Jane Southland Says

Southland Times, Issue 21088, 21 May 1930, Page 12

Jane Southland Says

A DANISH WOMAN. AND THE DANISH NATIONAL DISH. I wonder how many people who, visiting the Winter Show last week, after examining the remarkably fine products of our province, paused before a tiny stall gaily decorated in red and white? Few people, I think, observed the decorations —they were too much interested in the amazing little woman, who stood there demonstrating her Danish batter ball pans, and distributing her wares to the hungry small boys who crowded around her. In fact there were such large numbers of small boys, that it would not surprise me to learn that many missed the stall altogether, and those who were able to secure a position near enough to the demonstrator to hear her, were very fortunate. I did, but I had waited for a long time and visited every stall in the vicinity, before the crowd dispersed. Mrs Nielsen, when I learned her name explained to me, that she was not troubled by the large numbers of children, although they frequently kept customers from her stall, because her idea in introducing the batter ball pan, had been to give the children of this country the opportunity of tasting the wholesome national food of Denmark.

With her husband, Mrs Nielsen came to New Zealand twenty-five years ago, with the idea of making her fortune, and returning to her homeland. She discovered, however, that large sums of money were not easily or quickly amassed even in New Zealand. But Mr and Mrs Nielsen grew to love their foster country, and when they had the opportunity of returning to Denmark, they refused it. For the benefit of her three children, Mrs Nielsen had had a batter ball pan made, and when the children of the neighbourhood came to share the delicacies, the Danish woman conceived the idea of improving and patenting the pan, and selling to the mothers of New Zealand.

That was only a short time ago, and the ambitious little woman has already disposed of 2000 of her New Zealand made pans, in different parts of the country. She has discovered that they are useful for cooking all manner of dainty .dishes and has compiled a list of recipes for the benefit of her clients. Mrs Nielsen is a clever and enthusiastic business woman, but she is first a home lover, and is -looking forward eagerly to the time when her patent will be so well known that she will not need to advertise it herself and will be able to spend all her time in her- home which she hopes to make as beautiful as the homes she remembers in Copenhagen. Before that time, however, Mrs Nielsen intends having a stall- at the Sydney Exhibition. That stall will also be decorated in red and white, the Danish colours and her assistants will wear the Danish national costume. Then Mrs Nielsen intends visiting her beloved Denmark, before returning to spend the remaining years of her life appreciating the beauties of a country which she has learned to regard as the best country in the world.