FOOD SAVINGS

Evening Star, Issue 25768, 15 April 1946, Page 4

FOOD SAVINGS

DUNEDIN GITY'S FIRST WEEK In the first incomplete week of the food savings campaign Dunedin citizens practised economies in the consumption of rationed foodstuffs amounting to about £B4. The announcement of the results of the campaign to date was made this morning by the Chief Postmaster, Mr Ernest J. Smith. Food rationing cards for the affixing of unused food coupons were distributed to the citizens last week, and by the end of the week they had handed in to the Rationing Office meat coupons valued at £7B Is lOd, 142 butter coupons (711 b), tea coupons 61b, and sugar coupons 301 b. ' The aim of the campaign is that each family should agree not to use a definite number of meat and butter coupons each week and hand the unused coupons to the Rationing Controller weekly. It has been suggested that if there should bo any difficulty in making weekly calls at the Post Office, householders should arrange with any local organisation of which they are members, such as churches, sports clubs, or social organisations, for the bodies concerned to collect the coupons. Such organisations would be issued with cards and credited weekly with the savings of their members. Already one or two churches have handed in coupons on behalf of their parishioners.

There is no saying how long it may bo before the last unexploded German bomb has been removed in London (writes our correspondent). These lethal souvenirs lie in all manner of awkward places scattered far and with over London's suburbs. No. 2 Bomb Disposal Company, a cheerful and sturdy lot of R.E.s, is at this moment handling at one time the record number of nine, and hopes to have the lot dug out and made safe for Cockney democracy within six weeks or so. But another 32 have been already reported, ranging from 500 to. 2,000 pounders, and there is no saying how many more remain still untraced and unsuspected. Beneath a kitchen in a house at Twickenham lies one 2,000-pounder. Theie is a 1,000-pounder right under a house in Fulham, where an ex-gunner and his wife and six children are living. There are others of varying size in a distillery, on a riverside wharf, in St. James's Park lake, and various suburban gardens. In all these cases, or most of them, people living on or near the 6pot may have to. be evacuated from their homes whilst the Sappers deal with the bombs.

Music in Australia is considerably further advanced than it is in New Zealand, but New Zealandera have a greater receptive sense than Australians, according to Mr Robin Jansen, who addressed members of the Travel Club at Christchurch on ' Music in Australia and New Zealand.' "Melbourne is the cultural city of Australia, and Christchurch and other cities would do well to study it from this point of view," said Mr Jansen. " Visiting artists will be coming here more and more now that the war is over, and it is a source of wonder to me that there lias not been some public attempt to get together enough money to buy a good piano, and to have it properly cared for. The pianos used publicly here are disgraceful. The artist cannot give you his best, because you cannot get blood out of a stone. Next time I cqrne to New_ Zealand I hope there will be good pianos_ here, but even if there are, I am going to bring my own," continued Mr Jansen. The provision of good concert pianos should be made not only for the benefit of visiting artists, but also for local artists, he said. He had found that artists, both musicians and painters, in Christchurch had an inferiority complex. To overcome this they should be given more encouragement. "I feel, from my own experience of the critics here, that they may or may not get encouragement," added Mr Jansen. The ' Star ' recently drew attention to the loss in 1944 of a copper replica of the Australian soldier's badge, which formed the centre piece of the wreath placed on the fallen soldiers' memorial at the Anzac Day dawn ceremony by the Dunedin branch of the A.I.F. Association. As a result of the publicity, the centre piece has been returned to the association in good condition, and it will find a place in the wreath to be laid on the memorial at dawn on Anzac Day next week. About 1,320 typewriters for commercial use are expected to arrive from | Britain in the next 12 months. A few ! machines may also come from Canada fairly soon. The total number received is not likely to come up to half the Dominion's yearly requirements, but. nevertheless, it will be greater than what was available in the last six years. During the war the sale of typewriters to commercial users was restricted because they were urgently needed for war work. The armed services themselves absorbed between , 4.000 and 5,000 for use in New Zealand and overseas. The typewriter shortage which has resulted from the scant supply during the war years is going to take a long time to overcome.