SUMMER’S PROBLEMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 September 1938, Page 5

SUMMER’S PROBLEMS

» IDEAS FOR MODERN WOMEN SAVING HEALTH AND WORK.

Though they are the seasons of brightness and gladness, spring and summer bring new problems to the housewife —problems of food preservation, problems of hot, dreary days in the wash-house. “Few women realise,” said Mr N. R. Cunningham, managing director of N. R. Cunningham, Ltd., Queen Street, Masterton, “the danger they expose themselves and their families to by neglecting consideration of the deterioration of foodstuffs during hot weather. Bacteria thrive in spring and summer. These, most harmful of micro-organisms, bring about definite contamination of perishable foods. Foods, ostensibly fresh, are yet almost surely a breeding ground for bacteria.”

According to Mr Cunningham, temperature control alone will prevent bacteriological action on foods. “This is the job of the home refrigerator,” said he, “the modern home necessity which prevents food shortage and food wastage.” Gone for ever are the days of exposed meats on open shelves. Bacteria cannot exist in a refrigerator which keeps the temperature down to a safety level. Dust and insects cannot gain access to the food because of the heavy, sealed doors on the modern Gibson electric or the famous Hallstrom non-electric home refrigerators. As correct humidity is obtained, no damp atmosphere can favour the growth of mould. On display at N. R. Cunningham, Ltd., there are models of both the Gibson and the Hallstrom refrigerator. The Gibson electric machine is a marvel of modern domestic and industrial engineering ingenuity. An inspection of it reveals clearly why it is so often said that “the Gibson refrigerator offers the only real and practical improvement in food preservation since a compressor replaced a cake of ice.” Open the door and there you see how roomy the Gibson is, the “Magic Freezer Shelf” for making icecubes and freezing jellies and desserts, the solid and efficient construction which means economy of operation and no drying out of goods. Then, too, there is the Hallstrom, Australian-made, kerosene-operated refrigerator which brings to the country home all the advantages of those luckier ones living in a reticulated district. Just as the Gibson saves and preserves food for the housewife with electricity at her command, so does the Hallstrom save and preserve food for those who have no electricity in their home. “We’re proud, too,” said Mr Cunningham, “of the service we offer with our' remarkable Easy Washers and Ironers. If only the house-wives of the Wairarapa would realise the low cost, the efficiency and the ease of operation of the Easy Washer, there would be no more old-type wash-hou-ses in the district.” “Here is a thought for husbands,” Mr Cunningham said. “Why should a woman be condemned to a sentence at the wash-tub? Surely she deserves some consideration. For a big lawn, father buys a motor-mower, but he still expects his wife to labour over the wash-tub and ironing table for a big family wash. With summer approaching every husband should help his wife to banish drudgery in the home. Why should she lose the benefit of summer; why exchange the heat of the sun for the heat of the washhouse?”