EPICUREAN DISHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 11

EPICUREAN DISHES.

FAMOUS LONDON CLUB.

CATTLE SHOW CHANGES.

MYSTERY OF NEW COIN.

(By CHARLES MARTIN.)

LONDON, December 17.

Regarded as the dinner of the year, the Reunion des Gastromnes, held recently in London, was attended by 400 of the world's best judges of good food. At the top table were Mr. Brnee. °f Australia, and Sir Josiah Stamp, who later made the speech of the evening. After a banquet which included snails from Burgundy, roebuck and quail, it was amusing to hear Sir Josiah Stamp describe some of his earlier gastr- nomic experiments. As a youth he h;ul made the discovery that pickled onions and condensed milk combined well and he had more than once enjoyed a mixture of sausage roll and strawberry jam. l ei haps it was a pity that as they grew older they grew finicky! When a Prince Could Not Smoke. Few clubs have had. a more interesting history than White's, which closes at the end of January for repairs, not to reopen until April. Founded in I the seventeenth century, White's more than onc-e has been the most talked-of club in the parish of St. James.. It was sn in ISO", when the Prince of Wale* (afterwards Edwaru VII.) resigned because he was not allowed to smoke in the ground-floor rooms. For twenty years after that incident White's suffered a loss of prestige and membership. Apparently the club's independent attitude was not appreciated by the Londoners of those days. When Clubmen Wore Hats. In the 'nineties White's was once more pre-eminent in the world of clube, achieving a reputation for, among other things, its high stakes at bridge. Today there is less excitement within those ancient walls. White's is much like the other time-saturated institutions in the locality. i Old members of my club assure me that club life has changed but little since \ ictorian days. One main difference is that hats are no longer worn inside clubs, as was the custom in Thackerav's tune. Fat Stock Not So Fat. .The Kmithiield Cattle Show has juist been held for the 14()th time in London. Since its inauguration by two titled landowners "thi<s. annual exhibition has undergone many changes. More than one farmer who attended the recent show at the Agricultural Hall. Islington, could remember the time when exhibitors dio\ e to London in their farm carts while their cattle walked, instead of both man and beast being conveved bv train. In those days. too. leather gaiters and smocks were the rule, whereas now the modern farmer "looks like a bank manager and speaks like a 8.8.0. announcer.' according to one dairyman from Buckinghamshire. Weighed 171 Stone. The animals, also, have changed, and not for the better, or rather not for the fatter. In pre-war days fat cattle really were fat, say the old-timers, quoting weights and measurements that seem almost unbelievable to the younger generation. But the prize beasts of thirty years ago were slim compared with the giants of former days. Born in 1T!">. a celebrated animal known as the Craven lleifer, when six years old, weighed 171 -tone. 1 hen about the same time there was the Durham Ox. which was f>ft Kin tall, with a girth measurement of lift lin. All artist made an engraving of this creature and received more than £2000 worth of orders for copies. Both animals have been immortalised 011 innumerable inn signboards in the North of England. Where Are the Yellow Bits? Though over 35.000,000 twelve-sided 3d bits have been issued during the last six months they are still surprising]y scarce. The new coin was introduced mainly to meet a long-felt want on the part of transport authorities and others for a coin of the value of 3d which would save the use of coppers, but would not be so inconvenient in size as the old silver .'id bit. Presumably when every man, woman ami child in the British Nles has colli' 'ted at least one of these yellow t welve-.-ided coins as a somenir. the needs of the transport people will begin to lie met. Actually tlieve are still about 70.000.nHl of the old silver 3d bits in circulation. 1 hough only a courageous passenger would tender one ill a bus. The new Ceorge XT. silver 3d bit. recently minted, has proved popular in Scotland, but not. for some unaccountable reason, in LondonLilian Baylis and " Macbeth." There is an old superstition in the theatrical world that •'Macbeth" is unlucky, though nobody seems to know how the notion arose. If there are any superstitious folk left 011 the stage they J must have regarded the death of Lilian j Baylis. of the Old Vie. during a run of this play, as continuation of their belief. Actors and actresses, to-day. are probably not more superstitious than people in other walks of life, but it is strange [ how some of the odd theatrical practices of bygone days are still observed, though no reason appears to exist for their continuance. Many members of j the acting profession who would laugh at the idea that harm could conic to 1 anyone quoting a line from "Macbeth" off the stage (as many of them once believed) still omit to speak the last line of any play at a rehearsal. This tradition is one that, dies hard. Geography Without Tears. Within the last few months thousands of Knglish school children have been learning, in a novel way. about the customs of peoples in far-off countries, about trade winds and cyclones, about the everyday life of the sailor, and much else besides. The information came direct from captains and crews of nearly 500 ships afloat all over the world, ships "adopted" by the schools through the offices of the British Ship Adoption Society whose headquarters are in London.

In return the hoys and girls -wrote to their sailor friends. For the last few weeks there has been a rush of Christmas presents for the men at sea. These have included diaries. dartboards. gramophone records and mufflers. Gifts have been pouring in to the society's offices from the ships to the schools, and have included a beautiful chilli -hell ami a preserved fixing fish. One school proudly boasts of a Maori skirt made of lace palm. i