DR THACKER AT HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17170, 13 October 1923, Page 1

DR THACKER AT HOME.

GOOD TO LIVE QUICKLY. A BUDGET OF LETTERS.' “It is good to live quickly,” writes Dr Thacker at the head of a letter from Runnaeleave Hotel, Ilfracombe, on August 23. The most striking thing about English hotel stationery is the fine texture of the paper, but above all the very plain but beautiful lettering, often in fine raised blue ink. T>r Thacker’s correspondence from England and America has shown a marked contrast in the quality of the stationery. SHIFTING ROUND SOME. “ We are shifting round some,” Dr Thacker writes from Ilfracombe. “This country (the North Devo.i Coast) is a revelation and just a mass of history and antiquity. We ninety mile s to-<lay and return to ’torquay to-morrow via Lyntop and Miuohead to Exeter and Torquay. This is quite a holiday resort, ana just scores of busses with thirty-five to forty passengers pass and are passed. The road lanes are just wonderful, fifteen feet wide, tarred hard, and high hedges or stone covered with green foliage and flowers. New road construction, widening and cutting off comers is going on, crushing stone with road roller» (steam) and rolling. It must be absorbing hundreds of men of the casuM labour class. QUAINT CUSTOMS. “ Quaint things crop up at nearly every corner—wheel barrows with the usual wheel in front and one on each side behind instead of legs, antiquated carts and drays (one horse) along side sixty to ninety l’.p. Daimlers an-1 Lan Chester s. “ Cloveiiy, a sea coast village, has one hotel with at least 300 cars parked there. The drivers are decency itself to one another. J intend to write you from Torquay to-morrow or Sunday and tell you of'it and the war camps, the memorials, the regatta and the Dart River. Here it is the Taw River, and in Cornwall the Fal that are popular lines. Dinner comes now. so adieu.” “The- facilities here for health sr.d pleasure.” Dr Thacker writes on the back of a fine Ilfracombe post-cavil, “are simply wonderful. Beautiful air off the ocean and thousands of visitors all garbed for the show. Blazers, knitted suits and golf togs.” “ Having a delightful time motoring in Devonshire and ComwaU,” says another card front Cloveiiy. In sending'a clipping from a London paper, regarding the misdescription of meat at Home, Dr Thacker sajs;— *' When I get back to London 1 am going to have a go On my own, on collected evidence of the . exploits oi parasites between the consumer and producer. Fruit, fish, eggs, poultry, uil the same.”

‘ ‘ YV Tien 1 return to London I hope to do a good stunt on our primary products. Thev are scandalously handled in their retail presentation to the public. It is woeful how Argentine flabby lamb is retailed as Canterbury. This word Canterbury is the huge sky-sign on the shops everywhere, and our lamb is no doubt de-labelled an<d sold as British. We must alter this and the way to do it (and T am the first man to say it) is that is must be delivered to smaller ports such as Torquay and Nve.moiith. into cool storage by our overseas ships, bv tender if necessary, ar.J retailed by the present shops to people direct. Cheese, apples, butter, egg and poultry are the same. It couid be done in just the same way as the produce is picked up in New Zealand. I bought a leg of New Zealand lamb (61bJ in Torquay, for 8s 6d. That lamb, if 361 b. cost at tenpence a pound. 30s in New Zealand, less the of the skin and by-products, and was selling in Torquay at 51s. Who got the 21s? So much for that, but that is not all there is to say to it. GLORIOUS DEVON “We have had a wonderful drive along this north coast of Devon, and having lunched, we pass on again to St Moltcm and Exeter. This is truly great for city dwellers—cider ami butter, fruit and cream.” From Guernsey, on September 1. Dr Thacker went on to Sark. Jersey, St Malo, Jeanville. He then proposed to do Paris and the battlefields. From Sark he writes:- “This is just a wonderful island, and 1 will write you an account of the fruit, melon and tomato growing—the cows, milk, cheese and butter. Was all over the market this morning, and saw- wonderful lobster, salmon and crabs.” A picture of the Promenade. Weymouth, bears the note: “"We drove here to-day from Torquay by motor, seventy-three miles, and passed through wonderful country. quaint towns and villages and quaint houses There has been a great gale, but the >sea is again smooth. Ye go on to Guernsey to-morrow afternoon, thence Jersey and Sark. St Malo. St Michel. p a ii«s the battlefields ard back to Southampton via Cherbourg. Then we hope to visit Christchurch Hants and Bournemouth. This is a fine seaside resort bathing machines and suits amt dresses to match. To morrow morning w-e will motor do vn the Bill of Port land. We have had a splendid motor cpree through Devon. Cornwall m i Somerset. This is a mighty conn in, and antiquity peeps at you in all directions. MIGHTY BUT SLUGGISH GIANT. “ T never understood till new* what record means. No wonder our American cousins turn their brows to England. History and stability stand, as two ' assets which this country will never lose. Everywhere you travel

you feel England is a mighty though sluggish giant. Foreigners are very common everywhere and seem to hava plenty ot cash. The American is branded by his shell-rimmed Pussyfoot glasses. Motor travel is cheap and very efficient, and the roads though narrow tarred lanes, are simply splendid. DEAR LAMB. “ I am enclosing a platform ticketone penny to get on and see friends away—a toll ticket for a private company’s bridge, quite a good idea to finance an otherwise impossible traffic bridge (would do well at the Selwyn)— pi so a ticket taken from a New Zealand lamb in a butcher’s shop here. I cut it off myself. The leg of that lamb cost 8s 9d. about Is 5d a pound. It looked fairly good, and went home to our chauffeur’s house. Argentine lamb in the same shop looked better than ours, though both were flabby. Talking to folk who eat our meat, they say it is quite good when properly -thawed and cooked : and this butcher said New Zealand lamb was equal to British. which he was celling for 2s Od a lb- We bought a rump steak, Devon 1-red. at 2s a lb and bad it to-day for lunch. It was splendid meat. I think these evidences are better t-o send oa than written statements. “ Wo have now motored Devon and Cornwall, anil I have been personally investigating the municipaj baths here - -medically, electrically and hydrotherapeutically. They are good. Next week we will go to Houthampton and the CF.n iiiel Islands, and then St Malo and Paris. using a seaplane ,f fine. We are both well and are meeting many Now Zealander* The people are at last waking up in this land to the fact that the parasites between the farmer-producer and consumer must be sterilised and wipe t j out. The pea-raiser last -week tu-re* K cc 10s 3d for forty bushels of peas from Covent Garden and the consumer pays 30s to 40s tor a single bushel.”