STILL IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Chronicle (Levin), 12 April 1946, Page 4

STILL IN THE RIGHT PLACE

BRITAii-J ' S HEART. ..Eflgljind aeeds a aew Hat. She is: just a.s sjiort oi food as she w&WWhen hpiWW '.P&ved i f&stricr ■ tious aie being appiied and otheis eonjteippigibd but, acc-urding- to Captaiii E. 'R. vvimsett-, who recently returned after a'brief Yjsit to the flqipe pqpntry, Eng'iand's great hearf is' st.il] ip tfie right place and going very strongly. C'apt. \iinvsett wenf ,hqme 'oh the Mqpnganqi, whipb toqk hhhsh. prison- • ers of -Avar bach to their lioineland. He spent some^ tiine in London unrl paid;Yisits to Edinburgh, where he saw. theffiwis wqll beqten by Scotland, gpd to fjublin wljere he sqw a freqich team ■ beaf an Irisli iifteeq by 'Qne point. Thougli at Home )ess ' than a month,. Captain Wppseft was able to appreci-, ate in some small measure the sacnJices the people of Britain have had to make since before Hun.kirkr iiespita- . .the fact that her people are still qa ' short rations, Britain Js" great factories ave WQi'king af high pressure making goods -for export and for export only. Tk® f'ew articles that are made availahle fqr the Eqglish market carry a 1 J 00 per eent. luxury tgx.and that tax i is being appiied to 'what would be eonSsidered eyorydqy liqes ih Npw Zealand.In New Zealand golfers are looldug, forward to the day new golf balls will be procprable. At the London store. of one of the world 's most' famous manu-jfqctur-ing firms thqy are lucky if they jget thi;ee bqxps of balls to sell in q, qip'qth. WkM is more to the point is that the balls are not new, being what are call.ed re-mould.s with an ojcl core land a synthetic cpyer. They- sell for :3Q shillings a dfizp.n and they are ipesh markcd. When new high-grade golf . iballs are made it is certain that golfei'k Joverseas will get them before they arq Imade- available tQ the gplfers - of ;Brita"in. • s

Speaking of visits to other famous London stores, Capt, Wimsptt sgid that at one of them, which iq nqnqal -times, would carry a stqck Qf gqlf clubs and , other goif 'equipment vaTued at £8000, 'he could' have bought all .they had iq igqlf equipment for £50. In Dublin, jhowever, quite good golf clubs could be | bought but not taken out of Eire,. j While in London, Capt'. Wimsett purr chased a waterproof coat for which he had to hand ftver i(i coqpqns— all the coupons he had. The salesman- showod liim some more expensive coats but for them 17 coupons were required. Be-. ferrvng to thc incident Cjipt. Wimsett; said, "If I had offorpd tlie iqqn fouf times as much as the coat was worth, T wQnld not have been allowed to buy it without producin'g that extra coupon. " Of the 300 per cent luxury tax he said. it did npt appl.v tp secondhand gppd§. He Tia'd seen a diaihond ring priqed at £585. The jeWeller ext 'plained that if it had been a new ringv ' the price would have been neafer £1200. Efe- also spoke of a visit to showroom§' where world-famous cars^sc'dbnd-han*4* 393.9 models — were for sale'at .7000 and 4500 guineas, and where a prospqctive buyer Wfiuld be wa§t'ing hjs tiqie if liy * ,tried to get the price' reduced eyen a few shillings. .. 4 When he 'Av6nt fo DiiMin ' Captain" . Wimsett travelled over on the boat; whioli took the Fronch Bugbv tearri. Directlv he went op board a stewai'd asked him if he Would have something to eat before they left the wharf. He tpld him he would have something !" later on." The steward then exnlaint |ed that the boat travelled at 25 knots ' f royn Holvhead to. Bun Laoghairp (Txinsrston) and it made no differencp whe^her {^o^1tPide,, it was cairn or rough. He added that it made no difference if a nasscnger was a good jsailor tl\e staff just could not serve a jineal in rou-h weather. That trip was j rrmo-h vet the 53 miles were cut out iq ! iust over two hoqrs. For the ipteri Ipa+iqnal tcsw it was not "Fvench. | without teqvs ' ' Thev were bad sailors 'and quickb' sick. f —————— i