General News

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27120, 17 August 1953, Page 8

General News

Leisure for Wives An English woman told 1200 delegates at the International Congress on Home Economics in Edinburgh today that many husbands were reluctant to buy labour-saving equipment for the home because they feared it would give their wives too much leisure. The speaker, Miss M. E. Bailie, head of the housecraft department of the Electrical Association for Women, added that—according to a questionnaire among wives—the men also feared such equipment would make their wives lazy.—London. August 15. Fast Discharge of Fruit The Union Steam Ship Company’s vessel Matua, which began unloading a large cargo of oranges at Lyttelton on Friday, completed its discharge on Saturday. Because of rain only 614 cases were unloaded on Friday, but 17,478 cases were unloaded in six hours the following day. The cases were loaded directly into trucks at the ship’s side and taken to Christchurch markets in 89 loads. The Katui is expected to unload 15,000 cases of bananas today. Britain’s Loudest Voice

Mr Ben Johnson is still the man with the loudest voice in Britain. Today at Hastings, Sussex, he won from 22 other “big voices” the national town criers’ championship for the second year in succession. Mr Johnson, who comes from the Cornish fishing village of Fowey, has now won six times the £5O prize and the cup awarded by the Sunday newspaper “News of the World.” —London, August 15. « Television in America

“Television is the super highway to the mind,” said Dr. A. R. Olpin, president of the University of Utah, in Wellington, on Saturday. “With its combination of vision and sound, it has great possibilities, but at the same time it is being used too much as a scenic railroad. What is shown is meant only to entertain. It is one of the most promising media educationists have ever had, but the programmes are costly and there is a tendency to commercialise television until it becomes a cultural deterrent instead of an asset. It is too often used as an indoctrinating medium.”— (P.A.) Rarotongans at Coronation

The official representatives at the Coronation of smallest unit of the Empire arrived in Auckland yesterday with vivid memories of the Westminster Abbey ceremony. They were Makeanui, paramount chieftainess of Rarotonga, and her husband, Dr. Tau Cowan, who was often mistaken for the spn of Queen Salote of Tonga. “At many introductions and every time I wrote ‘Rarotonga’ in a hotel register, there would be delighted murmurs of recognition and newspapermen would arrive,” he said.—(P.A.) “Silent Games”

Five hundred deaf and dumb men and women athletes took part in a colourful dress parade in Heysel Stadium, near Brussels, today, at opening ceremonies of the four-day international “silent games.” A Belgian athlete, dressed in a white shirt ana flannels, made a speech in sign language expressing the spirit of unity of the people who had come from 20 countries, including Australia, for the games. The games include football, tennis, athletics, shooting, swimming, and cycling.—Brussels, August