“DEAD MARINES”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23083, 8 January 1937, Page 5

“DEAD MARINES”

THE CHRISTMAS EXODUS WHERE DO THEY GO? SOME STRANGE DESTINATIONS The recent festive season, with the inevitable endeavours of mankind to drive away dull care for a brief space and forget the burdens of the corning year, had an echo in the anxious inquiries made by Dunedin firms, whose business it is to' prepare in easily portable form the beverages which they receive in bulk from breweries, wholesale suppliers, and others, for the return of the bottles which have been scattered far and wide throughout the city and surrounding district. The shortage was, moreover, accentuated by delay in the arrival of an expected shipment. But it would appear that the problem of the ultimate fate ox the thousands of "empties whose contents formed the nucleus and inspiration of so many jovial hours, is perennial and world-wide. Some time ago a statistician—evidently for the want of something better to do—busied himself with working out from official .figures available, how many wine, spirit and beer bottles were emptied each year throughout the world. At the moment, no one seems to worry about the total quantity, which ran into scores of millions, but it is interesting to make a surmise as to the ultimate fate of these myriads of " dead men." Some of them are, of course, used again, and for less delectable beverages than their original contents, but these only form an inconsiderable proportion of the whole. As regards uncivilised or semi-civilised parts of the universe these empties have often been used for strange and incomprehensible purposes, such as acting as idols, etc.; but when one remembers tna„ when explorers or traders are breaking new ground, some kind of alcoholic stimulant usually forms an essential part of their equipment, there must be many strange places where they, like the Romans of old, left traces of their visitations m the shape of their empties. As one writer has noted, whether it is the swamps of Ashanti, the wilds of the Amur, the desert islands of the Pacific, the grim and restricted region of Tibet, or the wildest slopes of the Andes, there, as surely as night follows day, will be found the;- solid traces of the liquid refreshment of their explorers. In regard to certain of the beverages concerned, they have played an important part in many historical and interesting events. Stanley wined with Dr Livingstone in a bottle 01 sparkling wine at their memorable meeting at Ujiji; the British troops, or rather the advance party of them, found both full and empty bottles of the same wine in Cetewayo's kraal after the destruction of his forces at Ulundi; in the first Boer War, Sir Evelyn Wood entertained the Boer delegates to it during the negotiations for an armistice; and there has hardly been an epoch-making event of any importance, during the last half-century, where a bottle has not been "broken" to celebrate the event. All over the world, and in its wildest and strangest parts, this has been going on, so that the original surmise could be extended to an indefinite length.