MARGOT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 234, 2 October 1929, Page 7

MARGOT

Goes Shopping

There’s one Wanganui window, all dressed up in violet and gold, which has set itself out to prove that local industry can go a long way in providing sweets for the sweet. At the Rialto (Majestic Buildings) you may see piles of butterballs, boiled sweets, cream allsorts, nonpareils, jubes, jellies —in fact, all things acceptable to the ■weet tooth which most women possess. And all these appetising things are locally made at Butler’s Confectionery Factory.

Up in Auckland, too, New Zealanders have suddenly decided to prove that they can turn out men’s dress accessories every bit as good, or better, than those brought in from foreign parts. And, moreover, duties are dodged, which means that the locallymade article can be sold at a price with which foreign goods can’t compete. Spillane’s have a very interesting New Zealand window, full of all the little things with which, small as they may seem, men can’t consider them selves properly dressed. Braces, for instance, also belts and garters: “Domo” is the name adopted by the firm, and prices are such as to appeal to the harassed housewife. Besides this very article in the window has a guarantee of quality and good wear.

You may know something concerning sausages and pork pies—but there’s a whole lot of care and attention thrown in which the general public doesn’t even suspect. I was shown through the inner workings of the Eatox Company premises yesterday, and saw just exactly how sausages are made to feel comfy in their skins. Hydraulic pressure does the trick. The meat is brought in from Hawke’s Bay and thereabouts, and the Eatox people have probably the largest cooling rooms in New Zealand, also the most elaborate plant for making the savoury little “frankfurts,” and suchlike trifles, which are such an appetising supper. • • • •

Just next door is the Bed Bose Bacon Factory, and there you may behold the ultimate end of the three little pigs ■who went to market. They were mostly residents of the Wanganui district, to begin with, and, having arrived and been duly drawn and quartered, they are soaked in brine, sprayed with more brine, stacked for 3 weeks

and then washed, smoked and dried. And there, Madam, is your Christmas ham in all its glory, with the additional honour of having been born and cured in Wanganui. Power and McTubbs have decided that, seeing this is Empire Shopping Week, Sheffield is a spot on the map which can give an excellent account of itself in the matter of cutlery. Now that the “salad days’’ are fast approaching, you’ll be interested in a new little stainless knife whose sharp, slightly saw-toothed edge won’t permit one’s tomatoes to go squashy. Besides this, there are bread-knives, the beautiful stainless cutlery which no modern bride really likes to be without, and, as a concession to the younger generation, a fine assortment of “Boy Scout” knives, all very exciting, with their curved hilts and leather sheaths. Modern methods and styles, combined with the old reliable quality of Sheffield stuff, have made a window which no mere woman could pass without a wistful glance. And in the second window, there’s all due encouragement for the man who wants to make his garden behave —hoses, lawn-mowers, rakes and the collection of implements which make our show places what they are.

What Wanganui can do in the matter of biscuits has been taken as Shopping Week’s main point in tho new Shepherd Service Stores. There are plain and simple biscuits, the sort you enjoy with wafers of cheese, there aro dainty things over which your friends will be thoroughly greedy at afternoon tea in fact, the biscuit world i s very well represented. And besides, there are dozens of good Kmpire lines “for to admire and behold. ’ ’

Just what goes to the making of a Columbia record, and why its voice is softer and sweeter than can reasonably be expected of the ordinary record, has been chosen as this week’s text by Emmett’s Gramophone Depot, where the whole life of a record is illustrated this week. Little glass jars, containing such things as shellac, gum and aluminium sulphate stand in the window These are the actual components of the record. Sheets of insulated paper give Columbia Record its silent surface. But the making of the record itself is a decidedly complicated affair. One starts off with the wax blank on which the voice is recorded. Marvellously sensitive the impression of the voice can be seen in circular lines on the “wax master,” the next stage of the record’s life. This is covered with copper and becomes the master matrix. A nicklc disc, the mother mat-

rix, then takes the_ impression, and is followed by the stamping matrix, from which tho finished record is pressed. And after all those strange adventures the human voice rings as sweet and true as when tho singer • started on “Madame Butterfly” or “The Barber of Seville.”

Things aren’t always what they B eem or what they sound, either.. For instance, tho name “Dubarry” sounds distinctly French, but as a matter of fact, it belongs to a good old English house of perfumers. And the little rose red lipsticks or smooth creams favoured by my lady acquire, their fragrance from old English gardens, not irom the more sophicticated perfume factories of the Continuent.

