TOO MUCH RAIN

Northern Advocate, 5 February 1926, Page 2

TOO MUCH RAIN

AMERICAN TOURISTS' OPINION". ‘ ‘ Georgcoua, delightful, wonderful —I don’t know what you would call it ; but to us it’s a wonder all the way. You’ve a magnificent country, the scenery is excellent, but I’ll tell the world that you’re getting liiove thaii your share of rain here, and we don’t like it.” Seated in the lounge of a city hotel, Mrs I. D. Strelitz, one of the party of American tourists who arrived in Christchurch from the ‘West Coast recently, thus summed up her opinion of New Zealand, says the ‘‘Lyttelton Times. ’' ‘‘Why, that coast of yours is the wettest place in the whole world,” she said smilingly. ‘‘You know they told us over there that it rained 124 inches a week—a month or something. It might have been a year, but I think they made a mistake. It was 124 feet they meant. ‘‘We’ve been in New Zealand eight days, and it’s been raining for six of them. We've all got colds and rheumatism and cramp, and all the other things that come with the rain, and we ’re beginning to wonder whether we will ever get rid of them. It’s the first cold I’ve had in my life, too. I came from Chicago; over there we don’t get colds.” ‘‘Look! Don’t you mind what she tells you about the rain—-your country is a, darling,. that’s what it is. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve travelled the world,” put in another lady. ‘‘Yes, it’s a peach—a real California peach,” added a third, enthusiastically. ‘‘But it could do with a little Californian sunshine,” interjected one of the men. “You sure get the rain here. ’ ’ When told that he wouldn’t find it so wet now that he had left the Coast, the young fellow appeared a little sceptical. “I guess we were beginning to expect it all the way, now,” he said. “But the sunshine will be welcome—if it comes.” “You’re not expecting the sun to be shining at night, are you?” queried a lady who was delighted with New Zealand with all its rain. “No, but I’m an optimist,” he said. “N7ow that I’ve said so many nasty things about the weather that we’ve had, I’ll tell you all the nice things, and there are a Vjjiole lot of them, ’ ’ said Mrs Strelitz. “New Zealanders are wonderful people. I’ve heard a lot about them long before we came out. No, I wasn't expecting to find savages. We knew that the New Zealanders were really nice, cultured, hospitable people, but we had no idea that they were nearly so nice as we have found them. “Everyone is so kind, and they welcome you. They’re always smiling. The people in the hotels and on the trains —they’re really delightful. The train crews everywhere we've been have treated us wonderfully, and wo appreciate it.” “Gee, don’t we!” put in a happy young fellow. “It’s a smile all the N way out here, and we like to see people smile.” /'Can’t smile too much,” said another who was sitting in a corner blowing smoke rings. “And I can tell you we’ll all start smiling when the sun begins to smile,” said Mrs Strelitz. “We’ve not seen his face since we arrived here, and when we see him next I’m telling you we’ll offer him the glad hand, for he’ll be like a friend who has been away for a long time and has just come back.”