Highlights of World Trip : Mr. D. Johnson Back

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22872, 16 February 1949, Page 6

Highlights of World Trip : Mr. D. Johnson Back

Back from a seven-month trip which included the United Kingdom, the Continent and the United States of America, Mr. D. C. D. Johnson, Gisborne, retains as one of his most vivid impressions the friendly disposition of overseas people to New Zealanders, their hospitality to them, and the obvious goodwill which New Zealand soldiers left in their wake in former theatres of war. From a multitude of impressions, memories’ and experiences, Mr. Johnson recalled several at random for the benefit of a Herald reporter. Riot in Paris Outstanding was his entry into Paris when, during his first look around he and a friend found themselves in the midst of a Communist demonstration which they at first mistook for a public holiday with four or five thousand uproarious people gathered in the Champs Elysees. They quickly found their mistake when gendarmes began pushing demonstrators into “hundreds of Black Marias” to the accompaniment of hurled stones and other missiles. Another shock, of a different kind, was the haircut in New York, which cost 17/6. The average cost of a meal in that country was 7/6. “Calais might have been bombed yesterday, and so might have Dunkirk. People in France seem very depressed,” commented Mr. Johnson, who added that by comparison the Italians appeared to have attacked the job of restoration of bomb damage with determination. Italy’s Recovery Every railroad station in Italy had been rebuilt and all the trains had been electrified and ran strictly to schedule. In Italy, too, English was more universally understood than in France, which was a help for travellers. Amuement at the size of a New York newspaper, which contained 68 pages for only five cents and weighed about a pound and a half, was felt by the traveller, who is still wondering how people in New York carry such huge papers about with them all the time. He saw three interesting people at Miami Beach, Florida,—Frances Langford, Xavier Cugat, and Tom Heeney, who was delighted to see a fellow-Gis-bornian and who, with his wife, showered hospitality on a hitherto unknown New Zealender. Noticeable on the trip were the large number of Australians touring various countries. Included in the opera houses visited were the Covent Garden, where Mr. Johnson went for a complete season, the Paris Grand Opera House, and La Scala, Milan. He also heard Rene Gigli sing in Rome. New York Snowstorm Other highlights of his trip were seeing the King and Queen at the opening of Parliament, being in New York for the recent record-breaking snowstorms, with 19in. of snow there. There was even snow on the orange trees in California. a thing that had not happened for many years. After dealing in 14 different currencies, Mr. Johnson came to the conclusion that the dollar system in the United States had much to commend it. His route to England was via Australia, where he spent a month in Sydney with Mr. Denis Widdowson, also of Gisborne. His travels in Great Britain included Scotland, northern Wales and the Lake District. Later with Mr. Rex Napier, Wellington, he went to France, the Riviera, the Spanish border, through Italy, returning through Switzerland to England for another week before crossing to Canada for a brief visit, and so to New York, Miami, across the United States via the Mexican border to San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and Vancouver, where he caught the Aorangi for Honolulu and New Zealand.