WANGANUI MAN PRAISES LONDON AUTOMOBILE ASSN.

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 January 1950, Page 4

WANGANUI MAN PRAISES LONDON AUTOMOBILE ASSN.

The efficiency of the Automobile Association (London) was extolled by Mr. D. N. Anderson in a talk to the Wanganui Rotary Club yesterday. Mr. Anderson in the past few years has made two comprehensive tours abroad. For a payment of 15s he became a member of the association for six months, and for this sum he was provided with road maps of the British Isles which contained a vast amount of information for the tourist. In addition, he said h<? was given a key for the use of the association’s call boxes which studded the countryside. The association did everything possible for the welfare and comfort of its members, who were numbered by the thousands. The whole organisation was flawless, he added. Mr. Anderson attended the 1948 Olympic Games and said the opening ceremony was memorable for its colour and spectacle. On the opening day the attendance totalled 100,000. The handling of the huge throngs attending the Games was expeditious and had to be seen to. be believed The speaker ,said he was impressed by the hospitality and friendliness of the British people. They were appreciative of the food parcels forwarded to them over the years from New Zealand, their contents relieving the monotony of diet. Mentioning Switzerland, Mr. Anderson said he paid a brief visit there and found the people industrious. From his observations all worked hard. Prices were reasonable, and in the off-season hotel accommodation could be obtained at an excellent hotel for £1 a day. In the flush of the tourist season the charge would be three times that amount, added Mr. Anderson.

In France, the speaker, said, export trade was well under way and increasing each month. Travel on the Queen Elizabetli was luxurious, but that liner and the Queen Mary were not payable propositions to the Cunard Line, said the speaker, He had been Informed that the future policy of the company would be to build liners up to 40,000 tons.

Mentioning New York, he said crowds were on the move from dawn to dusk. While there a heat wave was in progress and the atmosphere was stifling, and he was glad to get away fro t the metropolis. He fouriu California much more invigorating and the climate ideal. The population of Los Angeles had doubled in the past 20 years, and the reflection of the Neon lights at night was an attractive sight. The thanks of the club to Mr. Anderson for his address was voiced by Mr. D. O’Toole.