Oddments

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 May 1950, Page 4

Oddments

The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Menzies appeared in the House of Representatives at Canberra recently wearing a red tie. :js # :j: :j: sjt Progress? An electrical firm in Sydney is making kerosene heaters so that buyers can be independent of electricity if there’s a blackout-winter ahead. :I: At their conference in Sydney the Federated Taxpayers’ Associations were discussing the amount of tax collecting employers had to do for the Government. Mr G. T. Clarke, Liberal-Country member of the South Australian Assembly, summed it up in this bit of jingle: — Every little boss is an unpaid bureaucrat. He gathers up the taxes and and puts ’em in a hat. Then sends them to the Treasury With unabated glee; But he doesn’t get emoluments, Or any sort of fee. * * * s;< * “One well-resounding snore, second hand but good as new, going to that gentleman over there—going, going, gone ...” That was the sort of thing to be heard in London recently when an auctioneer disposed of the weirdest collection of “treasures” ever to come under any sort of hammer. Other items offered to an excited public—and eagerly snapped up—were: — The sound of screeching brakes. The roar of a train. The bang of a door being slammed. The song of a nightingale. A good hard slap.' They were all part of “noises off” included in the sale of J. Arthur Rank’s coloured cartoon studios, where the American, David Hand, made his “Musical Paintbox” series. More than 300 records of sound effects were put up for sale, as well as cameras worth £2OOO each, studio lights, scenery, and furniture.

—-The Seeker