Mary Pratt Must Be Sent Home

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 51, 30 June 1933, Page 22

Mary Pratt Must Be Sent Home

Peter Dawson Says Press or Government Should Do All It Can for Talented Dunedin Singer — Brightlytold Tales of Antiope’s Voyages.

ETER DAWSON, in reminiscent mood and in good form, made a capital surprise item for 4YA, Listeners shared his regret that the bothe made over his singing at 3YA preclud ed his repeating the offence at 4YA. Mr Dawson paid a great tribute to Mr Ernest Drake and Mr, Alfred Walmsley for the good work they had done fo1 music, and Mr. Bob Horne, of Christchurch, wasn’t forgotten either. Mr Pawson said he thought the Press and even the Government should make efforts to have Miss Mary Pratt sent abroad for training and expressed 2 belief that if only a mercenary view were taken of the matter, the advertisement for New Zealand would be worth more than can be estimated. Mr. Robert Stevenson, whom Mr. Dawson introduced, has as rich a voice as any I have heard in the Dominion, and I hope to hear more from him in the near future. & > * HEN Peter Dawson consented 10a sing a song after his talk at 3YA the question of music then arose. I! understand that upon "Mountains 0’ Mourne" being suggested Mr, Matt. J)ixon, the station pianist, informed Mr. Dawson that he didn’t happen to know the song, but if Mr. Dawson would just hum it over an accompaniment would be improvised. It was a jolly good accompaniment too. Mr. Dixon has had plenty of smoke concert experience, and had Mr. Dawson liked he couid have ehanged his key (as is sometimes done at smokos when the kegs are running at low tide), and Matt. would have been with him in some clever modulations. % o % "THE two erstwhile master mariners were entertaining when speaking of sailor customs and superstitions, and added interest was given by explanations of the initial meaning of phrases in common usage, that had their origin on board ship. In this dialogue of unusual form, where t’other merely butted in, some emphasis was given to the fact that years ago British shipowners paid sailors only £3 per month, and mention wag omitted that foreign shipowners paid less. = * & (HOLONIAL shipowners could, of course, be more generous. The enhanced emoluments did not come from their pockets-posterity was presented with the bill! There are many, many thousands going to sea to-day and competing with the harassed British shipowner, who receive much less than three Wnglish sovereigns every month. It was very interesting to hear that included in the weekly menu was Harriet Lane. There surely must be a story about the lady. I wonder who she was? 2 ™ N resuming his narrative of the Antiope’s passage from Suva to Great Britain, Mr. I, M. Renner recalled how dreary the food became af-

ter a few weeks out and the storeroom was depleted of such common articles as potatoes. The boys held the efficient sailor in great esteem, but their icol was ever the lad who could retrieve delicacies from the galley that were intended for the cabin. Hungry boys aboard a windjammer soon de-

vise ways and means of purloining food, and the new apprentice learned another nautical art before Cape Stiff was rounded. od J % FTER clearing the Falklands the old ship did some fine sailing. She had been contending with a head wind and a northerly swell when a southerly came up. This drove her into a heavy sea, and the water came aboard green. About five o’clock one of the boys was on the fo’castle head when she shipped a heavy one, tons of water that rushed: aft in a wall of foam. "Man overboard," yelled the mate, rushing to the wheel, but the "old man" took one quick glance at the sea, quietly ordered, "Keep her as she goes, we can do nothing." The boy was not gone, however, for he was foun¢ when the water cleared away, lying

ME. RENNER told of experiences with water spouts, of the ship’s cat that caught flying fish in the air so that it wouldn’t get its feet wet, of the Indian who, for no known reason, said good-bye to the captain and jumped overboard, and of the meeting in the English Channel with H.M.S. New Zealand, a vessel that had been in Suva with them. To the disappointment of all the boys, orders were received off Dungeness to proceed to Rotterdam, which was "fetched" in 102 days out from Suva. The old Antiope no longer sails the seas, but to-day lies a store hulk in Beira, Portuguese East Africa. ca bd ae N his weekly talk on "World Affairs," Dr. Guy H. Scholefield spoke of the concern of Western nations in the trade competition of the East. Hasy transport means have made this a problem that defies solution by orthodox economic methods. In the case of Japan: modernisation was a deliberate state policy, compelled by necessity, and encouraged by our forefathers, and we are now faced with the problem. Japan, with her dense population, must expand or the people must starve. bo] = = T~ has recently been claimed that Japan is the most efficient nation in history. No people were ever more patriotic or willing to make sacrifices for the good of their country. The acquisition of Korea, where the surplus educated were able to find Government jobs, stemmed the tide of aggression for a generation, and the conquest of Manchuria may hold off the day when Japan will make a challenge to the rest of the nations confronting the Pacific. If the Occidental doesn’t decline all of a sudden, the next generation is going to see a bigger war than the Great War.

OME interesting information was given by Mr. W. B. Oliver respecting changes that can be made in the constitution of the native forest by introduced browsing animals. The New Zealand bush is unique, and many of the types of flora are relics of the age when the country had a land connection with the Malay Archipelago, and before animals made it their habitat. By ring-barking of standing trees, by consumption of seedlings, and by trampling of the forest floot, certain species are threatened with total disappearance. * * x ((APTAIN LEO, of 2ZW, Wellington, launched his puzzles and wordbuilding competitions at the same time that he asked the children of Radio Land to send along a penny a week towards the Mayor’s Fund. The response has been rather remarkable, and the children have written some beautiful letters denoting their willingness to participate,