HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
51 
Monkeys are very dear at the present time. 
The Government now pay £3 10s. to ^,'4 ap'ece 
for the kind I was able to supply for 40/- before 
their importation was restricted. They are not 
menagerie animals at all. They are used in the 
pathological laboratories for experimental pur- 
poses and have been extremely useful to the 
Army medical authorities during the present 
war." 
If Mr. Basil Peto had enquired, he could have 
had the same information. The House would then 
have been spared his wit and humour. 
Some hundred other cuttings from news- 
papers all over Great Britain have reached here. 
They all take it in a friendly sporting spirit, shew- 
ing no animus whatever. There is one exception. 
"The Daily Sketch"— "The Man in the Street"— 
has repeatedly shewn great animus and also the 
greatest ignorance a supposed intelligent writer 
could shew. If all his other writings contain 
the same amount of truth as the article on " Space" 
reproduced here, then they are a series of " Enter- 
tertaining Falsehoods." 
Might I ask "The Man in the Street" why- 
he wrote on a jnatter of which he shews the 
greatest ignorance? He asks "What kind of 
space exists on board ship which," etc., etc. (see 
his precious enlightened article). Why deck 
space? Go down to the pierhead of the Tilbury 
Dock, the Royal Albert Dock, and see the Eastern 
steamships arrive. The decks are absolutely clear. 
Live stock is always carried on deck at shippers' 
risk. No other cargo could ever be carried there 
(see letters from Steamship Owners below). 
Another writer in "The Daily Sketch" also 
attacks. This is "Mr. Gossip." He compares a 
widow of an English Colonel with "Goumba," our 
pet chimpanzee. His complaint is that the lady 
cannot obtain a passport to travel to America. All 
honour to the Passport Department for refusing 
the passport. Has "Mr. Gossip" travelled by 
water during this war time? Is "Mr. Gossip" 
aware that I have made four voyages out, four 
home, during the submarine dangers? My ex- 
perience on all these voyages have been that the 
woman traveller is an unmitigated nuisance, and 
should be kept at home. During my voyage home 
from New York in July last the lady passengers 
were in a continual state of panic and an annoy- 
ance to everybody on board. I want my readers 
to understand that a "nervy" female will upset a 
voyage. I tirust the Passport Department will 
absolutely refuse passports to all females. 
In conclusion, I assure my readers that busi- 
ness will be carried on as usual. I trust that the 
above general remarks will all be taken in good 
part. I have no wish to offend anyone's feelings. 
I do, however, insist upon being allowed to carry 
on a business which has been honourably and 
successfully carried on for over forty years. 
It is the only business of its kind in Great 
Britain to-day, and, Readers, I am verv proud of 
that fact. 
Appended are various cuttings appertaining 
to the above articles. , 
"DAILY SKETCH."— "MR. GOSSIP." 
October 31st, 1917. 
Monkeys as Usual. — I quite agree that the 
menagerie industry should not be allowed to die 
out, but in these days of shortage of tonnage it is 
curious to read in "Hamlyn's Menagerie Maga- 
zine" that there are about to arrive from Calcutta 
in "The City of Edinburgh" 600 Rhesus monkeys, 
3' tigers, 5 leopards, 1 Indian lyng, 1 fishing cat, 
2 birds of paradise, 200 avadavats, 5 Indian horn- 
bills, and 7 barbets. 
A Contrast. — I know the widow of an English 
colonel, killed in France, who wishes to live with 
her brother in Chicago. She cannot get a pass- 
port to America. Yet one, or something like one, 
was granted to (I quote from the same journal) 
" 'Goumba' a magnificent specimen of the Congo 
chimpanzee. Runs loose, sews, and smokes the 
best cigarettes with any of her sek." Incidentally 
Mr. Hamlyn informs prospective purchasers that 
"Goumba" will cost five pounds weekly for keep. 
Do They Help the War? — What use are mon- 
keys in winning the war? If we were adding wild 
monkeys to something lingering with boiling oil 
in it for the Hun, I would say import 'em in mil- 
lions. 
"DAILY SKETCH." 
"THE MAN IN THE STREET," Nov. 10th, '17. 
SPACE, 
Let us try to be cheerful. Russia is revolv- 
ing again. We are going to make a present of 
Palestine to the Jews- Mr. Prothero says the 
British food-hog is a "cur" or a "curse" — the 
reporters don't seem quite sure which. And in 
the House of Commons — same old House of Com- 
mons, Westminster, S.W.I. — the attention of the 
President of the Board of Trade has been called 
to the "expected arrival from Calcutta" of 600 
monkeys, three tigers, two birds of paradise, 200 
avadavats (sensation among the lawyers !), and 
one fishing cat — not "rod," mind you — "cat." 
Mr. Peto, who backed up these tidings as to 
to Jacko and the rest of the menagerie with the 
suggestion that 600 monkeys would be "sufficient 
to fill the whole of this House," is neither a wit 
nor a wag, but just a plain ^400 a year M.P., 
doing his best for his constituents, and presuma- 
bly for the country in war-time. His anxiety 
