No. 10 -- 3 Aug 1931

Mr. N. A. Hughes,
C/o Y.M.C.A. College,
5315 Drexel Ave.,
CHICAGO. Ill. U.S.A.

My dear Noel,

We received your letter dated 8th July and posted I presume at Honolulu. Also your diary up to July 6th. As requested we passed this around the staff folk and other friends so that they may know of the happenings on your voyage. Naturally they were pleased to hear of the record of your doings.

We were all sorry to hear that you did not have a daylight trip to Suva, but that could not be helped. Mr. Barker I think I told you in my last letter, wrote to us and gave us some details of your visit to Suva. We hope you had a good time at Honolulu. My visits to Honolulu are very fresh in my memory as I had such a remarkably good time on each occasion.

I am sorry I forget to get the letter for the Rotary Club at Chicago. I will get into touch with Mr. Hartnell, the Secretary here, and endeavour to get a letter for you.

Under separate cover we are sending the two copies of the Annual Report so that you might have one to give away if you feel so disposed. I note that you expect to change your itinerary a little as you cross Canada. You must not forget that the C.P.R. people wrote ahead so as to reserve accommodation for you. If you did not turn up, it may occasion a little kick from the hotel folk with whom reservation was arranged. I think you were wise to extend your time at Winnipeg. I hope you had a good chance to make contact with Archie Kirkpatrick.

Movie poster for the 1927 film "Wings",
a silent film about World War I fighter pilots
and the first winner of the
Academy Award for Best Picture.
(Source: Wikipedia)

We were all glad to hear that  you had made such excellent friends on the ship. I hope these young fellows may be of some help to you in giving you wrinkles on travelling in Canada.

You will by this time have finished up at Toronto and will be turning your face towards Cleveland. I need hardly say that I hope you found the Toronto meetings very helpful. Those at Cleveland should be even more so because of the remarkable collection of young people, as well as seniors you will meet from the different nations. Such an opportunity for personal contacts should mean a great deal to you in the future. By the time this letter reached you conference will have receded into the background and you will be looking forward to your new experiences at Chicago College.

I am hoping that you made contact with a number of my own personal friends at Cleveland. Mr. F.J. Chamberlain, the National Secretary of the British Y.M.C.A., said he would be on the lookout for you as he would be attending the conference. Mr. Harry White, National Council's representative in the Foreign Division at Chicago, also wrote that he would be making contact with you at Cleveland. He had written to you personally, and also to Mr. Fred. Smith at Toronto Central, and Mr. John Geldart. These good friends should have been exceedingly useful to you.

I also had a letter from Mr. Harry Lang, who used to be National Secretary of the Y.M. in Australia, and also from Mr. Sid. Peck, of the San Francisco Y.M.C.A.; both of these men said that they would write to you personally. I hope they did.

Now just a little news of the home folk. We are all keeping very well, apart from colds which most of us have had. Joy and Keith have had very heavy colds which they have not yet been able to throw off. Ruth was home for the weekend from the Homeopathic Hospital. She seems to be enjoying her work there and likes it much better than her job at Danks. I think she will fit into the hospital work and enjoy it. She is having a pretty "lean" time financially. She will not be paid for her first month's work, and then will have to wait until the end of the second month before she draws any pay! In the meantime I have got to keep her going in pocket money. However, that is not a serious matter as her needs are not very great. Keith has not yet struck anything to do. Rex has been doing "off work" and has had three or four jobs since you left. On Saturday he told me that he had a good chance of selling your Amplifier, but of course we have nothing definite to go upon, apart from his statement.

Uncle Will was in over the weekend. He is having a particularly bad time and is making very few sales and consequently is hard up against it.

We have not heard much from the Sydney folk during the past few weeks. Little Edith has taken a great spurt with her piano playing. She has determined to sit for an examination and is now putting in 3/4 hour every morning before breakfast at the piano. I wonder if she will be able to keep it going?

