NEW ZEALAND DINNNER IN PARIS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxix, Issue 7241, 29 July 1907, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND DINNNER IN PARIS.

At the New' Zealand dinner recently .given in Paris tho menu included— Cotelettes d'Agneau, Wellington; Salmis de Canard, Otago; Roti d'Agneau, Dunedin; Glace, Christchurch;, From-, age Stilton, Taranaki; and Ferruie - Royale Nouvelle Zelande; Salade, Auckland. Everything seemed to have been arranged smoothly. The Gear Meat Company had sent a couple of lambs with the liver and lights attached, to accord with the French Customs laws, and tlie dinner was fixed for the Autour dv Monde, Boulogne-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris. Kidneys and sweetbreads had been provided also by the Gear Company, while the New Zealand Government gave a case of ducklings, a "stilton" cheese, and a box of New Zealand butter being also procured by Mr Gilruth. To make assurance doubly sure, he himself saw the chief- of the French Veterinary Department in Paris, who promised that the good things should,be passed through free and without the usual restrictions. However, when the consignment arrived at Dieppe from London, the French authorities stopped the lambs, the kidneys, and the sweetbreads, on the, ground that the lamb should have been cut into quarters, that the liver and lights should have been attached to one of the quarters, and that the other three should have a lead label on them to show they were parts of the same carcase. So tho meat was returned to London minus a good-sized chunk off one leg, which had been cut off presumably by someone anxious to try the flavour of New Zealand lamb.Mr Gilruth, however,, was not to be done. ..He wired to his veterinary friend, took the meat out of cold store j again, and went over to France with it himself. This time there was no I trouble, and the dinner came off on [.the 6th June. The affair was in j every sense a success, and though the order was that there were to be no i speeches, the health of Mr Gilruth and ; "Prosperity to New Zealand" were duly honoured. Later. Professor Roux and i Professor Metclmikoff (of the Pasteur Institute) expressed their regret at not having been able to lie present.