GOODWILL TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 84, 11 April 1939, Page 4

GOODWILL TOUR.

AMERICANS' VISIT.

DOMINION ATTRACTIONS.

THREE WEEKS' TRIP PLANNED

"Our New Zealand trip should be the high spot of our tour," Paul Mr. A. T. Case, spokesman of a group of thirteen members of a party of tourists, representing the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, who arrived from Sydney this morning by the Awatea to spend three weeks in New Zealand. They originally travelled through to Australia, with a party of 51, of whom the majority have since returned to the United States.

In the New Zealand itinerary will be included the Waitomo Caves, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Westport, Hokitika, the Franz Josef Glacier, the Southern Alps, Christchurch, Palmerston North, Napier, Wairakei and Waitomo. In the party are five men, accompanied by their wives and three daughters.

They describee! their visit as a goodwill gesture and said that next year there would be a larger party from Los Angeles, travelling to New Zealand and Australia and they thought a considerable number would stay in New Zealand for a time during the Dominion Centennial celebrations.

"When we started out we just thought it would be a long water trip with a couple of cities at the end," said one member of the party. "But we have been agreeably surprised. We have seen some fine harbours, some wonderful buildings and some beautiful scenery. In Australia we found that the people appeared to be prosperous and there were not the contrasts of wealth and poverty which are to be seen in America. We were particularly impressed by the enthusiasm for games and recreation, which seems to be much keener here than in the United States. There is" also a much larger provision for parks and playing areas than in the towns and cities of America." '

A lady member of the party said she was beautiful and -Melbourne one of the finest cities she had ever seen. Canberra, she said, was beyond description. Much of the countryside reminded her of California, and at times she almost forgot she was away from home.