HOOCH CRUISES TO HAVANA.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 168, 16 July 1921, Page 19

HOOCH CRUISES TO HAVANA.

ESCAPE FROM PROHIBITION. Hooch cruises, they call them. Hooch is now the name in genera] use for all the varieties of drink 'barred from consumption in the United States by the Constitution. A hooch cruise is one that takes you on a beatific journey to foreign ports where the American Constitution does not run (says the .New York correspondent of the "Daily Express." London). The journey may be long or short. It is all the same. Hooch flows throughout. The most popular hooch port is 'Havana. It is a couple of days' journey by bont from <Xew York, and only a few hours' journey from the tip of Florida. Hooch and Havana hare become synonymous in the American language. No musical comedy is complete without a reference to Havana. When the reference is made there are smackings of lips among the audience and moans ol distress. It is impossible for the whole United States to embark on hooch cruises. Somebody has to stop behind and see that constitutional prohibition is enforced, and somebody else to have it enforced against them. ißut the rest of the population either has already gone ou a hooch cruise, or is making arrangements to do so at the first favourable opportunity. At Havana new hotels are being erected, and new hooch houses are under construction to provide adequately for the comfort of the cruising hoochers. Havana is a made city. It is destined to become one of the wealthiest spots in the gorld. It has settled down to satisfy America's thirst as the nearest '.loocb station. .Never has a city had such geographical luck before. Havana, however, has rivals. The beautiful .British isle of "Bermuda, in bhe West Indies, is the chief among them. Bermuda advertisements are appearing in the newspapers as never before. The wonderful climate and restful attractions are enumerated at length. But all Americana know what the chief attraction is. And so Bermuda is making a strong fight against Havana. True, Bermuda is further away, but the bars in the boats can open after passing the three-mile limit, and one has the satisfaction of being nn&ble to wander a« far away from the bar aboard ship as one might accidentally do ashore.