PENGUIN OIL INDUSTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 16847, 24 September 1918, Page 7

PENGUIN OIL INDUSTRY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—My attention has been drawn to a paragraph from the Adelaide ‘ Advertiser ’ that appearsd_in your journal recently relating to the manner in which penguin oil is procured at Macquarie Island. As a participator in this work in years past, 1 venture a protest on behalf of many residents of the Port who have taken an active part in the oil work at Macquarie Island. According to the paragraph mentioned the procedure of obtaining oil from the penguins is at once cruel and worthy of severe condemnation, provided such methods obtain; but any one of the many men I have spoken to who have had past experiences at the work emphatically refute the statement as being neither logical nor practical under working conditions such as those pursued on the Macquarie Island.

To give the bird-loving public sufficient grounds to judge for themselves if such statements are correct, even if they are mentioned by prominent explorers, I pen the following facts relative to the work. To begin with, I will take, for example, the largest and most profitable digester on the island, situated at the Nuggets, this one being typical of all other subordinate works located in other parts of the island. The first operation following the overhauling of engine and accessory receptacles is that of blocking up the watercourse or other pathways the birds use during their migrations towards their respective rookeries. This prevents the further advance of the feathered hosts till such time as has been erected a temporary stock yard consisting of empty barrels. When completed, the blockade is raised and the tide of oily emigrants is diverted into the crude stock yard. As their advance is fairly rapid, the yard is soon occupied with the necessary number required for the try out. The entrance into the yard is then closed, whereupon the men secure their clubs and proceed to kill the birds, which is attained oy powerful blows on the head. The carcasses are then carried to the adjacent digester. One man steps inside the lower door of tho digester, and while his mates pass the dead birds in to him he packs them away row after row, something after the manner of stowing bottles in a rack. This is continued till the man finds it more convenient to finish his task from the top of the digester, which, I may state, is perfectly dry and free of water or oil. The extraction of oil from the birds is effected by the spraying action of the perforated steam pipe that runs down the centre of the try-pot, and practically dissolves the birds’ oily flesh, or, to use an apt expression, “ aUows*them to stew in their own juice.” Water, therefore, is not a requisite of the industry, except as the means of creating tho steam in the boiler. Where the assertion about driving the birds into a boiling cauldron originated from is more than qualified men can locate or explain. Before concluding, I would like to know if any of the members of the scientific expedition could tell me if they solved the mystery of the penguins’ absence from the island, the regions they emigrate to,, or seas they inhabit, because these are scientific questions wo laymen look to Sir Douglas Mawson and other to explain. For myself, it remains one of those riddles of the universe that natural history' readers,, find very hal’d to solve. Finally, let me assure readers who have expressed their fear of penguin extinction by operations at the Macquarie Island that their apprehensions are unfounded, for the number of yearly survivors over and above the annual slaughtering at the island oil works is something like an average of 20 millions; therefore tho “swatting” of the penguin species is just about as remote as the exterminating of the house fly. In my humble opinion, both tho fly and the penguin will be amongst the last survivors of our universe, and between them they will muster, saying wittily, “the last feather to fly with.”—l am, etc,, Gbougk Galvin. Pori Chalmers, September 23.

THE CIVIL SERVICE. TO the editor. Sir, —Allow me to put a few straight tips to the Government through me medium of your paper on behalf of the rank and file of the Civil Service. I think it is high time the Government gave an all-round increase in salaries to Civil servants, owing to the increased Cost of Living—l mean salaries from £550 per annum down —so that Civil servants may bo able to pay their way in accordance with their position. I may say that many of us are in debt, especially those of us who have large families to support. A glance at the following table will show how hard the Cost of Living has affected salaries; and while nearly all outside linns aro paying increased salaries, the Government salaries have remained the same since before the war :

I may say that this table speaks for itself. Practically nothing has been done to curb the rise in the Cost of Living; therefore it is only fair to pay Civil servants a badly-needed increase in salary, to help to meet the increased demand on the "already Jast-diminishing purchasing power of their salaries. It is true that a bonus of £ls per year to married men. and £7 10s to single men has been paid ; but this is only a small amount in comparison to the decreasing purchasing power. Trusting notice will be taken of this letter by the proper authorities—l am, etc., Oxvix, Sehtant with Familt of Six. September 24.

Present Salary since Present Value in Purchasing 1918 Mar., 1914. Power. Equivalent. £350 ... £227 10 0 ... £472 10 0 325 .. 211 5 0 ... 435 15 0 300 ... 195 0 0 „. 405 0 0 250 .. 169 0 0 ... 350 0 0 245 .. 159 5 0 ... 530 15 0 220 ... 143 0 0 „ 297 0 0 180 .. 117 0 0 ... 243 0 0 160 ... 104 0 0 ... 216 0 0 150 ... 97 10 0 ... 202 10 0 120 .. 78 0 0 ... 162 0 0