TRAVEL TALK.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10737, 7 November 1928, Page 4

TRAVEL TALK.

ROTARIAN MILES ENTERTAINS BROTHER ROTARIANS

Some interesting; impressions of Iris recent visit to the Homeland wetro given to members of tho Rotary Club yesterday by Rotarian Leslie" Miles, 'Rotarian G. Smith being in the chair.

Rotarian Miles said that he had a most pleasant journey. In fact, the captain at the conclusion of the voyage had told the passengers that it was the most enjoyable trip he had personally ever made. At Panama the speaker and his father had had the interesting experience of being allowed to watch the methods by which the locks were operated and vessels passed along. ; It was hard to believe that the whole of the vast mechanism involved could be worked by one man, operating small levers in a very small compartment. The vessel had also called at Curacao for oil, but ho was far from impressed _ with the island, which had a dried up appearance, and on which stock did not thrive. His first impressions of London were somewhat disappointing on account of the lack of brightness about the buildings. That feeling, however, soon wore off. He had soon found that it was quite unnecessary to have a guide book; all one had to do was to make an enquiry from a policeman. Only on. one occasion had ■ that-renowned source of information failed him, but a. message boy, having overheard his inquiry, had at once proffered the required information. Proceeding, Rotarian Miles went on to describe the ceremony attaching to the changing of . the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was such a wonderful sight that people, evon residents, of London, waited from early morning in the hopo_ of getting close enough to have a view of the'King and 1 Queen. He was very pleased also that lie had attended the Naval and Military .Tournament, where ho had witnessed horsemanship so skilful aa.to .be almost, in-, credible. It was "most entertaining to which the feats' of the trained horses., ridden without gear of any kind. Tho Horse Show on the other hand'was, in the main, only an exhibition of horses. The; most snectacular exposition he had visited was the tattoo at Aldershot. Where 1-15,000 had attended. Held at night, searchlights and colored lights were used and the' effects' tvere marvellous-. A pin could he heard to fall when a distant scene of. a war cemetery was : shown. A brilliantly illuminated aeroplane which flew low close to tho grandstands wa* also a magnificent sight . The air pageant at Hendon was both thrilling and instructive! It was almost incredible that such regular' formation could he achieved in tho air drill, which ■was as perfect as infantry drill and one could not help realising that much care devolved on the mechanics to ensure that the engines were so well tuned up. - As might he expected the stunts fascinated the onlookers. At Stamford Bridge he had seen the American and British 01.ym.pio team in friendly rivalry. To him one of the 1 most interesting events was the steeplechase, which was won'hv Lord Burleigh. His American rivals had taken: the water jump in quite a different manner. Whereas Lord Burleigh had jumped flic hurdle and landed in the water, losing time in getting away again, the Yanks had leapt, on to the hurdle .and balancing had .cleared the water! But: the gain which they had made at the obstacle had not enabled ■ their, to heat the noted English'runner. The reason why the Americans >had emergedl victorious from the contents was, mainly, that they specialised,, in the differem forms of jumping. In the course of further remarks. R'otariaii Milos went oh to refer to Lnndbn’si gjigantis 'traffic problem. He said that one-way traffic was now in force in.the busiest sections of tho city. Opinion seemed; to: be divided as to whether it was a success. For •himself, he wondered how the traffic could have been handled! when there was two-way traffic. A description of a, tour of tho London docks fol-. lowed. He pointed out that the Port of London Authority controlled an area of 1 water and "docks 'exceeding 2000 acres • that 46 million, tons of shipping was handled by ■it annually and ;the trade for a year represented goods worth £540,000,000. It might' surprise them to know that the whole of the world’s output of iodine was handled at the docks. As showing,how injurious the handling of the product was lie mentioned that a 201 b. iron weight in the stores had shrunk five pounds in 12 years. It was, therefore, not surprising that workers in the iodine mines in Chili lived only a few years. He had been shown a . small piece of iodine about the size of the end of one’s finger ’ and had been informed that with it there could be made a gallon of tincture of tho strength sold to the public. He and his father had been shown through the vast wine vaults, under the docks. On entering each- had been given a torch, but his father had said that iie could do without one. It was tnen explained to them that every visitor had to take a torch and j return it before departing. The ! torches had to he collected, in order to ensure that no victor failed to turn up. (Laughter). Rotarian Miles promised to continue: ins talk on a future occasion.-.. ‘ A hearty vote of thanks was, on the motion of Rotarian Stoneham, accorded the speaker.