26 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



THE IMPORTATION OF PLUMAGE BILL. 



SELECT COMMITTEE. 



HE Select Committee of the House 

 of Lords, appointed for the con- 

 sideration of the Importation of 

 Plumage Prohibition Bill, met (as 

 briefly stated in the Summer Number of Bird 

 Notes and News) on June 22nd, 1908, and 

 held further meetings on June 24th, June 30th, 

 July 8th, and July 13th. The Committee 

 consisted of Lord Avebury (Chairman), the 

 Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Rutland, the 

 Marquess of Bristol, and Lord O'Hagan. 



The following witnesses were heard : Dr. 

 Bowdler Sharpe (Head of the Ornithological 

 Department, Natural History Museum) ; Mr. 

 James Buckland, C.E. ; Mr. Montagu Sharpe 

 and Mr. Frank E. Lemon (Chairman and Hon. 

 Secretary, Royal Society for the Protection 

 of Birds) ; Mr. W. H. Rosenberg, F.Z.S., 

 F.E.S. (collector and dealer in Natural His- 

 tory specimens) ; Sir Nathaniel J. Highmore 

 (Solicitor to the Board of Customs) ; Mr. H. 

 Fountain (Board of Trade) ; Mr. C. G. 

 Todhunter (lately Collector of Customs at 

 Madras) ; Mr. J. Arthur Barratt (New York 

 Bar, United States Supreme Court Bar, 

 Legal Adviser to the U.S.A. Embassy) ; 

 Lord Stanmore (formerly Governor of New 

 Brunswick, Trinidad, Mauritius, Fiji, New 

 Zealand, and Ceylon) ; Colonel Charles Ryan 

 (deputed representative of the Commonwealth 

 of Australia, and member of the Australian 

 Ornithologists' Union) ; Captain Albert Pam 

 (member of the Council of the Zoological 

 Society of London) ; Mr. R. B. Marston 

 (editor of " Fishing Gazette ") ; Mr. H. Leafe 

 (manager, Messrs. Farlow & Co., fishing-tackle 

 dealers) ; Mr. Eugene Henneguy (of Messrs. 

 Melles & Co., on behalf of the wholesale distri- 

 buting firms of London and the Textile Trade 

 section of the London Chamber of Com- 

 merce) ; Mr. S. H. Weiler (ostrich and fancy 

 feather merchant) ; Mr. C. F. Downham 

 (manager, Messrs. Sciama & Co., ostrich and 



fancy feather merchants) ; Mr. Ernest Figgis 

 (Messrs. Figgis and Co., feather brokers) ; 

 Mr. Matthew Hale (feather broker) ; Mr. Emil 

 Mosbacher (Messrs. Mosbacher & Jubb, 

 feather manufacturers) ; Mr. G. K. Dunstall 

 (fancy feather dealer). 



On July 13th, the Select Committee 

 reported as follows to the House of Lords : — 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 



1. The Committee have heard the evidence of 

 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, head of the Ornithological 

 Department of the Natural History Museum, 

 and of other ornithologists. They have all ex- 

 pressed the opinion that, of the birds which it is 

 sought to protect by the Bill, some are at present 

 in danger of extermination, and others are being 

 greatly reduced in numbers. 



2. Several witnesses have been heard who 

 represent the Drapers' section of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce. These witnesses have 

 based their opposition to the Bill : ( 1 ) on the grounds 

 of the injury to their trade at home, and to those 

 engaged in it, as well as to their business as dis- 

 tributors to foreign markets; (2) on the assertion 

 that there is no risk of the extermination of rare 

 birds under the conditions at present existing ; 

 (3) on the allegation that legislation in Great 

 Britain without the co-operation of foreign Govern- 

 ments and of the Colonies would not effect the 

 object desired. They have further asserted that 

 large numbers of the feathers of Egrets which are 

 imported are moulted plumes, and that their col- 

 lection does not involve the destruction of the 

 birds. The Committee have given careful considera- 

 tion to these arguments. 



3. Upon the first point raised, the Committee 

 see no reason to suppose that the exclusion from 

 the market of the plumage of rare birds would 

 materially affect the feather trade of the country 

 as a whole. The great bulk of the imports in that 

 branch of commerce consists of feathers of the 

 ostrich and other birds which are exempted under 

 the Bill, and the feathers which would be excluded 

 are of relatively small value. Any reduction, 

 therefore, in the importation of feathers of birds 

 protected by the Bill, would, in the opinion of the 

 Committee, be counterbalanced, or so far as em- 

 ployment in this country is concerned more than 



