VIEWS ON AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 207, 29 May 1936, Page 6

VIEWS ON AMERICA

Travel Club of EnglishSpeaking Union Members of the Travel and Discussion Club of the English-Speaking Union met recently to hear an interesting talk by Mr. Colin McNaught on his tour of America. He gave his impressions of , his first glimpse of the “famous Golden Gate at San Francisco. Gold-dredging at Sacramento was an enormous enterprise, he said, each dredge turning out gold to the value of £4OOO weekly. While visiting Beno, the famous divorce town, Mr. McNaught said he was most amused at the huge electric sign displayed in the sky, “Welcome to Beno, the biggest little city in the world.” Reno had its Bridge of Sighs, over which people walk before obtaining a divorce. The speaker said it was a curious fact that in Beno there are more marriages than divorces, due to the fact that people can marry in Reno “on the spot,” whereas in other towns in America some days’ notice has to be given. . . Mr. McNaught spent some time in bait Dake'City, the home of the Mormons, where, he said, there were few gangsters ; it was a well-ordered city, very clean and very beautiful. A concert was given every mid-day in a temple made entirely without nails, the wood being dovetailed together. The sound was perfect in this building, and the saying that one "could hear a pin drop” was literally true there. At St. Louis he visited the AnheuserBusch Brewery, the largest in the world, covering 144 acres, where two million gallons of beer are turned out each week; quite a remarkable place, particularly as free beer may be obtained by visitors for the asking. Mr. McNaught mentioned the automatically-controlled air-condi-tioning plants in operation.in the railway carriages throughout America, which kept the air at an even temperature and made conditions very pleasant. Mr. McNaught referred to the bewildering array of dishes that may be ( eaten in American restaurants.' Speaking generally, he said that money was spent like water in America, in a way that we in New Zealand are wholly unaccustomed to. He spoke very highly of the wonderful hospitality he received bn all sides. At the conclusion of the lecture an informal discussion was held among the audience on the importance of cordial relations between Great Britain and America.