HITHER AND THITHER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 230, 30 September 1941, Page 2

HITHER AND THITHER

' Hand-painted Plates. Nettleships are showing a very attractive line of hand-painted Wedgwood plates, Royal Worcester cups and saucers and a selection of Crown Derby China.* A Strange Cache. News conies from Hollywood that a strange cache pul in the safely vault of the largest bank recently comprised 720 pairs of line silk stockings. They were deposited under lock and key- by Dietrich, the town's leading stocking consumer. She was advised against putting in such a reserve in a steel valut, as stockings won’t keep under such conditions. If Miss Dietrich throws away one pair every other day, she’ll still have enough to last two years. Streamlined and Scanty Lingerie. As in tiie last war, clothes in Hie present, war are being designed to use less material. Skirts become shorter thus making the undergarments shorter. Some manufacturers point out that it is possible to make two sets of lingerie from the amount of material with which they used to make one set. Although much less material is used, it is a strange fact that one pays more for these “scanty material'' garments. Under garments are made on tight-litting lines—otherwise called streamlined. Panties and cami-knickers are shorter. In England the petticoat is made from the waist only. This may be the reason why the old-fasnioned camisole is coming back into its own. These can be made from oddments ana hand-embroidered. Women's Land Army. The Woman's Land Army, formed a year ago in Christchurch, has just issued its first annual report, which states that about 517 sugar sacks full of vegetables grown by the members were distributed during the year to orphanages, charitable institutions, health camps and needy persons in Christchurch. In addition to this, three truck-loads of sugar beet, 2030 lettuces and pumpkins, marrows and sweet corn, were grown and disposed of usefully. “During the last year we have doubled our numbers and ' trebled our activities,' 1 stated Miss Mary McLean, the honorary organiser. “We are formed to help the war effort, and this we are doing. 1 hope we shall stay formed to help the peace effort, for this we can also do." Women Graduates in Chinese Legation. Many Chinese women are making the most of the oppollunity for complete education given them under the rule of their noted feminist leader, Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Among the women memoers of the party accompanying the Chinese Minister to Australia, Dr. Hsu Mo, and members of the legation recently arrived there, were three university graduates. One was Mis. K. C. Cneng, wile of the second secretary to the Legation. A science graduate from the London University, Mis. Cheng made a lecture tour of England and the United States shortly before the outbreak of war. She spOKe of the work of women in Cnina and also on the Chinese war effort. Mrs. C. Y. Hu, wife of the first secretary to the Legation, graduated in arts from the University of Peking, and in political science from the Nankai University at Tientsin. Miss I. Y. Wu, who was formerly attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chungking for 10 years, is an attache to the Legation and the third woman graduate of the party.

The Question of Hosiery. Women in America have to decide whether to go bare-legged or revert to cotton or wollen nose, according to the season. Raw silk imports from Japan have ended. There is just no more silk for stockings. Japan supplied 81 per cent, of the nation's silk; China 15 per cent. Self-sufficiency in nylon, American-made substitute tor silk, is still a long way off, and at present can fill only one-eighth of the nation’s stocking requirements, and officials say nylon might be needed for parachutes and other defence items. In addition to its principal use in the manufacture of hosiery, silk has many uses in industry, s uch as insulation of wire and cable. Waste silk is used for powder bags of large calibre guns. Reports from America state that a new type of stocking has made its appearance. It is made o r cotton mesh which “wears like iron” and looks very sheer. These open weave designs require far less thread, it is pointed out. It is an old saying, but true, that necessity is the mother of invention, and probably out ot all his turmoil over stockings someone with ingenious ideas will evolve something in the way of a new type of hosiery that will neither ladder nor [make such deep inroads in our purses.