Continent of Europe, America and Canada.

It is the first time he has ever been out of Australia and naturally the visit to England has impressed him very much. He admires the way' she has emerged from the troubles which followed the war, and states that the more friendly relations now existing between employers and employed will go a long way toward improving the general state of things at Home. Mr. Robson says that in the near future several of the industries which are in a depressed state will receive Government protection. The wonderful resources of the Empire gave him every confidence for the future.

Dr. A. A. Spong, of London, is returning to New Zealand on holiday. Some years ago he was practising at Akaroa, Canterbury. #

Twenty years ago Mr. E. A. Thomson, of Dunedin, went to London. He is now superintendent of the Blue Star Line and is returning to New Zealand for the first time since he went away. Some of his relatives who were waiting for him on the wharf had not seen Mr. Thomson for 26 years. He is an old boy of the Otago Boys High School and learned his engineering with a Dunedin firm. Mr. Thomson had never seen Auckland until he arrived last evening.

With a big Hispano-Suiza racing car of 160 horse-power two Englishmen, Captains R. C. Gallop and J. E. P. Howey, are bound for Australia where their main mission is to try to break the record from Sydney to Melbourne by road. They are motor engineers and their trip is to combine business and pleasure. The car is a super-sports model driven by what fiiey describe as “half the 300 horsepower airplane engine.” They will probably attack some of the other speed records in Australia.

Fourteen days in New Y'ork and two plavs each day. This was the way Mr. Fred C. Blackman, producer for J. C. Williamson, Ltd., spent his time in the city of super-attractions, and he saw only a quarter of the show's. He left Sydney on October 20 and here he is back again with impressions of the latest American plays. He goes to Wellington to-day to pick up the Annie Croft Company and put them through their paces for the new show, ‘The Five O’clock Girl.” a coming Australian attraction. One or two musical shows were outstanding in New York, he says, and “New Moon” has been obtained by his firm. It will follow “Show Boat” in London and New Zealanders may be lucky enough to see it before it goes to England. “New Moon” is by Romberg, the composer of “The Student Prince.” and it is well up to his reputation. “Jazz is completely eliminated in it and the music is delightful,” he says. He was not very impressed with the straight drama in New York. # #

From Brooklyn, New Y r ork, comes Mr. F. D. Trapp, who is on his second trip round the world. Mr. Trapp is connected with General Motors, Ltd., and hopes to get an insight into the motor business in New Zealand. It is his second visit to this country, and it is his intention to study New Zealand’s scenic attractions as much as possible Mr. Trapp will go on to Australia and will be away from the United States for several years.

“Pigs” Is the title of a new J. C. Williamson play which has brought two New York stage players, Miss Ruth Nugent and Mr. Alan Bunce, out on contract to Australia. The play will begin in Sydney within two or three weeks, so Miss Nugent and Mr. Bunce are going direct to Sydney. They hope to return to New Zealand later.

The temperature of the air over the Waitemata HarbofTr reminded Mr. H. C. Peters, of Flattie. U.S.A., intensely of a typical June evening in his home city. Mr. Peters is going round the Pacific Ocean. After two weeks in New Zealand, he will go to Australia, the Malqy States. China and Japan for three and a-half months. He is enthusiastic about Seattle’s growth. Only 60 years old, it has a population of over half a million. Twelve years ago it was not as big as Auckland. Building progress there is astounding. Mr. Peters says. Seattle sprang from sheer wilderness, but it owes its wealth to the immense timber industry on the American Pacific Coast

Big and cheerful, Mr. G. T. Cubbon, ex-Chief of Police in the thriving city Wichita, Kansas, U.S.A., wants to see the world. He will visit relatives and see the sights in the North and the South Islands for two weeks, and will go on to Australia and Europe. Mr. Cubbon was Chief of Police for eight years, and for two years was on the Wichita City Council. Wichita is larger than Wellington, and is a typical mid-Western city.

Mr. Cubbon is not altogether unacquainted with the advance of Australia! and New Zealand. He remembers the descriptions of his father, a sea captain, who was in Sydney as early as 1853.