and stated that they had been ordered some months before from 
the firm of Wheldon & Wesley. He received a reply that the 
Society had had so much difficulty in obtaining remittances 
from this firm that they would no longer honor orders from them 
except when accompanied by cash. 
Complaints of this firm as agents for the International 
Exchanges have not been so serious, but there have been a number 
of occasions when inordinate delay in the delivery of packages 
has oocurred. In some instances it did not appear clearly that 
the fault was entirely Wheldon & Wesley’s, but on a more recent 
occasion, when complaint was made of non-receipt of a package, 
the excuse was given that the package ftad lain in the agents' 
hands in London undelivered for three weeks, owing to the ill¬ 
ness of the clerk who had charge of this part of the business. 
Altogether, I am afraid that we are up against the ne¬ 
cessity of placing the Smithsonian agency, both for the 
Institution and the International Exchange Bureau, in other 
hands, notwithstanding the fact that the firm of William Wesley 
&. Son and its successors, Wheldon & Wesley, have been our agents 
for over sixty years. 
Will you not, therefore, while you are in London make 
inquiries among those who might know something of the circum¬ 
stances of the firm of Wheldon & Wesley, and also regarding 
some desirable bookseller or other house that is in a position 
to carry on our work, both of the Institution and the Exchanges, 
in a satisfactory manner? As you probably know, Wheldon & 
Wesley have the exclusive sale of the publications of the 
