Bird Notes and News 



number at 3,800, the centres being largely 

 London and Manchester. Of the 3,800, 

 3,200 were engaged on Ostrich feathers 

 or Ostrich feathers and artificial flowers, 

 leaving between 600 and 700 engaged upon 

 fancy feathers. An enormous proportion 

 of the workers were girls and young 

 women, the total of the adult male 

 workers being between 60 and 70. These 

 astonishingly small figures would surprise 

 hon. gentlemen who had been led to 

 believe that thousands and thousands of 

 persons would be deprived of work by the 

 operation of the Bill. The real fact of the 

 mattter was that the trade was in the hands 

 of a small number of foreigners, who came 

 over from Vienna, Paris, or Berlin, on 

 Monday and returned on Saturday morning. 

 They took the whole trade abroad prac- 

 tically for manufacture and distribution. 



INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT. 



It had been asked why should Great 

 Britain take the lead in this matter? We 

 had not taken the lead. 



We were not the first country nor the 

 first part of the British Empire to promote 

 this legislation. We really were acting 

 qua our Colonies as receivers of stolen 

 goods. The United States had set us an 

 example and we ought to be ashamed that 

 we were not the first in the field. 



The people of the States had been 

 stimulated by the knowledge of what had 

 occurred in their own country and under 

 their own eyes. Their own forests and 

 swamps had been devastated by those 

 guilty of participating in this trade. The 

 Colonies had legislated against export. 

 They had no manufacture of these goods, 

 and therefore clearly no need of provisions 

 against import. The Government had 



invited the self-governing Colonies and 

 foreign countries to a conference in London 

 upon the condition that every country 

 attending should do so on the express 

 understanding that it should prohibit the 

 entry into that country of the skins and 

 plumage of wild birds, and that every 

 country taking part should undertake legis- 

 lation for the prohibition of their export. 

 Many European countries, besides South 

 Africa, Canada, America, and China, had 

 accepted the invitation. Holland, Spain, 

 Austria, and Russia had not yet answered, 

 but all accepted invitations to a similar 

 conference two or three years ago which 

 fell through because of the absence of 

 France. Greece, France, and Denmark 

 were the only European countries which 

 had refused to attend. The French Govern- 

 ment was apparently afraid to face the 

 opposition of the 50,000 people engaged in 

 the feather trade in that country. France 

 would be responsible for her own action, 

 but henceforth she would not manufacture, 

 as she did now, for the markets of all those 

 countries which had agreed to come to 

 the conference. 



In conclusion Mr. Horhouse referred 

 to the list he held of some twenty 

 distinguished societies interested in the 

 preservation and protection of natural life 

 which had passed resolutions in favour of 

 the Bill ; there was not a profession in 

 this country which would not send dis- 

 tinguished men, opposed to each other 

 perhaps on every other conceivable subject, 

 to support and advocate the passage of the 

 Bill. 



Mr. Denniss moved the rejection of the 

 Bill. He took it up purely as a trade 

 question in order that a home industry 

 might not be destroyed. The Bill would 



