ITEMS OF INTEREST

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32414, 31 March 1944, Page 6

ITEMS OF INTEREST

“Bottled Dynamite” Speaking on the islands of the Pacific at the meeting of the People's University recently, Colonel W. H. Fortune said that when in Tonga he had discovered a new explosive. A chief was drinking a glass of a liquid resembling lemonade, and asked the colonel to have a glass. “I did.” said the speaker, “because I noticed the chief appeared to enjoy , the drink immensely. But I’ll never forget that drink. From the time it touched my lips it attacked me all the way down my throat. The chief said it was Tongan native whisky. I classified it as bottled dynamite!” Air Travel In Pacific “On tripping around I found that travelling by air is very comfortable, that the different types of aircraft are all very quick and all very safe, and, if I had the money, after the war I would do all my travelling by air,” said Mr J. A. McPherson, curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, in an address to the Christchurch Businessmen’s Club. He predicted that after the war there would be an extensive network of air routes linking the Pacific. Appeal To Rabbiters An urgent appeal to New Zealand to procure and export the greatest possible number of rabbit carcases has been made by the British Government. The importance of the appeal was emphasised by Major G. F. Yerex, of the Internal Affairs Department, and Mr G. Simpson, of the National Service Department, Wellington, during a visit to Invercargill recently. They met representatives of organisations dealing with the destruction of rabbits. Liquor Profits “Now that whisky is sold in hotels under the bowser system, there is a much higher percentage of profit on this liquor than there is on beer,” said a witness in a hotel case which was heard by the Land Sales Court in Dunedin. “If whisky were available,” he added, “it would be much more profitable to sell spirits to-day than it would be to sell beer.”