POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1941, Page 4

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE It looks as if John won't get his message through after all. * * ■ ■ ■ '♦ Do our anglers' diaries include those whoppers which got away? * ♦ ■■■■; ♦ Those British secrets of radio location may ward off dislocation for Russia. * * .* . Tokio is reported to be taking a leaf from the Nazi book. It looks to ' us more like taking chapter and verse. * * ■..■■#■ Stefani News Agency, Italy: "President Roosevelt is the most wicked man on five continents." * » . » That yarn of German germs, being disseminated is scarcely germane to the subject. It suggests Germanomania or Gerrnanophobia. In any case, germicide for germs! (Excuse us.). **- ' • * STAR ATTRACTION. Dear P.F., —Recently our Parlia- . mentary broadcasts have been referred to in U.S.A. as being the star attraction of New Zealand radio to an audience including Japan and Fiji. Dont you think- it is about time we received some appreciation from the admiring Orientals and Fijians? HONK. • * * ♦ DOLLARS IN ITALY. Hitler (over the Axis telephone) t Benito. You haf seen, vot I do mit der American money in der Reich. I take it like from der Jews. You must do der same. Mussolini: I like-a to, Adolfo mio. But all da postcard sellers in Italia is ruin. Americanos no wanta to buy da -postcard of da ruins in Roma after • dey see da wonderful ruins da R.A.F. make' in Germany. * ♦ ♦ SIDELINES. Side lines from Bish, Marten: , ". . . We have at last prevailed upon the local agent to deliver 'The Post* to our doorstep each evening, and it is quite refreshing to see the old paper again — especially the Postscripts column.1* "Spring is in the air in this part of the world—maybe that is why I have taken up. my pen again. ... I have already picked, cooked, and eaten the peas, lettuces, etc., planted in the patch I dug today. . . .' ■ "Regards to all the Postscripter gang, and teli the McClancy I'll be along for that cuppa tea one of these days/ » . •♦-•■ . ♦ PAPER-THIN STEEL. America is to produce a new paperthin, high-tensile stainless steel, which, it is claimed, will revolutionise the construction of aircraft. The new steel is said to be thinner than -paper. A strip of it hanging limply looks like tinfoil, but it has a tensile strength of . 185,0001b to the square inch. According to steel officials it is three times as strong as the aluminium . alloy now , used in plane making. These officials claim that the new product will not rust, is not affected by the degree of heat at which aluminium melts, and is twice as difficult to-bendias duralumin. The new steel is .expensive, costing about £200 a ton, or about double the cost of1 aluminium. But quantity production would bring the price .down.. : BOTH CORRECT. Dear Percy Flage,—Re wreck at the . mouth of the Kaiwarra Stream—your correspondent A.P.G. asks who is correct. Karamea or the newspaper article. Well, they are both correct. . The original name of this vessel was* the Snark. She was away from Weilington for a few years down at Westport, and returned to Wellington under the name Karamea. Under her original name, .Snark, she used to assist, the s.s. Ellen Ballance at times, towing the Hong Kong" target up and down the harbour when the Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga Forts were having big gun practice. The remains of the Oliver Lang are directly under the Hutt railway lines opposite the No. 1 tunnel and near the site of the old Kaiwarra "Toll Gate" House. rQ c PS.—Best wishes to you and^ your interesting column. * ■: i * * '. EVENING AT ORIENTAL BAY. The grey of the hills Blends with the darkening sky, Grey too, with a sea-mist. Warm lights here and there Glow redly, and into the placid set Dip sensitive fingers. Hushed is the air With evening silence. Gulls break the spell Screaming and loudly disputing. Then the sound Of strong sea-birds in flight, And their winged shapes Are lost in the deepening shadows. Not soundless the quiet that falls — The sucking of shells At the sea's edge, Water lapping' on rocks, And the scarcely perceptible sound Of seaweeds waving and stretching— These tell that the tide still runs HELEN BRETHERTON. . -■■■.■*.'■ •;' * ■;.." '~'■'■* AGAIN LENINGRAD. Will Leningrad fall—Leningrad which has remained as Peter the Great's Italian architects designed it? If it falls, will. Hitler be able to lay bloody hands on the wealth of art treasure within the churches, palaces, and museums?^ Here's ~ a short list of the great prizes that await a conqueror: The brass dome of St. Isaac's glitters in the sunshine. Eight malachites and two lapis lazuli pillars rise in their glory of green and gold* Another preserved treasure of the cathedral is a magnificent mosaic ikon representing Christ and His Disciples at the Last Supper. Peterhof, with its fountains and gardens, was modelled on the Palace of Versailles; The garden vista extends right across the Gulf of Finland, and the fountains in the main avenue are pure gold. Lovely shining golden figures are splashed by crystal-clear water. ■ Catherine the Great's Palace is even bigger and greater than Peterhof. The royal palaces are preserved as museums 1- the Soviet people in order to expose the outrageous extravagances of the Tsars. This palace was designed by Italians. Behind beautifully wrought-iron gates lies the immensely long two-storeyed palace, with a white facade decorated with black bronze statuary.' Inside the. Royal Chapel is a riot of bright blue and gilt, with here and there ornaments or picture frames cf solid gold. Most,magnificent of all is the gold and white throne room, with mirror-panels > between the room's many windows, a lovely inlaid floor, and a royal marble staircase. Leningrad's chief prize is the Hermitage, built on to the-Winter Palace by Catherine as a museum and a place in which to amuse her friends. The Hermitage beggars description. There is no museum or art gallery in the" world with such, a profusion of riches in all branches of art. There is a whole gallery of Rembrandts, a whole gallery of Rubens, whole rooms of Etruscan ware, of ancient Egyptian " art, of antique silver, of armoury, and of porcelain.