AMY JOHNSON ANGRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20604, 1 July 1930, Page 14

AMY JOHNSON ANGRY.

REMARKS ABOUT PRESENTS.

EXAGGERATED STORIES

"JOLLY HARD WORK AHEAD."

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY, Juno 2G.

Miss Amy Johnson, who has received such wonderful receptions in Australia following, on her remarkablo lono flight from England to tho Commonwealth, has not found unalloyed pleasure in the tremendous publicity to which she has been subjected. Over much has been made of t.ho gifts sho has received and it is apparent that this has placed her in an embarrassing position. She has in a way resented the repeated references to tho £IO,OOO contract sho has received from tho London Daily Mail, to her fur coats and tho other hundred and one things that have conio her way. In Melbourne the othir day sho chastised tho guilty partiesMiss Johnson was asked in Melbourne whether she had made any plans for the future. "Plans!" sho laughed. "1 have | not had time to think an hour ahead, let I alone months and years ahead. I only know for certain that I am in for a jolly hard eight months when I get back and s'.art on that contract with tho Daily Mail. Ail that most people seem to think of is the £IO,OOO that I am to be paid for it. But I shall not get that until tho end of tho eight months, and in the meantime I shall bo at tho Daily Mail's beck and call, running here, there and everywhere. It is going to be jolly hard work, I can tell you. Only Ono Fur Coat.

Tho girl flier suddenly stopped her laughter. to add with blue eyes hardening to steel grey:—"And while on the subject of money I would like to say that 1 regard it, as most humiliating to have all these additions as to how much money I have been given and how many fur coats and frocks and lingerie. Someone or. other published an addition to show that I had received money in Australia amounting to more than £2OOO. And then to mako it look bigger added the Daily Mail's £IO,OOO, which I shall jolly well have earned by the time I get it. ".tjs for fur coats, I have been given one. As for clothes generally, I have spent £3OO on clothes since I arrived in Australia. Gifts certainly have been made to me, and very nice ones, 100, but I do net at all appreciate the exaggerated stories which so many people repeat."

The 'lonversation returned again to tho future. "Of course," Miss Johnson was asked, "You will go on flying as soon as the Daily Mail contract is finished." Her ey ;s blazed blue again, but there was no sign of laughter m her voico when she replied, determinedly: "I shall never give U;) flying. Never, never!" She is now silting for her portrait in oils by the no;ablo Australian painter, Sir John Longstafi. Message to the Children.

It is of interest to study Miss Johnson's message to the children of Australia, for t gives an i.'isight into the character of the girl whose <iOfeches have so favourably impressed the people of Australia, stamping her as a girl of no mean intelligence. Her message was:— "Man} wero the precautions 1 took to ensure a safe passage from England to Australia in my little Jason, not tho least of wh ch was that I made every effort to learn not only how to fly the machine, but abo hew to keep it in good condition, .is well as carefully choosing the best and sal'est route.

"It was imch a splendid adventure, in as much as i-V was another link in our great Empire, another link formed between Australia and England, and I cannot help thinking how worth while it was to concentrate on this, having avoided foolish undertakings in the past, which, while they might have given me a momertary thrill, might also have cost ine some injury which would have prevented me from flying to Australia. That would have lost to me the finest adventure it is possible for a girl to have had. I urga you, too, to avoid the foolish adventures so that when your opportunity arises, or when you make an opportunity as I did, you will be prepared and fit for it."