“NECESSITY, NOT LUXURY”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29189, 27 April 1960, Page 5

“NECESSITY, NOT LUXURY”

U.S. Woman’s View On Travelling

“All barriers between the • ations of the world today are down. If we don’t register this fact we just lose sight of the times we are livipg in,” said Dr. I. F. Hummon, a well-travel-led American woman who passed through Christchurch during a New Zealand tour. “We are just one world today.” Sevently seven years of age, energetic and alert, Dr. Hummon is accompanying her son, Dr. E. M. Hummon, on a five-month world tour. During this present trip they had already visited southern Europe and the Middle and Far East, but she had previously covered most areas of the world, including South and Central America, said Dr Hummon.

There was a danger, however, in this type of travel, said Dr. Hummon. It was all too easy to c. velop into what could be termed a “four-day expert,” the touris who after perfunctory observations made false conclusions about the life and conditions of the various countries he visited.

“Travel is not such a luxury any more. I consider it to be a necessity if we are to understand the world as it really is. How much people can miss in their lives by not travelling. One is never the same person after this experience. “I would say, though, that the world s peoples are becoming increasingly aware of the age they are living in,” said Dr Hummon. “This is particularly noticeable now in Asia and the Eastern countries.

“In this respect I was rather surprised to see that some of your New Zealand newspapers are not so anxious to tell readers what is happening in the outside world. By not printing important news items on the front page they are surely putting the bread before the yeast. Before reading the advertisements we want to know what is happening in Johannesburg or Washington.’’