NEWS IN BRIEF

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 16, 26 August 1946, Page 3

NEWS IN BRIEF

Fee Foi* Broadcast The Christchurch Famine Emergency Committee recently considered a publicity scheme for the foodsaving campaign and suggested that a radio-telephone conversation between a London housewife and a New Zealander should be broadcast. Inquiries were made in Great Britain, and at a meeting of the committee a reply was received from the High Commissioner for New Zealand in the United Kingdom (Mr Jordan) that the British Broadcasting Corporation would be willing to co-operate in the scheme and find a housewife, but “no doubt she would want a fee.” The committee decided to leave details of the scheme to the Dominion organisation.

Dehydrated Goods “When the war ended we hawked orders for dehydrated vegetables everywhere,” said the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing, Mr B. Roberts, when replying to representations that the Pukekohe dehydration factory be re-opened. He said that with the end of the war contracts, the Government had cabled Britain and the United States trying to market dehydrated vegetables, but without avail. He pointed out that during the war, New Zealand established four plants, Australia 40, and America 400. No one would have been better pleased than myself to carry on operations,” Mr Roberts added. “Production of dehydrated vegetables would have cushioned the effects of any shortages.”

Epstein on Art

“I think nothing is more boring or more annoying than to be dragged around an art gallery and expected to say something bright or intelligent about each picture,” said Mr Peter Mclntyre, former official war artist, when giving a talk on pictures at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. “The beauty of pictures is that they require no noise whatever for their enjoyment. I remember one occasion when I was looking around an art exhibition in London with Jacob Epstein. Each of us in turn led the way to a picture we thought the other would enjoy, and in this way we had seen a number of pictures without either of us having said a word. Then we came to one neither of us liked, painted by a mutual friend of ours. We looked at it in silence for a moment, then, as we moved away, Epstein’s only comment was, ‘Yes, his wife has left him-,t00.’ ”

Gold From Italy A Morrinsville soldier who spent three and a half years in a prisoner of war camp has received a signet ring expropriated by the Italians in 1942 under the pretext of reprisals. The authorities at Campo 57, in Italy, seized all gold rings and watches from British soldiers who, while in North Africa, allegedly looted articles of gold from Italians. The unbelieving victims at Campo 5

7 were told their valuables would be deposited in the Bank of Italy until that country won the war. Needless to relate, all prisoners thought this statement merely a cover for another addition to Fascist gold reserves. However, that the Italians kept their words in this case is borne out by receipt of the ring, which apparently was recovered by Allied forces, sent to the United Kingdom, and thence to Base Records, Wellington.

Apples and Pears “General disappointment was expressed by members of the New Zealand Fruit and Produce Merchants and Auctioneers’ Federation from every part of the Dominion at the manner in which apples and pears have this year been distributed by the Internal Marketing Division,” states a report on the meeting of the executive committee of the federation heid in Wellington recently. Certain varieties of apples were not made available to the public from the trees, but were evidently stored under adverse conditions, with the result that they reached the market in a state which often called for repacking. The report adds that, while the distribution of apples had been bad enough, that of pears had been deplorable. Wellington had been fortunate in having twice the supply of Auckland, on a population basis, and a retail shop in the Wairarapa district had had as many as 60 cases of pears in one week when Auckland City was virtually without them.