AMERICA REVISITED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20254, 14 May 1929, Page 11

AMERICA REVISITED.

CONSUL'S IMPRESSIONS.

DAYS IN THE OLD SOUTH.

ADDRESS BY MR. W. F. BOYLE

Some impressions of his "recent ramble round the edges of the United States" were given by Mr. W. F. Boyle, American consul in Auckland, at yesterday's weekly luncheon of the Auckland' Rotary Club.

Speaking of Uio Pacific Foreign Trade Convention in Los Angeles, where his recent tour began, Mr. Boyl6 reverted to a matter which he had mentioned when interviewed on his return to Auckland, namely, a speech by Mr. Justice McDonald, of British Columbia, upon problems and relations in the Pacific. This, ho said, was an outstanding event at the convention.

Another was the great dollar mark incident. One evening the great banqueting hall was decorated entirely with the house-flags of American shipping lines. Attending the convention was the veteran Captain Robert Dollar, head of-tho Dollar Steamship Lino and doyen of American shipowners. His house-flag, as a play upon his surname, bore the well-known dollar mark. As a compliment to him this flag was hung above the chairman's table. "I am sure that if any New Zealander had entered the hall then," added Mr. Boyle, "he would have said, "We have heard about people worshipping at the shrine of tho Almighty Dollar, and here we have caught them at their devotions.' " (Laughter.) The Enduring Wild West.

When he had left Los Angeles behind, with its moving-picture stars,; Milky Way of would-be stars, its men bawling through megaphones in nasal voices, he realised that it was a beautiful city, although loud, proud and boastful. Its setting was picturesque and a quieter beauty would come with age.

In San Francisco he addressed the Foreign Trade Club, and told his hearers that New Zealanders preferred to trade with those who traded with them. He advised American business men at any rate to do what they could in the way of building up an invisible trade balance in the form of more tourist traffic—and to begin by visiting New Zealand themselves.

After visiting Portland and Seattle Mr. Boyle went east by the Milwaukee Railway, which was electrified for 220 miles through the Cascade Range, and for a further 440 miles through the Rockies. He confessed that this part of the journey had spoiled all other railway travelling for him. Crossing the prairies, he saw mobs of cattle, cowboys and an occasional Indian. It was clear that though the buffalo, the "bad man" and the covered waggon had gone, the Wild West still remained. Duels in Old Georgia. -In Chicago he did not meet "Big Bill" Thompson, but in addressing the Export Managers' Association he told its members that "Big Bill" was well known in New Zealand, which was probably the most British country in the world.

After visiting Washington, meeting many high officials and visiting the Lincoln Memorial, ho crossed the Potomac into Virginia, where among the hills he owned a ten-acres family property, on which he and Mrs. Boyle hoped to spend their latter years. There he supervised the clearing of some five acres of blackberries, which had come and camped there in his long absence. In Virginia be left his wife and daughter, and set off for New Zealand once more, by way of Georgia, his native State. While in Atlanta he visited his old home on Green Street, a thoroughfare 165 ft. wide, three miles long and containing four rows of century-old oaks and elms.

Mr. Boyle described his visits to the old swimming hole, the moss-festooned lagoon and the old duelling ground by the river, which, until 40* years ago. had been regarded by citizens as the select and aristocratic place for killing each other. As pistols were the rule, a duel usually produced at least one corpse. However, a Southerner of to-day, if challenged to such a combat, would merely laugh. J

Sfc was disappointing f 0 find that he had lost his birthright and could no longer be identified as a native by his •voice, which in his long wanderings had gathered some uri-Georgian harshness. To him the soft, slow speech of his boyhood memories would always be bound up with the trees, the flowers and the red hills of Georgia. A hearty vote of thanks to the speaker was carried on the motion of Mr. R. Angus, who said that Mr. Boyle was not merely a consul but an ambassador of goodwill. 1