RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 301, 16 September 1930, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events LOCAL AND GENERAL (Br Kickshaw®.) A bridge enthusiast hats written to cay that b® wine on« day and loots tfe* next He wants to know wh&t to do. Clearly he should play every other day. to ♦ ♦ A British prelate thinks we shocld institute temporary marriages in certain cases. At present before marriage a man tells a woman a great deal he doesn’t think. After marriage he thinks a great deal he doesn’t telL A London householder hit a burglar over the head with a loud speaker .and stunned him. The householder’s neighbours are particularly pleased because that means that a burglar and a loudspeaker are, at least temporarily, out of action.—“ Humorist” * In connection with a paragraph on animals eating explosives in this column last Saturday a reader gives a remarkable instance: “Your paragraph on animals and detonators rather brought back to my mind an incident that happened about twenty years ago. As most people are aware, detonators can only be exploded by fire concussion, a sharp blow with a hammer, or a sudden jar. My mate and I were splitting fencing posts on a farm up the Otaki Gorge. Lunch-time came along and we placed four detonators wrapped In a piece of paper on a nearby log. Some of our dogs were with us, and one extra hungry hunt-away being in a hurry to seize a scrap of the lunch that my mate threw away, seized and swallowed the four detonators. Just then a rabbit ran past, and the hunt-away gave chase. He went so fast that he crashed Into an already sawn log, with the result there was a terrific explosion. Bits of dog were to be found for nearly half a mile. It was regrettable losing the dog, but we had the satisfaction of seeing 54 fine posts blown out of the log, thus saving a lot of hard belting with maul and wedges.”

A mass meeting of women in Sydney has recently expostulated against a suggestion, made by a Mr. Love, that efforts should be made to salvage odds and ends of household goods now sent to rubbish tips. In spite of the disgust and indignation expressed by the meeting regarding the suggestion the fact remains that we do allow waste to take place on an unprecedented scale in our dustbins. Much of the stuff put into a dustbin, in any town from London to Wellington, has in bulk an enormous value. According to. the United States Dairy Bureau junk men picked off the rubbish tips of that country 20,000,000 milk bottles last year, valued at £250,000. This, of course, does not represent the total milk bottles lost annually which work out in hard cash at over £7,000,000. '

Such a city as London and Its environs, with its 7,000,000 population, might well save millions monthly from rubbish with a little care. Few people realise that of all the bread bought weekly In that city the equivalent of 2,000,000 loaves Is throw- on to the rubbish dump. This alone means a loss of just under £1,000,000 every year to the very great advantage of the master bakers. As for waste paper over 10,000 tons are collected In London each month, and as much again it is estimated goes up in flames in the honourable job of lighting fires. Other experts say that, handled properly, something like 30,000,000 units of electricity could be made from rubbish every year. Even smoke allowed to escape up the London chimneys runs away with another £8,000,000. London, of course, is always looked upon with horror by economical rubbish experts. For not only does she waste rubbish in this blatant manner, but actually asks her citizens to foot a bill every year of £700,000 to throw it away in the sea.

There are, however, towns which have realised the value of rubbish. This commodity in Wellington is harnessed to the necessary job of pumping our sewage into the sea. Glasgow, always an economical city, makes a profit each year of £20,000 out of so-called rubbish. Aberdeen, another city where sixpences are never left lying about, once made £5OO in one short day by collecting empty bottles thrown away on its rubbish heaps. Hereford not only generates all its electricity from waste coke, but the soot that is deposited in the furnace chimneys is sold to farmers for fertilising purposes, and any clinkers that form in the course of burning are turned into bricks for building purposes.

Even old tins are valuable. An industry has sprung up in East Ham where old tins from all the larger towns of Britain are converted into their elementary constituents, steel, tin and solder. Over 500 tons of tins a week are treated in this way. Pure tin costs about £l5O a ton. When it is realised that this new industry glad ly pays nearly £2 a ton for old tins, yet manages to make handsome profits, one can but marvel on the tendency to gross wastefulness of so-called civilisation. • • • Having spent £lOO,OOO on his Shamrock V Sir Thomas Lipton has lost the first race of the series to Enterprise. While one can but admire the sporting and persistent manner in which this gentleman has spent half a life-time and £1.000,000 in efforts to win a one hundred pound cup, there can be little doubt that the odds are very much against him. By the rules under which the contest is staged, "the challenger has to cross the Atlantic under her own keel. This is admitted by most experts to be a very serious disadvantage on account of increased weight to withstand the buffeting of the crossing and the likelihood of straining in a seaway. Moreover Shamrock V must be a single boat built for one specific purpose and sailing in opposition to the best of four boats built by a syndicate of millionaires in America. In fact, Charles Nicholson, the Shamrock’s designer, has to produce one brilliant boat “first shot” as against the four chances of American designers. Last but by no means least, Shamrock’s sailing master lacks the local sailing knowledge. Compared to other English boats there can be no doubt, however, Shamrock V has acquitted herself well. In the first series of five try-out races Shamrock, the smallest boat, won five firsts against such famous vessels as Britannia Lulworth. White Heather, Cambria ami Candida. Three of these firsts were won outright without any time allowance at all. ♦ ♦ * Through every sort of trouble Joe Hanged tough and stubborn on. Nine times they bed hate to go. And twice that he was gone. Good sense was what he’d never learn, But obstinate would bide; For when tilings took a better tun. The mazehead up and died. —G. Strong.