Now a little about the Association. We are still having a pretty difficult time financially and there doesn't seem to be any lift in the depression. Harry Joyce finished up last Friday and we farewelled him at afternoon tea and made him a presentation. There were about 30 present. The Navy work has now to be handled by Reg. Gray, and the Matron, and the  bookings are done at the front office counter. Harry Joyce, as far as I know, has no work to go to, so that he might have quite a bad time during the new few weeks. We have tried in certain directions to get him a job but without success.

Most of the departments are going well. We averaged 75% of occupancy in the Dormitory Dept. over the 6 months instead of our usual 95% to 98%.

The Suburban leaders Corps is going well with over 40 fellows enrolled. I commence a series of six talks tomorrow evening.

The Suburban Auxiliaries Plan proposed by Mr. Crosby has not developed as we had hoped it might, but some money is coming in and if a few of the special functions arranged in the future turn out trumps, we should nett a few hundreds of pounds from these events.

We had a great night here on Saturday last, when the final Basketball Games were played. There were about 200 present.

The Residents have been having some good meetings in connection with their dinner functions and there was a first-class social with the "13" club a week ago. This was quite a good affair and went off excellently.

I told you in my last letter that other reductions in salaries were contemplated. Since then there has been a further cut, and the average works out at about 25% all round. Actually in the last 11 months we have had three cuts and the total reductions in salaries represent over 33%. That of course includes those who have left the Association's employ, such as yourself and others. Despite all this reduction, we cannot make up the loss in revenue we have experienced. I think we shall probably be in the neighborhood of £1900 down on the seven months work.

We are all wondering just how you have been getting along since the conferences, and eagerly await news of your doings. I hope you will keep us fully informed.

The Wireless Club is going well. Last Thursday night they assisted the Vikings in the Picture Show and provided an excellent Amplifier to broadcast the musical part of the programme. They will be able to render very effective service in jobs of this kind. They are meeting regularly twice a week and seem to be an interested group of fellows. At the Picture Show referred to, the Vikings put on the picture "Wings" and had over 200 present.

I must finish off now, as the mail is due to close at 2:30 p.m. I can tell you my boy, that all the folk at home send their love to you. We hope you will keep us regularly informed of your doings.

Pass on my regards to Professor Foss, Dr. Dreaver, and of course Clive and May. Any of my pals whose names I gave you and who are located in Chicago, will be glad to meet you.

Let's hear how you get on as you contact with them.

Affectionately yous,
Dad

Crossing into the United States

Noel's approximate route from (A) Toronto to (C) Cleveland,
with a crossing at (B) Niagara Falls.

 

I don't know many details about Noel's journey from Toronto to Cleveland, other than that he crossed at Niagara Falls on 2 Aug 1931.

Noel's passport showing his U.S. Visa, his entry into Canada
and his entry into the United States.

Flickr

I have to jump pretty far ahead in the letters to find anything relevant. George writes on 29 Sept 1931, "I was interested in your account of the journey from Toronto to Cleveland. People would find it difficult to imagine that you could make the trip on such a small expenditure. I am glad you were impressed with Niagara Falls. They certainly cause one to feel surprised at their extent and magnificence."

As I'm writing this, I'm staring to remember visiting Niagara Falls with my family. I had to pull out my photo album to figure this out, but it was 1982 and I was in middle school.

I vaguely remember the border crossing from Canada to New York. On previous crossings, the border patrol would ask, "Are you U.S. citizens?" and when we all replied yes, we would be waved through. But this time, border patrol asked us, "Where were you born?" When my grandfather replied, "New Zealand", it caused a few extra questions. But even that was simple and we were waved right through. Maybe grandpa had to show his drivers license.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize at the time the personal significance that revisiting that crossing would have had for my grandfather. If I did, that part of the memory is forgotten. But it would explain why my father laughed so hard at the extra questioning and thought it was significant.

Dressed up for our Cave of the Winds tour at Niagara Falls in 1982.
Pictured are my father, Alan, (left); my grandmother Marion; my grandfather Noel;
my mother, Sherrie; and my sister, Heather.

