78 HAMLYN’S MEN: 
GERIE MAGAZINE. 
A lady in the Committee got up and said, 
“Because horses are taught to step high by putt- 
ing them on hot plates.’’ Another sala that “ Per- 
forming dogs are hung by their hind legs and 
left so.” Another said that “dogs barked when 
let out to perform which prov ed that they were 
iin agony,” and the Chairman clinched the matter 
by saying that “If cavalry Colonels opposed the 
passing of an Act for horse training to be made 
illegal, so much the worse for the Cilonels, we 
will go on.” 
Of course, there was no use arguing with 
such people, but I think it best to warn circus 
proprietors to be on their guard; there may be a 
raid on their animals to prove (?) cruel methods 
of training and to have their animals taken from 
them. 
WALTER WINANS. 
The following appeared in “The World’s 
ain 7: 
Sir,—The need for some organisation for 
animal trainers to counteract the workings of 
people who would stop all animal performances 
is urgently required at once. 
Mr, Walter Winans’ letter on the subject is 
a serious warning to every British subject that 
performs animals and keeps horses, etc., whether 
music-hall artiste, circus artiste, or animal train- 
er, and all people with horses, dogs, and other 
agnimals that have to earn a living by same should 
combine and start a federation to help to combat 
this surely serious menace. 
There are such gentlemen as Mr. E. H. Bos- 
tock (Glasgow), Mr. Hengler (Hengler’s Circus, 
Glasgow), Messrs. John Sanger and Sons (Circus, 
Horley), David Taylor (Circus, Worcester), John 
Swalolw (Circus, Wolverhampton), Robert Fos- 
sett and Sons (Tiffield Lodge, Towcester, Surrey), 
Claude Ginnett (Circus, Chobham), Frank Bos- 
tock (Circus, Chertsey), and Fred Ginnett (Lon- 
don), and quite a score of other small circuses 
and mjenageries throughout the British Isles, 
then the animal dealers are numerous, and animal 
performers with acts on the variety stage, cir- 
cus and summer resorts, etc., would if formed in- 
to a federation be strong enough to enable them 
to stop the scandalous libels that appear from 
time to time in the newspapers upon the above 
subject. I enclose a paragraph from “John Bull,” 
entitled “Candid Communications.” This page 
devoted to open letters to Celebrities, Notorieties, 
and occasionally Nonentities, is to Sir Oswald 
Stoll and reads as follows :— 
Dear Sir Oswald,—I know you are a 
humane man anda lover of animals. Know- — 
ing this, I do wish you would take the lead 
in putting an end to animal performances, 
which too often not only discredit the music-— 
hall stage, but also encourage the infliction 
of cruelty by callous men and women, aliens 
perhaps in the main, on all kinds of animals. 
During many years I have frequently drawn 
public attention to this matter, for the eyi- 
dence available leaves no doubt whatever 
in my mind that these performances, however 
clever they may appear, are made possible 
only by a preliminary course of cruelty in 
training. Appearances in_ these shocking 
shows go for nothing. The ‘‘cleverness” in 
the performance is the concealment of the 
cruelty; the applause of an aodience when it 
is accorded is at best the reward of the con- 
cealment. There are few of these shows 
which should not be hissed off the stage, and 
I am shocked and ashamed that the known 
humanity of the British public as a whole 
has tolerated them so long.—JOHN BULL. 
Now animal performers, circus people, ani- 
mal dealers, and all persons that, have to keep 
horses and animals get to work and let us stop 
this kind of thing, or these meddlesome creatures 
will close us up and ruin our business. 
Yours, ete., 
FRANK STEPHENSON: 
Sandringham Hotel, 
Pelham Place, Hastings. 
——-&——_ 
Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club. 
“ HUNTING THE BIRD OF PARADISE.” 
Before a crowded audience Mr. C. B. Hors- 
brugh delivered a lecture entitled “ Hunting for 
the Living Bird of Paradise in British New 
Guinea” in the Museum, College Square North. 
Mr. Horsbrugh, in a very racy style and with 
the aid of a unique series of lantern slides, gave 
a description of his travels in this almost unknown 
island. He was commissioned by the London 
Zoological Society and Sir William Ingram, Bt., 
to make the expedition, and so successful were © 
his efforts that he was able to deliver to the Lon- | 
don Zoo a collection of living birds of paradise, — 
some varieties of which had never before reached — 
Europe alive. The country through which the 
lecturer travelled was lucidly described, as also 
were the habits and customs of the natives. 