..McGruer’s have the sole Wanganui agency for everything whatsoever entitled to wear the name of “Dubarry.” There is a day cream and a night one —“Golden Morn” is one perfume that everybody seems to like, and “Heart of a Rose” is another. For your hands, there is a cream like the petals oi roses made into velvet and ‘ ‘ Creme Shalimar” is its name. Then there are quaint shaving soap sets, whose little pottery bowls are exact copies of the copper plates used in olden days. Travelling sets, with soap and talc powder and cream all as dainty as you please, and little bottles or compressed tablets of bath-salts, are other things which would make any woman feel interested in being beautiful.

“Suzette —From Wellington” is the name worn by a chic little shop in the Avenue, where some very smart folk of the frock world are gathered together. Every frock at Suzette’s is original and isn’t copied for every second customer—so you can be sure that you won’t have to say “How do you do’’ to a duplicate of your own filmy georgette frock at tho races. Very effective little tennis frocks ol fuji, graceful chenille or' wool georgette gowns and floral ninons are Suzette’s specialties just now. All the world loves a golliwog— or so the D.I.C. people decided, after having to put up the “full house” notice after their last golliwog tea. Well, the experiment is to be repeated on October 5, which is Saturday next, so if mothers bring their small people along to the D.I.C. tea-rooms between the hours of 10.3*0 and 12 noon, Wanganui juniors can become even better acquainted with the golliwog clan. The band will be back again, and there’s a new record “The Golliwog Cake Walk” to be heard. And dear old Daddy Christmas will be there once more, to see that no young lady or gentleman is left without a proper share of lemonade. There will be wee favours, which one may cherish with considerable pride, and all sorts of unexpected things may happen at such a jolly sort of tea. But mothers who don’t want to be scrushed are strongly advised to book their seats.

The cherryblossoms and the blue skies are telling the world, to the best of their ability, that it’s springtime—and that means that your house wants its new dress just as badly as you your self. Well, at Tingey’s, in one window just now there’s a gleaming mountain of aluminium paint, with little pots that will make your kitchen “fittings” look very bright and cheery ranged alongside, and in the other there are wallpapers which would make any house an interesting abode. You can get grey-green, woodland ' papers, with herons preening their feathers, or delicate pink ones "with grey Japan/se dwarf trees for patterns, or others which are a blur of golden primroses. Tingey’s arc making a specialty of interesting decorating just now, and their papers are most appealing to a home-loving woman. If you have made up your mind to say it with diamonds, and those, moreover, in the form of an engagement ring, be sure that your setting is the fashionable one that the modern lass loves. There are diamond rings a-plenty at Williams’ and a quaint new feature is the hexagonal setting, which certainly shows off a good stone to its best advantage. Round diamonds, set side by side, are another popular fashion—two or three stones make a charming ring. Platinum settings and usually gold or “white gold” for the ring itself are worn, and a sparkle of stardust means tiny diamonds set in the shanks of the ring. Once upon a time, people, when told about New Zealand shoes, said “But, of course, you can’t really get style in New Zealand,” and forthwith paid twice as much for something imported. But both Auckland and Christchurch have done splendidly in the matter of thinking out really interesting footwear, as you will find if you look at Anderson’s Shoe where one window has been devoted to New Zealand shoes. Cinderalla , when she wanted something to wear with her pretty green georgette afternoon frdek would certainly have selected the little green and crocus kid shoes which come from Auckland. Suede and kid are used together a good deal, heels, for indoor or formal wear, can be “sensible’’ or as high and slim as one chooses and such, colours as ivory lido blue, “fieldmouse’ ’ and pastel , mauve are seen, beside their more sober sisters, little black court shoes Ones. English sh®es including walking one. English shoes, Including some really beautiful court styles, are shown in the second window. Having the ripples put into your hair isn’t half such an expensive business, these times, as in the days of old. At Mrs Brown’s Toilet Salon the Eugene Permanent ’Wave can be had now for £2 10s, which is a very considerable drop from the usual “price she paid” for a head of becoming curls. Steam does most of the work, which means that the finished effect in no way resembles the crinkly locks of a Fiji Islander. Soft and lustrous, the waves “stay put” and very charming does the demoiselle look who, after a hot set of tennis, can still be quite confident that her hair is doing its bit as a crowning glory.

