Duchess Sells Fish

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6519, 7 April 1931, Page 2

Duchess Sells Fish

TWENTY MINUTES AT COUNTER WHAT LED UP TO IT. Even Lewis Carroll did not have the brain-wave of making the Duchess in “Alice in Wonderland” serve behind a fried fish counter —it has been left to a very ordinary man in this ambitious ago to achieve that distinction. Henceforth, the Duchoss of Portland, says a London newspaper, is (almost) a fully fledged authority on fiish and chips. The Duchess dealt out fish and chips at the shop of Mr. W. J. Burton at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire; she helped to cut up the potatoes by machine, tipped them into the boiling fat, and attended to the wet fish. She then served at the counter for 20 minutes, and finally had sufficient fish for six people wrapped up and placed in her motor car, in which she drove back to Welbeck. Mr. Burton was bandmaster of the Cresswell Colliery Band, but met with an accident, as a result of which he had to have his log amputated. Tho Duchess on that occasion paid all expenses, and acted similarly when Mr. Burton's wifehad to undergo an operation. On hearing that they had opened a fish shop at Mansfield, tho Duchess motored to see them. The secretary to the Duchess, who also assisted in the shop, said subsequently, “Finding the trade was brisk, the Duchess at once took off her outdoor things and set to work. She wrapped up their purchases in the traditional newspaper. As she was not very hungry, she did not sample the fish, but she ate some of tho chipped potatoes and pronounced them very good. “Mr. Burton also sells tripe and the Duchess, noticing that the scales were too much in the customer’s favour, laughingly told him that lie would not make much profit if he gave overweight. Quite a crowd collected outside the shop when people heard that tho Duchess was inside, and a queue was formed so that they could have an opportunity of being served by her.” The Duchoss was formerly Mistress of the Robes to Queen Alexandra, and is keenly interested in the welfare of miners. Mr. Burton, as a miner, used to work on her estate.