THINGS AMERICAN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 145, 25 July 1914, Page 11

THINGS AMERICAN.

A PARSON FROM lOWA.

EX NEW ZEALANDER'S OBSER-

VATIONS.

A visitor to Christchurch just now is the Rev. R. B. West, who is Presbyterian minister in the town of Malvern, lowa, U.S.A. Mr West is a New Zealander born, and an American by adoption. He is a son of the late Rev. W. West, who for twelve or fourteen years was minister at Southbridge. Mr West went off to the United States shortly after attaining his majorit}', and is settled in the American town with the Canterbury name. He is at present on furlough, and is spending some weeks in Christchurch with his relatives, and meeting old acquaintances of his West Christchurch schooldays. PRODUCE AND PROHIBITION. lowa is an agricultural State, with no cities of any consequence. The growing of grain, and the raising of cattle and hogs, are the principal occupations of its Arcadian inhabitants. One cannot speak to a United States citizen without asking about the liquor question. Mr West explained that local option prevailed in lowa, and that the greater part of the State territory was "dry," and as far as his experience went it was a thousand times better than being "wet.'' The people of his community would not think of going back to the "wet" state of affairs. Prohibition was fast becoming a national question, and more than half the territory of the United States, though not half the population, was "dry." In spite of all the criticism they heard about Kansas, that State was '' dry,'' and was more prosperous than any of the ' l wet'' States contiguous to it. "Bootleggers," a term which described the sly-groggers who brought liquor into "dry" areas concealed in the;ir long boots, grip bags, or pockets, carried on their discreditable business when there we'r.e wet areas near at hand, but their trade was comparatively insignificant in volume. ACCENTS COMPARED. One has only to speak to Mr West for a few moments to find out that he hails from the land of the Stars and Stripes. Though he is a New Zealander he has caught the "Amurrican" accent, though not in its worst Yankee form. Mr West was gently chaffed about it, and he replied that after his long stay in the States the New Zealand accent seemed very pronounced to him.

"When I first went to America," he said, "people wanted to know what hind of foreigner I was. I went over there when 1 was so I suppose I speak with the accent of the Americans in the North States. My brother, who was older, did not acquire the accent, and has never done so. Trie result is that his English is quite different in accent to that of his congregation." Mr West then carried the war into the enemy's country. The New Zealand accent, he said, was just as marked as the American. He could hardly define it, but New Zealanders did not sound th.eir r's, and gave the broad sound to] everything —which was peculiarly English'. Mr West explained that the inhaoitsints of. the North West States noticed the "Yankee twang" just as much as New Zealanders would. The twang, in •If; accentuated form, was confined to the original New England States. The tr-ue "Yankees" formed only a,small proportion of the population, and their twang was not nearly so widely disseminated over America as a good many people imagined. THE TARIFF. The jiew tariff had been brought into operation, but the people in lowa had i-ot felt any benefit from it, except in the price of sugar. Great things had been expected of it, and there was a good deal of criticism. The ease with which goods could be shipped in now was the subject of comment. A shipment of butter from New Zealand was landed as Omaha, Nebraska, and the tanners round about began to complain that the tariff had lowered the price of butter. Mr West thought that America would offer a splendid market for New Zealand in the future. American mutton was not palatable, and no one who had eaten New Zealand mutton would ever eat American. If the New Zealand article could get a foothold there would be a splendid market for it. DOWN WITH FENCES.

It is '2.1 years since Mr West last saw Christchuivh, and he confesses to being astonished at the progress which this city has made in that time. He found tiie street car system a little difficult to understand. In America the cars stopped at all street corners -where required, but here one might have tq,, walk a block or two to the regular stopping places. Another thing that struck him was the erection of great barricades, or fences, round private houses. It suggested to an American that the town was full of undesirables, and that the citizens were afraid to leave their lawns and gardens open to the public.view. In no city in which he had lived in America was there any fence round any property, and that was the case generally with American cities. The fences were hideous to him. COLD CHURCHES.

Mr WeS attended church twice iu Christ-church last Sunday, and was sorry afterwards. No American congregation would sit in sueh cold churches in such weather, and the preachers would not ask them to do it. The janitor had to keep the temperature up to 68 or 70, ai?d if the fires did not work properly he got fired himself. THE RAILWAY TWAINS.

Mr "West said that he was not anxious to play the part of a critic, but ne could not help remarking on the New Zealand train services. The trains seemed so tiny and insignificant and infrequent. There was a great advocacy in America for Government ownership, and J\e\v Zealand was being held out as the shining-example. After what he had seen in New Zealand he had grave doubts as to the wisdom of the thing. The train services in America Avere far superior to anything the Governing it would be able to give them. The lines 'vere in competition, and that made for efficiency of-service when the lines were under private control.