The end of a perfect morning’s shopping is, of course, to be found only at the tea table—-so much the best things to do is to pop into the Boyale Willowes, which is very central and where your tea is served with the daintiest of sandwiches and cakes. Or, if you’ve spent the whole morning marketing, and are an honestly hungry woman, you can find here a variety of appetising luncheonettes, hot ready and awaiting your demand. Moreover, now that the warm weather is returning, one must by no means forget that ice cream time is at hand, and that soon it won’t cause any shivers to quench

DOWN PETTICOAT LANE. The Observation ’Bus Tourist time is just beginning, or so the Bureau thinks, for this week they had their first full ’bus-load of ladies wh wanted to see the ins and outs of Wanganui. Throughout tho winter, the observation ’bus has something of a quiet time, for it docsn’t run without a full quota of passengers, and somehow, when rain and perhaps a trifle of thunder are performing nobody seems to want to climb the Memorial Tower. But with the coming of spring sunshine, it’s a very different matter, “gee Wanganui first” becomes the proud motto of the ’bus, and, when the tourist season is at its height, two ’buses have to take o*i the work of daily showing Wanganui’s beauty spots to the world at large. Incidentally, it’s fair to mention that Wanganui is supposed to have one of the very best round trips in the country. The Wily Trout Every now and again, this week, you will run into a respectable Wanganui citizen who has a look of joyous abandon beaming in his eye: and the reason, if you enquire, will be th..t he’s* off for the opening of the fishing season, and intends to bring back a trout if he has to slaughter every worm m the surrounding country. And most certainly, there’s something not to be resisted in the notion of rainbow trout grilled over a camp fire, and eaten with lots of pepper, salt, butter and new bread: wild cherries, later on in the season, will be found an attractive dessert, if it so happens that you frequent the Rotorua lakes. But, anyhow, it’s jolly to think, that the season of incredibly large fish is with us again. A Slight Difference This is the true tale of the little girl who, while she was a trier, the children loose with coloured cracouldn’t draw very well. It w r as the fashion, in the infant school, to turn yons and bits of brown paper, and the most successful results were pinned up around the wall. The teacher arrived on her tour of inspection. “Mavis,” she exclaimed. “Those frogs are really excellent. You’ll have something on the wall at last.” But the small girj remained remarkably silent through her hour of triumph, and, at the end of the day, burst into bitter tears and would not be comforted. “I acted a lie, teacher,” she sobbed, in answer to attempts at consolation, “Those weren’t really frogs at all; they were meant to be men.” Stout Fellow. Strange and wonderful are the minds of the rising generation: or so a Wanganui school teacher thinks, having set her class an essay on the subject “What I Will be When I Grow Up.” Here is one young man's answers: “When I grow up, I will work on the wharf, and get £4 19s 3d a week. I will have a nice little house, and a garden with some cabbages, and a nice little wife. I will get £4 19s 3d on Friday night, and on Saturday night I will spend it all on stout.” Much More Important There’s no denying the fact that cards have an unholy fascination for some people: take, for instance, the Wanganui gentleman, who, being with four friends in a boat on our wellknown river was enjoying a quiet little game of poker. A second boat followed close behind. 'v’denly, a new hand having been dean, one of the party leapt to his feet and made signals of distress. “That boat,” he cried. “Look, it’s sinking. ” “Confound the boat,” said our poker-faced friend, “Let it sink. We’re going to play this hand. I’ve got four aces. ” All Over. Much as we all love the Plunket Society, everybody is going to breathe a long, deep sigh of relief now that the

one’s thirst in a long, cool draught of ice cream soda. Half the social side of life would be lost if there were no place where one could sit in complete comfort, and Combine cream-puffs with conversation. The Royale Willowes, where there’s always a good record on the gramophone and an appetising dish on the menu card, should be one of summertime’s pct resorts.

carnival work is all over and done with. For, if you happened to be on the committee of a Plunket baby candidate, that mean that you gave bridge parties, organised street days, rolled up your carpet for dances, went to your fellowmembers’ little efforts for the same cause, spent all your worldly wealth on votes for your pet babe, and probably went through your husband’s pockets at dead o’ nights, trying to find a stray copper or two. The committees have worked more than well: they simply haven’t rested since, a month ago, the carnival drive was opened, and, if early reports are anything to go by, results will be most satisfactory. Anyway, everybody ought to take off his hat and give at least three checr s when a Plunket Society member goes by: she deserves them.