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Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 29, 27 January 1933, Page 8

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‘PRE talk given from 2YA by Mr, EF. D. Andrews, ex tennis champion of New Zealand and Cambridge Blue, was full of interest. Mr, Andrews remarked that it was nearly six yeurs since he left New Zealand for Cambridge, where he gathered many lasting memories, Since his departure he has traveiled in many lands, and come in contact with a number of well-known personalities. Tennis has taken him and his racket on many interesting excursidns, from playing on the covered courts at Bremen, where during the winter men were required to sweep the snow from the glass roof to allow light to penetrate, to India, under the auspices of the India Office, when the anti-British tension was somewhat relieved by. four British tennis stars appearing in Bombay and elsewhere, engaging Ilindus, Mohammedans, Parsees, 1nd members of other factions in friendly play. Study of export markets has taken Mr, Andrews on other yoyages, and his observations upon long-established and contemporary customs in the Kast were very interesting tohear. Regarding the Singapore Naval Base, which he was privileged to inspect, Mr. Andrews remarked that he thought the base a very necessary one, and all those who are capable of realising that our being is dependent upon Britain’s power at sen will heartily agree with his opinion. x % x HE talks by Mr. Charles FE. Wheeler from 2YA about his recent wanderings in London, beside being instruetive, are most entertaining. ‘The information that he gave regarding the marketing of our produce was especially acceptable. While waiting on Crewe station for the Scotch express, Mr. Wheeler was somewhat surprised to Jearn that the bulk wagons, similar to the petrol wagons we are familiar with on our railways, were milk containers bound for London dairies, and this gave him cause to wonder from what distance London drew upon for its milk. In my days of residence there a good deal of it came from France, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it still does. It was gratifying to learn that shops stocking colonial produce are no longer stigmatised as "cheap shops" and it was good news to hear that New Zealand’s goods and name hold definitely a warm place in the hearts of a large number of housekeepers, AccordIng to Mr. Wheeler, the yarious boards are doing a great work, and this assertion coming from an unofficial observer carries conviction. The butter auihori--ties have a huge task before them to eonvert the Danish butter consumer over to Empire butter. Personally, |! could never eat Danish butter and preferred the yery indifferent Irish. My experience was that the hest households used Danish for cooking only, but the boards have a job in weaning the British public from a depraved taste,

Mr. Wheeler’s deseription of the market in Petticoat ane on a Sunday morning was a delight to listen to, and would recall to many the strident bantering of the vendors. At one time one of the second-hand clothes dealers in the Lane was an entertainment, although his jibes and quips became tame after a while. I have often heard him .endeayour to clinch a bargain when selling an old frock coat, and his

peroration with "It’s come off a Iordthe Lord knows who," and when a prospective purchaser of a reefer jacket besitated, he was further induced to buy with "Were you are, the best navy blue reefer jacket-navy blue, indigo blue, sky blue, blued until it could blooming well he blued no longer come of a ‘drahned sea-keptin’.". Mr. Wheeler expressed some surprise in observing the works of watches for sale without cases. Might Ibe allowed to say that there was indeed no cause for wonder. Obviously the cases had not been stolen in time to haye the works fitted in. Many of the stallholders blatantly assert that their goods are cheap because they cost them nothing but the labour in thieving,

FTER listening to 2YA’s gardening expert I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that my fancied knowledge of horticulture had better be forgotten, Prior to the inception of the series I believed I knew quite a !ot about the ‘dirt. and its whiskers, but my fancied knowledge is gradually disintegrating. Last week -a correspondent asked the speaker the reason why t walnut tree refused to bear nuts. and there immediately arose in my memory the rhyme that has been stored away for more years than I care to recall, about "A woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you flog them the better they be." Wowever, the expert said nothing about punishment, but recommended rovut-pruning, Specitljsation knocks the romance out of everything nowadays! 2 od a A® engaging orchestral item 9 on 2BYM’s programme last Friday night was the tone poem = entitled "Phaeton." by Saint-Saens. It was ord to give the name phaeton to the elegant light carriage in which ladies used to take the air in the park. The original chariot. a car of fire, was a different yelucle. The youth Phaeton, being allowed by his father the Sun to drive the fiery chariot, lost control of the steeds and the flaming car was in danger of setting the earth on fire when Jupiter hurled a thunderbolt, saving the earth, but destroying Phucton. This is the legend which Saint‘Saens illustrates in his tone poem. written sixty years ago. We have here a fine example of vivid tone-painting. for the music tells its own story even if the listener is unacquainted with the old Creek myth it illustrates, as if suggests a daring aid terrifie ride of some sort, ending in catastrophe, ‘This number has not been heard very often in New Zealand, and for this and some other numbers infrequently heard and which appeal with their freshness, listeners are grateful to Mr. de Maury and his orchestra. * * = HE Melody Four were at one time the most popular quartet of male harmonisers in the Dominion, and [I always made a point of hearing cvery broadcast. . Since they added their own accompanist and changed the cognomen to Melody Five, they seldom broadcast an accompanied item 1 really enjoy. Last weel I listencd to them once more, and though I liked the blend of the new voice, I do not think the accompanist is as sympathetic as he might be. 34 ' * N his illuminating talk from 3YA on the "Hosiery Industry," Mr. I. C. Dairbrother mentioned some facts that are of more than passing interest. The inventor of the original knitting machine for stocking-making was not connected with the trade, but was a

