PITY THE POOR SHARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 274, 19 November 1927, Page 30

PITY THE POOR SHARK.

EATEN BY ENGLISHMEN.

THREE HUNDRED TONS A DAT.

SILK STOCKINGS AND LEATHER.

Pity the poor shark, which, up to the present, having had no adequate press-agenting, has been considered a maritime nuisance. This is a grave injustice, as is now being pointed out to London by Dr. Alfred Ehrenreich, a Czecho-Slovakian scientist and defende'r of sharks, who is conducting a campaign to put the shark in its true role as one of mankind's foremost boons. He has disclosed to a somewhat astonished public that it eats 300 tons of shark daily in England. Not over the shark's own signature, however, for the meat is sold under the more appetising title of "rock salmon."

This is only the half of it; the public not only eats shark, it also drinks shark, and wears shark, and Bticks articles together with shark glue and various other things—26 in all. Dr. Ehrenreich, who has studied sharks for 30 years and should be in a position to know, says that all leather products, including shoes, can be made from shark akin. He says that silk stockings which won't ladder and silk gowns which won't wear out can be made from shark. He says that children will cry much louder for shark liver oil than for cod liver oil. Stimulants for crops, insulin for diabetes, glue, and even paint, adds Dr. Ehrenreich, are a few of the other shark products. He hopes to sandal the feet of all the Hindus in shark leather, for they wear uncomfortable wooden footgear at present because cow leather is anathema to them.

A beautifully-painted yacht recently took 30 tons of dead sharks and Dr. Ehrenreich up the Thames to.London. The ship, the Istar, was originally built 26 years ago for a champagne merchant, and during the war was attached to the American Navy. It is now fitted out j as the world's first and only floating' shark factory.

When the Istar •is on voyage, the chemists in their white overalls work calmly and earnestly in the ship's laboratory, while the crew are entangling the unwary sharks in great hempen nets, and Dr. Ehrenreich sits in his cabin calculating by legarithms what sort of sharks are found in every stretch of water all around the world and at what time of year

The Istar soon will visit West African ports at the request of the Belgian Government, for demonstration purposes, then will proceed to Colombo, Ceylon, where European and Madrassi financiers are anxious to commence a similar industry.