ON THE CONTINENT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 December 1924, Page 4

ON THE CONTINENT.

IMPRESSIONS OF ABROAD. HAWERA RESIDENT’S TOUR. A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY. After a trip to Europe, extending over a period of nine months, Mr, D. J. Goodwin has returned to Hawera, having spent a most pleasant holiday. To a Star reporter he had an interesting story to tell. Sailing from Auckland in the Niagara on February 29, he joined one of the Orient line steamers at Sydney, and thereafter enjoyed a pleasant trip via Suez to- Naples. Naples, said Mr. Goodwin, was a picturesque city, with quaint buildings and beautiful hotels, but there were some parts of the city that were dirty and repulsive. The streets, paved with stone slabs, were narrow and uneven, and what particularly attracted his attention was the poor class of conveyances—four-wheeled contrivances drawn by poor scraggy horses or donkeys, the fare charged, however, being in keeping with their appearance. From Naples, Mr. Goodwin with his party went to Rome, and there visited the magnificent churches, the Colliseum aiid other places of interest. Florence and Venice were next visited, a short stay bbing made at Ledo, an island seaside resort close to Venice. At Milan the cathedral, said to be the biggest and finest in the world, was viewed before the party passed on to Genoa and Monte Carlo. - Mr. Goodwin’s description of the* Casino, where he tried his luck, was specially interesting. H e said * that those betting seemed to make a business of it. They attended with their secretaries, and, going on the principle that some time or other every number must win, they would pick out a number that had not had a win for an hour or so and would then commence backing it. Rheims and the battlefields were also visited. The party also visited Madame Pommery’s famous champagne cellars. The cellars constituted a vast business carried on underground, where there were 27 miles of cellars and 12,000,000 bottles of champagne. The working expenses of the business ran into £I4OO per day. Speaking of the racecourses m France, Mr. Goodwin said that the pastime was conducted there similarly to the manner in which it was run in New Zealand. A betting machine was used, but it did not operate on the same principle as the New Zealand totalisator. The betting public could back for either a win or a place, and could invest in lots of 2s 6d up to £lO. The party found Paris a beautiful city, one thing that was particularly mentioned by Mr. Goodwin being the wonderful taxi service. In all there were 18,000 beautiful machines plying for. hire, and a passenger could travel three miles for five francs (Is 3d). At the end of May the party went to London, and after having experienced only seven or eight hours’ Tain on the Continent they found the London weather conditions very disagree.AH the sights of the city were later a visit was made to Wembley. He thought that the Canadian and Australian courts' were very good, but while the New Zealand butter and cheese exhibits were very good the general appearance of the New Zealand court was poor in comparison with some of the others. A ,, mo } or tour through England into , ocotland made another interesting and enjoyable part of the holiday, the roads : being perfect and the scenerv beautiful A special visit was made to Switzerland and then, after returning to England, the Rimutaka .was boarded at Liverpool and the return journey made via Panama.. On November 26 Auckland was reached and a wonderful holiday completed