CURRENT NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26030, 6 February 1950, Page 2

CURRENT NOTES

Lady Beaurepaire, wife of Sir Fraffik Beaurepaire, a member of the Council of Olympic Games, and Miss B. Beaurepaire arrived in Auckland in the Monowai on Friday. After watching the Empire Games they will make a five weeks’ tour of the Dominion. Miss E. Turner, Rhodes street. Merivale, who is leaving for a trip to England soon, was presented with a parting gift by members of the Dickens Fellowship at a gathering at the Sign ,of the Takahe on Saturday evening. Empire Games chaperons and managers who were present at the ViceRegal garden party were Mrs Ruth Taylor (England), Mrs C- M. Usher and Mrs W. J. Todd (Scotland), Mrs B. MacKellar, Miss Mabel Ware, Mrs E. Hamilton and Mrs Linda Hunt (Canada), Miss M. Long and Miss Neville (Australia), Mrs R. F. Ellis and Mrs A. D. Bridson (New Zealand). The resignation of Miss L. K. Hunter from the staff of the Christchurch West High School as from March 31 was accepted with regret at a meeting of the board, of managers of the school on Friday. Miss Hunter plans to go overseas shortly. Miss Betty Carnochan, Christchurch, and Miss Dorothy Thwaites. Timaru, who have spent the last three months in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, furthering their studies in ballet and stage dancing, will return to New Zealand in the Wanganella, leaving Sydney on February 9. While they have been in Australia they have both acted as judges at Highland gatherings. Mr Peter Christian, and his granddaughter, Iris Young, were two of the 10 rather shy Pitcairn Islanders who arrived in Wellington on Thursday aboard the liner Rangitoto. The 10 islanders were picked up by the Rangitoto during a two-hour halt at Pitcairn. Mr Christian said he had made the journey to New Zealand to permit his grand-daughter, who recently suffered appendicitis, to undergo a medical examination. For three years the employees of an Auckland firm have sent food parcels to a knitting mill in Scotland. Last week they received a reward—a sterling silver plaque on an ebony base—from the staff of Kilspindie, Ltd., Hadington. Simply, but beautifully designed, the plaque has a relief of Scotland at the top, the position of Hadington being marked, and a relief of a lion at the bottom. There is no business connexion between the two firms.

Six factory girls in Durham, England, cut an average of 30 trees a day after three men who had cut three trees in three days complained that the work was too hard. The girls, who work in a box factory, volunteered to cut the trees when the factory ran out of wood. The factory manager said: “I paid the men an incentive bonus of 5s a week. But they said the work was too hard and wan giving them backache. When the girls offered to do the job I thought I’d humour them.” The six girls, aged 16 to 21. sawed up 1000 trees into six-foot lengths. They fejled enough trees to keep the factory busy for months so they went back to making boxes. An English incurable invalid sent home from a county sanatorium to die owes his life to gifts of food from the Invalid Food Depot, which is supplied with food by the New Zealand Red Cross, says a letter from the British Red Cross. The extra food, especially the fats, enabled the man to make a good recovery, and he is now able to do light work. A Sydney man has designed a brightly-coloured shoe sole because he thinks ordinary black soles are drab. His “rainbow soles” are a rubber composition and are in all colours, with marbled effects. . They can be toned either with the upper part of the shoe or with the wearer’s ensemble. The rubber soles are cleaned by wiping therrt with a damp rag. A Sydney actor, ’Peter Finch, will produce in London in March what theatrical circles are calling the “most thorough-going Australian production yet staged in London.” It is called “Pommy.” The action of “Pommy” takes place on an Australian sheep station. It is about the experiences cf an English “lounge lizard,” to be played by Ronald Howard (son of the late Leslie Howard). An English girl. Patricia Wayne (who was chosen by Robert Montgomery for his first Bri-tish-made film. “Your Witness”), will star opposite Howard. The rest of the cast will be Australians. English stocking manufacturers are hoping for a cooler summer next year. So many women went barelegged last summer that stocking sales dropped sharply, and.it is reported that stocking makers are worried in case bare legs become too common. St. Valentine messages and birthdav greetings to go with packages of stockings are suggested as one way of making hosiery more appealing. Another suggestion is stockings with embroidered clocks, lace heels, and ankle bracelets. like those now being worn in America.