INDUSTRIES WEEK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 252, 17 July 1908, Page 4

INDUSTRIES WEEK.

, : THE FIRST PRIZE ESSAY. , The following is tho first'prizo essay writ- ' ten oil Industries. Week, recently held in Wel- . lington, open to girls' and boys under 1G years of ago; ■ ' 'AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN OLD MEAT- r CAN." v/';:-:--;' (By Kathleen Stuckey, Island Bay, aged 13; first''prise winnof) £2 2s<):,<*> i "Yes, I am only an old, rusty tin, J lying' in 'Jam-tin Gully,'' but wait 'till.: you; have heard my story arid you Will see that I have not always been like this. Let ino show you ' a few scenes in .my history, and that of the delicious Inorsels. I once contained. ; ' . '-'Scene 1 shows you the'sheop hlippily graz- •, ing in their paddocks. /Alas I this bright tiihfewas soon to come to' an end, and ono sad day' foiihd , them all huddled ill trucks' behind a snorting engine, struggling over the Rimutalia mountainsr- 'Only too'soon did they; reach .tho Gear Company's; works at Peton'e. I will'pass oyer what followed and show you their carcasses hanging in a long room on ' ■ iron rails, being dressed by butchers be-fore-being examined by a Govornment official, who sees that only perfectly sound meat is used'for food. : You would : be surprised to > eeo how.littlo of the carcass is used for canliing. "Some peoplo think that only tho coarsest-: : ( meat is canned. This is > ; great• mis'take, ~ as nothing but the best is used, tho coarse; fat parts, being used for tallow. Tho noxt sceno shows the cookhouse, whoro tho meat is :partly cooked, and' where I first 'mado its acquaintanco and loarned ■ its;history."''■? . "But "now-it■ is timo to tell you. liow I came'.-into ;being. 'In another part "of that great .building might bo .seen a., machino v .stamping 'of -my brothers and meVfrom 'bright sheets of tinslate. Of course, there are many scraps ■ of tin left. - ' ..They are, Sent to Germany to be made .into toys; f ' Little does that small boy oyer ther'o. licking the paint off his...tin; soldiers, i thinfe they , were Very likely inade, from- : the sarno sheet of tin as this dirty old can. But to return to my tale/ ; Our bodies were bent, the 1 seams soldered, tops and bottoms* put onj and . , - the rims soldered by that wonderful contrivance — tho soldering machino....This .completed us, savo for a round hole left in "the" top. ; "Now to the cookhouse, where I .received the moat that had boon waiting for me.! ~-An-. other machine .soldered, the ,cov;u' over-.tho.' - ' openinfc -leaving o'iily t ,' "In the next-scene you seo us packed in? a retort, whore tho cooking v was . completed' ' u by steam.' This-took'some'time, after-^hioh the small hole was, soldered, and wo were' returned once more'-for a final heating in, :V the retort;'..-'Afterbeing'testod,. . ; dried, we were ready- for tho last operations —lacquering and labelling. Then followed-a" quiet,. happy, timo';; spoht ,o'n tho' shelf :of.va. grocer's shop. But, alas, tho day camo when Fate and a tin-opener cut sliort my, career, and that is how. I como to be hero. My time is short now, as that dreadful dustcart is coming: but before I am buried for ever : under its load let mo ask you .a question. •'' "When you think of tho number of people you assist to cart ■; their, living ;by ; buying New Zealand-made goods,''do you iifit. think: that- —? Tho end of tho question will noven , bo recorded, for" it wasYriut" shorf.jby the „ • crash of tho nowly-arrived load'of; tin's. But ■ I think tho answer is dear. Don't": vou ■ ■■ think so?" ' . ' The second prizo essay was won by Lizzie Findlay, of Jackson Streot, Potone.

Tho .visit of th<3 American Fleet, to' tho ■ Pacific and Australian ports is a declaration that tho wnito.raco will maintain itslposses- , sions in an ocoan which is certain to;, bo tho « t scene of great world conflicts'during tlie pre-' 1 i sent • century.—■" Courier," 'Brisbane/ ;' v -'; : The work. that Franco • has accomplished v in Morocco is a work of general interest.' Rarely.has an offended nation used its right. . of repression more usefully and moderately, TII6 whole'. of Europe will benefit by what wo knew how to undertake and carry out ' : well.- I -"Temps," Paris.