GENERAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 10 September 1941, Page 4

GENERAL ITEMS

Huge Charcoal Supply Needed i If by the end of the year more than ! 30 000 producer-gas units are fitted to! vehicles in Australia, as has been estimated by the Gas Producer Association, mu.a than 15.000 tons of charcoal a month will be needed, reports the Melbourne "Argus.” To produce this quantity, Mr H. W. Harrison, secretary of the association, considers that 20,000 timber cutter and charcoal burners will be necessary. Shortage of labour, he explained was the chief obstacle to adequate supplies. He has sugges!ed to the authorities that Italian prisoners of war might be engaged in charcoal burning. The association estimates that in three months charcoal will have replaced an nnv ' consumption of more than 9.000-1 0( n gallons of petrol. There were 7.950 producer-gas units in operation in Aus--1 lia on 30th June. In Victoria 2,330 vehicles had been fitted up to August 7th, and there were 5,432 orders in hand. Manufacturers’ sales ove next three months arc estimated at 11,932. Londoners are drinking considerably ! less beer than they did, but smoking i four times as much tobacco —according ! to the latest statistics Well, it's the j same story in New Zealand, and the greatly demand for the weed is not altogether due to the increase in population It's largely attributable to the rate at which we all live now and the rush and hurry of modern life People craze for something to relieve the nervous tension, and find that to- i oac • > helps considerably. The evergrowing demand for the latter has been ! far more marked in New Zealand since ! the introduction of “toasted, which has \ fairly captured the public taste and is : iclually preferred by smokers innumerable to the imported article. This is by no means surprising, because ‘toast- j ed” is not only of the very highest grade, but so free, comparatively, from ! nicotine, thanks to toasting as to be | afe for even the heaviest smoker The i five brands Navy Cut No 3 (Bulldog) j Cut Plug No 10 <Bulls!- -d>. Caven- i dish. Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold. ! are as near perfection as tobacco can j well be.”

Lady Drivers. ‘ As lady driver., go, she is a good driver,” said counsel when defending a, client on a charge of dangerous driving 1 in the Hamilton Police Court. ‘ Why do vnu sav ‘As lady drivers go”” asked Mr W. FI. Freeman. S.M. Counsel replied that as far as his experience went he always fell a little anxious when ! meeting lady drivers on ,i c roan. Adventurous Belgian 1 1 The adventurous career of a Belgian .! ;.ii-gunner who sat at his table during ’ the voyage across the Atlantic is men- : j Honed by a Nelson airman in a letter, to his mother in Hope, lie started air. ; lighting nine years ago in a Moroccan j | squabble and went, to the Spanish war, j ! where lie shot down several rebel j planes and was himself shot clown I I twice. He has flown many types of! j French. Belgian. Dutch. Russian and I American planes. When the Germans attacked Norway last year he was there . .! but he got away, First to Britain and ’ J then to Canada. His present intention ! is to go to South America after the war in search of further adventure. Tahunanui Reserves I Considerable improvement work has ' recently been carried out on the re- ! (serves in the Tahunahui district by! j workers employed under the No. 13 i i Scheme. It was stated ■ t last evening’s I meeting of the Town Board that over ! j 150 shrubs had been planted on the ro- ; White Herons Return 1; Two white herons were seen in the ; ' I V/aimeas yesterday. These rare and 1 j interesting birds have now visited this ; ; locality five years in succession. Sauce! The secret recipes of M. Auguste i , j Escofiier, one of the world’s most fnm- j ! cus chefs, are bringing dollars to Britain’s war chest (writes a London cor- ! respondent). In London they have j carried on making his sauces through-j out the blitz with such success that twice as many bottles of sauces have : J been shipped to the United States as j I in the days of peace. Will Accept Money from Lottery. ! After 2), hours’ debate, the Anglicj.'ij ! Synod at Perth recently decided by 84 to 33 that acceptance of money from i i the State Lotteries Commission ny the: I Church’s orphanages committee was! j justifiable. Dr Le Fanu, Primate, said: ' the Lotteries Commission had been a ! gcr.d thing. He did iot tlv.nl: they | wculcl get rid of gambling, and [or the j State to try to regulate it was perfectly! 1 fair and right. \ State lottery was the least harmful of all forms of gambling! : —a form of indirect taxation, and the jojly taxation that caused r.o grievance. Errands for Teachers i The question of whether children should perform errands or do favours ; j l'or teachers during school hours was I I discussed at the last meeting of the Wellington School Committees and! Education Association (reports “The j Post”). Opinions differed slightly, but] it was generally agreed that such tasks j as preparing morning and afternoon ! tea for the teachers, while not beneficial in a strictly educational sense, was : not really objectionable if all were j given a turn. Headmasters in most; cases had proved very reasonable when [ approached by parents, and unless a ! complaint was warranted the school \ committee had no power to take action. ; Emphasis was laid on thi i*csponsibility i of teachers where children might be 1 involved in accidents in running pri- j vale errands in town for teachers. Sacred Maori Relic One of the most famous of Maori j dolics, the korotangi, has recently J passed into the keeping of the Do- i minion Museum, where it is now on | exhibition. The korotangi is a skii- j fully-carved stone bird just under a | foot in length, and is supposed to have j been brought to New Zealand in the ( canoe Tainui in the early days of Maori | immigration. It was always regarded ! with great veneration and was even | consulted as an oracle. Generations j ago. however, the korotangi was lost, j j much to the grief of the Maoris. But ! in 1878 it was discovered near Kawhia j ! in a hole where an old tree had been i | blown down, and there was much rcj juicing among the Maoris at the i*-*-; ; appearance of this sacred ancl historic j i relic, which no cloubt had been de- ! i hberately buried where it was found |in order to prevent it passing into j ' wrong hands. Subsequently the koro- ! tangi, or ‘‘crying clove.” passed into the j I possession of a Christchurch family, ! and by them it has been lent to the j Dominion Museum. Perms” for Men Master hairdressers, assembled in ; conference in Sydney recently, gave ; serious thought to the curling of men’s j hair. The vice-president of the Fed- , eral council, Mr Arthur Jockel. de- 1 scribed how men generally were vainer : than women. If hairdressers hacl , cubicles for men the psychological effect would be so great that they would gladly have permanen waves, massage, and special treatments. Many | men were afraid that if they adopted i a more elaborate hairstyle they wo if! cl he considered effeminate. He admitted that he had laughed at the first male client who had asked for a permanent v/ave, but he had welcomed the second lequest. The Federal president, Mr G H. Blyth, deplored the decay of the art of hairdressing. “Wc have allowed shearers, butchers and wharf- | labourers to use the clippers,” he said. ! The president of the Victorian Associai t.on, Mr Charles Potts, said that there Deemed to be only two styles of hairj dressing for men. the short and the ! shorter.