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MISCELLANY
The British Spirit. Britain's again up against it.
This time it's economic war, but she's facing it
with the same dogged spirit and rugged resource'
fulness of her previous armed struggles. Great
trade exhibitions are being staged, the latest, whicjbt
is just over, being the Engineering and .Marine
Exhibition at Olympia, London. To tell the world
about it, attractive red stickers were produced tb
go on the back of the hundreds of thousands„-pf
letters going forth from Great Britain. ' '"..•
The Spiral. There's not a single worker who
has not sympathised with "the poor miner" in his
claims, "the poor wharflabourer or the poor striker"
in every industry. Though they upset all trade in
their determination to work less hours for mori
money, the single worker doesn't care as long as
the striker wins his Doint. That's all right as long
as the "single worker" first mentioned realises that
it is he, himself, personally pays for it. He can
be as grandiose and magnanimous as be likes with
his own money as it is loaded with extra expense
burdens. Last year it was possible for a man and
his wife and two children living at Rose Bay to
have an outing at Nielsen Park swimming enclosure
by bus and back for 1/4. Now bus fares are up,
overlapping sections cut out and admittance to the
enclosure gone up till tcday it is 3/2—more than
100 per cent. rise.
The Helicopter Era Begins. An insurance under'
writer recently made City of London history by
flying a helicopter to his Lime Street office from
Hanworth aerodrome, on London's western out'
skirts. He landed on a 90ft. by. 90ft. bombed site
used as a car park. Buildings 100 feet high face
the car park.
A great idea, no doubt, but, if it takes on, where
will we park our helicopters; leave them hovering
till we are ready to go home?
World-wide Shortage of Cement. "In every cpua'
try visited I found a shortage of cement," safid
Mr. W. St. B. More, general manager of S.A.
Portland Cement Ltd., following his recent return
from abroad. "In England, where production - ; is
about 6,000,000 tons per year, the position is ag'
gravated by a shortage of coal," he added. "Pro'
duction in America has reached the staggering total
of over 30 million tons per year, nearly ail used
locally. The largest single producer is tfie Par'
manente Cement Co., owned by the Htnry J.
Kaiser interests, and manufacturing in one works
as much cement as is now made in the whole of
Australia. The use of concrete has developed to a
greater extent in America than in any other country
visited. Concrete house construction has. pre
gressed rapidly, and the use of concrete in airport
construction is now universal.
Tree Planting to Attract Birds. The Dutch Gov
ernment is replanting Walcheren Island with
1,500,000 trees to attract birds back to the island.
Naturalists have reported that absence of trees on
the island ha? driven away all bird life, As a r^sult,
insects have attacked and destroyed all pkftfc *l|$je.
Birds and bees also are being imported: tOjjjjfie
island, and worms are being sent to enrich ^hejspl.
Three hundred trees have been paid for.-'by.'f^e
R.A.F., whose bombs breached the dyke ;and cauS&d
the flooding of the island. "
Restoring Nature's eternal balance. ;
Civilised Drinking.—Five hundred people drank
together at the opening of a beer garden at the
Newport Hotel recently. The beer garden, which
is on the lawn behind the hotel, is .surrounded by
flower beds in bloom. Among the 7 gu|6ts were
many husbands and wives. Hotel manage&A. Drys'
dale proposes to improve the beer before
Christmas by providing beach umbrellas. ..
A step towards civilising- our archaic .hotel con'
ditions. , -v. -
Australian Engineer Mayor of Westminster.
Councillor Hal Gutteridge is the second Australian
ever to become Mayor of- the City of Westminster.
Gutteridge, son of English parents, was born in
Melbourne in 1890, and was educated at Mel'
bourne Grammar School.-He worked in.Melbourne
as a civil engineer before coming to London 33
years ago. Westminster's historic council chamber
was destroyed by bombs in the Battfe for Britain,
and Australian High jGommisionef^Bej^ey has ar'
ranged for Australia House, to be used lor the
ceremony. v . .
Ati Ancient Traveller. Last in'.jBriBbjane in 1884,
an ex'grasier from North Queenslaftfl .jhas «een his
first electric tram. He is 8^yeat'did ;v^CrJ;;Angus
Cameron, from Townsville. "Only vh^t^e'drawn
trams in those days, and darned bad^iiorses at
that" he said; '' ! fvC
He should come to Sydney. We're srilfTrunning
some which first saw the light of day about the
same time as he did.
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