Clark flushes dribbling showers down loo

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has flushed an energy-saving proposal to limit the flow of water in household showers down the gurgler after the public made it clear it was very cold on the idea, a newspaper reported.

Clark, who is fighting an election campaign to retain her job, ordered Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones to ditch a proposal to limit new showers to a flow of six litres a minute after a public outcry, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The change was promoted by officials in the interest of energy efficiency and saving homeowners hundreds of dollars on their power bills.

But websites, newspaper columns and talkback radio "leapfrogged over one another to see who can get the most indignant about this perceived interference in people's lives," wrote political commentator John Armstrong.

"The spectre was being raised of East European-style inspectors forcing their way into the nation's bathrooms," he wrote.