clerk in holy orders by the name of Lee, The first pair of stockings machine-made in England were’ w%n by Queen Elizabeth, who agreed to thy enaciment of a law disallowing the use of machines for hosiery-making, because of the number of hahd-knitters that would be thrown out of employment. Seience, however, will not be denied, and the machine manufacture of hosiery has to-day attained gigantic proportions. Last year the output of full-fashioued silk hose only in the United States reached the amazing figure of fifty-nine and a half million dozen. To this number Germany added forty million dozen and Great Britain twenty-six million dozen. while nearly every civilised country added its quota to the staggering. number. One might ask where do they all go, especially when considering that much less than one-half of the human race uses them. In my bachelor days 1 was generous to the sock manufacturers, for as soon ius a hole appeared they went the way of the old safety-razor blade-dumped anywhere. Probably some repose in the harbour which Mr. Will Yates uses for his old blades. But no lady would do such a thing, nor does a lady discard a pair of stockings merely becuse # small hole has developed in one of them, bd ak * ACCORDIN G to Mr. Fairbrother. "Rayon" was A poor material when first introduced to the market. und was suitable for draperies only. I: had positiveiy no Wearing qualities, and an attempt at washing meant ifs dissolution and disappearance. But like cotton. which when first employed could only be woven as a weft for linen warps. scientifie improvements have made both cattou and rayon into materials that have excellent wearing quali" ties, Without a doubt rayon is gra ¥ ally but surely displacing natural sit! Each year s¢es an improvement in texture and strength, and a reduction of costs of manufacture, and although the material is widely used even to-day, its employment for other purposes’ increases daily. Jt has been claimed that short skirts gave an impetus to rayon production. This may he questioned, for it may be that artificial silken hose, cheap but strong, and of good appearance, made the yogne of the abbreviated skirt possible, co % * FRREDERICK SMETANIA was, like all natives of Bohemia, an intense patriot, and a lover of the natural beauties of his country. Ue wrote a series of six symphoni¢ poems in praise of Bohemia, entitled "My Country." One of these refers to the rjver "U1tava," or Meldan, Bohemia’s most Important waterway. ‘he music pictures the coutse vi the river, described in the composer's own words in the preface to

Sporting Events Monday, January 3011.30 a.m.: 1YA Relayed deseription of ‘Takapuna Jockey Club's Meeting. YA: During the evening relayed description of Auckland Centre's swimming championship. Wednesday, February i11 am.: 3YA Relayed deseription of Sanders Cup Race. 92 am.: 1YA Taik by Mr. Sam, J. Gudsel, "Personal Notes on Outstanding Olympic Celebrities of Ios Angeles." Thursday, February 2--11 am, (approx.): 3YA Relayed deseription of Sanders Cup Race. Friday, February 311 am. (approx.): 3YA Relayed description of Sanders Cup race, Jl am.: 4YA Relay description of Plunket Shield Match, Otugo vy. Canterbury (hourly descriptions of 15 minutes each). 7.30 pm.: TYA Sporis talk by Gordon Saturday, February 111 a.m.: Relayed description of Plunket Shield Match, Canterbury y. Otago (hourly descriptions of fifteen minutes eich). 12.15 pm.: 3YA, Relay of NZ. Metropolitan Yrotting Club’s meeting. . 10 pm.: All YA StationsSports summary,

the score which forms the best guide to his composition. Smetana’s description is as follows: "Two springs well up in the depths of the Bohemian forest; the one warm and sparkling, and the other cool and still. Rippling gaily. over the rocks, these two streamlets unite and flow together under the glistening rays of the morning sun. The swiftly flowing forest brook flows into a tiver, the Ultava (Le., the Moldan)and as it Hows through the meadows of hemia at last becomes a mighty am. It flows through dense foreps, where the merry bustle of the hunt and the horns of the huntsman are heard; it flows through rich pastures and plains where to the joyful strains of song and dance, a wedding festival is being held. At night under the light of the moon, the nymphs of the woods and water sport on its shining waves, on which ths towers and castles of the ancient nobles and warriors-the sole relics of a glorious past-are brightly reflected. Arrived at the rapids of St. Johann, the stream, bursting into cataracts througk the rocks, finds its way to the broadest part of the river’s bed, and thence sweeps majestically past Prague, where it is greeted by the venerable fortress of Visehead (the citadel built by the Duchess Lubusca in the ninth century), and then disappears in the far distance from the mind’s eye of the poet." The concert orchestra under Mons, de Rose will play this interesting composition at 4¥YA on Sunday, February 5. ,