● Philippine teenage film actress Ruby Manalad said her fight with Hong Kong Immigration authorities was a battle to uphold the honour of Filipinas. She attempted to incite the Philippine government to protest against Hong Kong’s refusal to let her and a friend enter the colony a month prior because immigration officials thought they were prostitutes. Manalad said she was willing to be examined to prove she was a virgin.

October 9, 1978

● The world’s second test-tube baby was named Durga, after a Hindu goddess who embodies the female creative force. The six-day-old baby was progressing well at a hospital in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India.

● Much of Britain was itching in the throes of the worst flea epidemic for 25 years. A spokesman for the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, a charity caring for thousands of pets, said the number of dogs and cats being treated for fleas had shot up. Even the House of Commons needed to be treated after members of parliament complained of flea bites.

● The Hong Kong government was preparing legislation that would place the common medicine codeine on the poisons list, owing to an uptick of drug addicts taking massive quantities of the drug instead of going to methadone clinics.

October 10, 1978

● Hong Kong Commissioner of Police Brian Slevin disclosed that the force would ask for tougher laws to plug loopholes, which allowed prostitutes to operate “one-girl brothels” or make use of “pen-pal” advertisements to attract business.

October 11, 1978

● Five funeral urns believed to be from the Ming dynasty were offered to the Hong Kong Museum of History. The urns were discovered by a Tuen Mun resident in his family’s ancestral grave in 1972.

● Hong Kong’s biggest private lot at Tin Shui Wai in Yuen Long was speculated as the site of a massive residential development to include housing, light industry and community facilities. A few landowners and developers, including Cheung Kong and the Canadian Overseas Development Co Ltd, were believed to be holding talks about the site, estimated to be worth at least HK$1.35 billion.

October 12, 1978

● A policeman’s pressing need to heed a call of nature was sweet relief to the illegal immigrant he was escorting. The officer was taking the 21-year-old Chinese national to the police post in Sha Tau Kok when he stopped at a toilet, leaving his handcuffed prisoner outside. When he came out, the illegal immigrant had long gone.

October 13, 1978

● A 13-year-old boy ran away from his London home to protest against plans to kill off 5,000 seals in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Matthew Hilton left a note for his mother saying: “Dear Mum, I love you very much but I’m not going to let those men kill the seals.”

October 14, 1978

● Elaine Dale, an 18-year-old who was born with thalidomide-induced birth defects, gave birth to a healthy baby girl. The drug, used for a time to treat morning sickness in mothers, was recalled in 1961 due to hundreds of children being born without limbs or suffering from other birth defects. Dale’s baby girl was born with no such deformities, and Dale went on to have another healthy child soon after.

● The Hong Kong Consumer Council named and shamed a removal company that quoted low rates to clients, then moved furniture onto a footpath and refused to take it any further until more money was paid. Pak Fook Removal Service was said to have demanded up to HK$700 for services that were originally quoted at HK$80.

Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history