"NOT GREAT SPENDERS."

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 189, 12 August 1925, Page 9

"NOT GREAT SPENDERS."

EXCEPT FOR TOBACCO. STRANGE TASTE IN DRINKS. DUXEDIN, Tuesday. The American sailors are evidently not great spenders. A number of shopkeepers state they would hardly know the fleet was in port. Tobacconists are, perhaps, an exception, the proprietor of one city concern showing a reporter a gleaming pile of newly minted sovereigns. The American sailor is evidently habituated to his own country's brands of' cigarettes, very few of the standard English linos being in demand. Cigars, the national smoke, are also in favour, whilst more expensive pipes are being inquired for. Retailers yesterday were naturally surprised when their sailor customers made their purchases in gold, brand new sovereigns of this year's mintagp. The explanation is that, since being in Australian waters the men have boon paid in gold on the sth and 15th of each month. Hotelkeepers state that they have done fair business with the visitors, who appear to relish a change, from "dry" fare aboard and in their native land. Such' of the sailors as sampled the liquor bars found the "amber" more potent than Australian experiences had led them to expect. Yanks don't "mix" their drinks." Rum was the favourite, and gin supplies had also to be freiquently replenished, and all were treated witli hot water. There were, in view of this, surprisingly few cases of inebriety. Most of the sailors seem to be spending their time walking up and I down the main street. They do not seem to care about taxi riding, nor arc they J given to gazing at shop windows. A ride on the trams to the suburbs is apparently more to their taste. In all j their doings they are behaving themselves well, and giving no trouble to the police or shore patrols. Their street manners are undeniably good.' '"You people seem very shy over here," said one "petty officer. . "Everybody seems to have all day to do everything in, but apart from lack of pep, you are not so different from us over * there." He added that the men were all delighted with the treatment accorded-them, and expressed a hope that he would leave as many friends behind here as he'had'done in Australia. .'-....