TURTLE SOUP FOR ALL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 104, 30 October 1923, Page 9

TURTLE SOUP FOR ALL

NEW INDUSTRY IN WEST AUSTRALIA FACTORY ESTABLISHED. (FROH OUR OWN CORHESPONDIHT.) SYDNEY, 24th October. A dark day has dawned for the thousands, of turtles which waddle about the beaches of the far north-west coast of Australia with the establishment at Rockingham, near Fremantle, of a factory specially designed for converting them into sundry table delicacies. The supply of turtles is said to be inexhaustible, Ind they are brought down from the north on special enclosures on the decks of coastal vessels. They-re-quire no sustenance during the trip south, a hosing down twice daily being quite sufficient to ensure their arrival at the factory in an unsuspectingly lively frame of mind. At that institution they are beguiled into a false sense of security by finding themselves once again in their native element—the sea. On the sea frontage of the factory grounds a large pool has been securely enclosed, and there they may be seen swimming lazily in happy ignorance of the steaming pots prepared for their reception a couple of hundred yards away. The factory has been established by a Glasgow firm under the name of Chelonia, Ltd. Chelonia is the Latin name for a turtle—and there are two local directors in Perth. Its activities promise, to democratise the lordly turtle. No longer will it grace exclusively the banquets of the great, for it is announced that the Australian public, when the factory gets into full swing,' will be able to regale itself on /turtle soup at a cost no greater than that at which it now satisfies its requirements in the matter of Bovril. To-day a plate of the delicacy costs, in London, nothing under two guineas. Its costliness and exquisite flavour are better renowned than another undoubted quality ■ that it possesses—its high nourishingand restorative properties—and it is anticipated that its appearance within the financial ambit of ordinary people will result in its extensive use for invalids.