Swan A La Mode

Last year Sir Edward Hall strom gave the Lae (New Guinea) Botanical Gardens six West Australian black swans.

They were for “educational and aesthetic interest”, particularly for the native people.

But how aesthetic can a native get? One morning in April it was found that there were only five swans and police found no trace of the missing bird.

A senior Administration offi cer said later, more in sorrow than in anger: “The culprits took the swan, presumably, for culin ary reasons.”

For a New Guinean what better reason can there be? Any one who can come at dog, pos sum or black cockatoo would find imported swan a delicacy.