CATS 



cats upon any establishment would be considerable ; but 

 this is also the case with many other taxes — income tax, 

 to wit ; but in the main most of the difficulty would be 

 with lodgers, as doubtless in a house let out in tenements 

 a cat would most likely be found in every room. The 

 occupiers doubtless in many cases would deny its owner- 

 ship. In such case the cat must be seized, and the 

 owner, if it had one, must claim the animal within a 

 given time, or it would be destroyed. This would soon 

 settle the right of cat-keeping. Cat-keeping has in some 

 instances been carried to such an extent, that persons 

 fond of them have been found with twenty or thirty in 

 the same room or house, to the great discomfort of the 

 neighbourhood. Such dens would be got rid of if such a 

 tax were introduced. 



One of the very common practices in cat-keeping is to 

 save two or three of the kittens from every litter. These 

 poor things are reared until they become a trouble in the 

 house of their birth ; it seems then cruel to destroy them, 

 so they are generally taken some distance, and turned 

 adrift to shift for themselves. They soon become alarmed 

 and wild, and are frequently hunted by dogs, boys, and 

 every one who raises a cry of strange cat. The poor 

 wretch, half-starved, is at last killed in a very brutal 

 manner, and probably the culprit arrested by the nearest 

 beadle or constable of the Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals, taken before a magistrate, and 

 sentenced to one or two months' imprisonment for cruelty 

 to the animal. 



This part of the subject requires special attention, for 

 the old saying that " a cat has nine lives," is founded upon 

 ancient and well-authenticated authority, and it would 

 be well if some of the officers and others who undertake 

 to judge of this matter, would take the trouble to 



127 