Flickr

See related post: No. 7 -- 24 June 1931

Crossing Canada on the CPR

Approximation of the route Noel took across Canada: (A) Victoria, British Columbia;
(B) Vancouver (C) Banff, Alberta (D) Winnipeg, Manitoba (E) Toronto

The next letter was addressed to Noel in Vancouver. He would have received it right before starting his train journey on the Canadian Pacific Rail across Canada on his way to Toronto.

For more about Noel's crossing of Canada, see
this post from 26 January 2013:

Noel's Account of Crossing Canada in 1931 - Audio

The post contains an audio file from 1982 of Noel
recounting his trip across Canada.

Also, for more about the Canada crossing, click
the tag Canada, which will bring up posts about the
crossing.

It's a trip that George writes about in his letters with fond memories and a certain amount of wistfulness, although that doesn't come through that well in the Vancouver letter.

While he does end with the wish that Noel has a "thoroughly happy time as you cross the Great Continent," most of the letter is full of advice on how to save money and avoid being swindled. The advice makes me wonder what first-hand knowledge George had of the experience.

It is in the other letters that his fondness for the journey comes out.

A travel poster of the correct-looking
vintage found through AllPosters.com

"Well, I suppose you have had a remarkably interesting journey so far. I know the run through the Canadian Rockies will remain a vivid memories for years to come," he said in an upcoming letter addressed to Noel in Toronto."Then your contacts with the beauties of Lake Louise and Banff will also please you."

And in his Hawaii letter: "You will have a wonderful time going through the Rockies, and I envy you the trip as it is one of the most remarkable railway journeys to be had anywhere in the World."

That sentiment that it is a great train journey holds true today, as the trip is consistently listed in the travel literature as one of the best in the world.

The above video is for the Mountaineer, which is a train that makes the trip across the Canadian Rockies today. Much of the route, especially around Banff and Lake Louise, is in a national park, and I can only guess that it is very similar looking to what Noel saw in 1931 and George saw in 1917 and 1919.

A travel poster of the correct-looking
vintage found through AllPosters.com

On a personal note, my family did  the car trip across the Canadian Rockies twice, both in 1977 and 1979, when I was 8 then 10 years old. I remember it vividly, and I also fell in love with Banff and Lake Louise.


I remember seeing the rail lines carved into and through the mountains, and my parents telling me what an incredible engineering feat it was.

Someday, when my son is older, maybe we'll get back there. Maybe we'll even get to take the train.

The RMS Niagara

The ship Noel was departing on, the RMS Niagara, was an ocean liner that while being built bore the nickname the "Titanic of the Pacific". It launched a few months after the Titanic sank in 1912 with the new nickname the "Queen of the Pacific".

With Noel and the family being strapped for cash due to the depression, Noel was traveling third class. (Think Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the movie TITANIC, not Kate Winslet's character.)

Noel's route to North America
on the RMS Niagara
(click to enlarge):
(A) Sydney, Australia
(B) Auckland, New Zealand (C) Suva, Fiji
(D) Honolulu, Hawaii (E) Victoria, Canada

Wikipedia says the RMS Niagara could hold almost 700 first-, second- and third-class passengers, but a comment in an upcoming letter indicates it sailed with only a fraction of that -- 26 in the third class sailing out of Auckland, New Zealand. A copy of the ship's manifest found through Ancestry.com indicates only 18 in third class out of Auckland through to Canada.

The ship departed Sydney on 25 June, with stops in Auckland, departing 30 June; Suva, Figi Islands, departing 3 July; Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, departing 10 July; and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, arriving 16 July, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, arriving 17 July.

In the letters, George is full of very detailed advice about shipboard life. He would know. He crossed the Pacific twice and the Atlantic twice on his way to and from Europe during World War I. At least one of those Pacific crossings was on the RMS Niagara.

Jumping ahead in time, the RMS Niagara did come to a dramatic end in 1940 when it struck a German mine outside New Zealand and sank. The ship was carrying gold bars intended to pay British debt to the U.S. government in relation to World War II, so an effort was launched to salvage the gold with most of it being recovered.

See related post: No. 3 -- 18 June 1931