THE JEWISH SYSTEM OF SLAUGHTERING. A deputation from the Humanitarian League was received on April 8th by the Jewish Board of Shecheta, Sir Samuel Montagu, M.P., in the chair, on the subject of the Jewish method of slaughtering. Mr. Ernest Bell and Mr. C. W. Forward, on behalf of the Humanitarian League, having explained that the particular feature of the Jewish system to which exception was taken was the process of "casting." the Chairman of the Board and Dr. Adler, the Chief Rabbi, gave an emphatic assurance of the wish of the Jewish authorities to do all that is possible to lessen the suffering inflicted, and stated that the Board was even now engaged in trying to discover an apparatus by which the method of "casting might be improved. Mr. H. S. Salt, the hon. secretary of the League, was also a member of the deputation.

*

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. A WARNING.

This building, now completed on the Thames Embankment, near Chelsea, was originally intended to be a Pasteur Institute for England. The opposition to such an Inferno of the innocent and unprotected animals, as this threatened to be, has been so great that the promoters propose to alter the title, and to

call it the "Jenner Institute." They have resolved to raise a fund to increase the existing endowment of £700 per annum, as a sort of national memorial to Jenner in celebration of his discovery of vaccination. We hereby warn our readers to have nothing to do with any such scheme; the name only is changed, not the purpose. Therefore, remember not to subscribe a penny to this Jenner memorial, and dissuade your friends from subscribing.

A correspondent who read in the Star about robins nesting in a greenhouse at Dover writes :A pair of robins for some time past have had their nest in a small hole in the wall of the smith's workshop of Mr. Bona, the steam launch bui'der, of Caversham, and five eggs are daily expected to be hatched. There is a forge, anvil, etc., daily in use, but the noise, smoke, sparks, smell of hot oil, and the bustle of the men continually in and out disturb not this happy couple. They fly in and out a broken window left for their benefit, and I may say the men are proud of their company.-Star, April 12th.

A FAITHFUL NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.

A remarkable incident was witnessed in South Lambeth Road, London, on the morning of April 15th. An elderly gentleman arriving from Vauxhall Station fell down in a fit, and a crowd of people soon collected. A Newfoundland dog, belonging to the gentleman, however, kept them at a distance from him, thereby promoting his recovery by the admission of air, and immediately took possession of his master's handbag containing a large sum of money and some valuable papers. The gentleman, on recovering, informed some of the crowd that the dog, about two years since, saved his master's life at Ramsgate, when he fell into the harbour, and, but for the exertions of his dog, would have been drowned.

"The bound volume of the Animals' Friend is an interesting and beautifully illustrated book. Mr. S. G. Trist, the editor, has made the illustrations a special feature of his magazine, and has added thereby a great deal to its attractiveness. Some of the photographs sent in for competition, which are reproduced in the bound volume for 1896, make exceedingly pretty animal groups. The Animals' Friend is a

penny monthly magazine which endeavours to promote the just and merciful treatment of animals. It takes as its motto Ruskin's saying: 'He who is not actively kind is cruel.' The articles are brightly written and admirably suited to further the cause which the magazine was founded to promote."-Daily News (London), April 15th.

W. Lisle B. Coulson, Miss Edith Ward, Mr. W. Scott-Scott (Secretary of the Horse Accident Prevention Society), Mr. M. L. Breslar, and others. The subjects of discussion will be:-(1) Flogging and Overloading.-A resolution will be moved to the effect that the Police should be instructed to act on their own initiative and with more vigour, in cases of cruelty in the streets. (2) Street Paving.-A resolution asking the Vestries not to lay down asphalt pavements. (3) Cruelties of Fashion-A resolution condemning the Bearing-Rein and the practice of Docking Horses.-As it is agreed on all hands that the present treatment of horses is far from satisfactory, it is hoped that some definite conclusions may be arrived at which may lead to practical reforms. Suggestions and co-operation from all interested in the subject are invited.

THE HUMANE NEEDLEWORK SOCIETY. This is an organization for the benefit of the poor and the protection of horses. Pation, Sir Herbert Perrott, Bart. Committee, Mrs. Fredk. Clarke, Miss Beatrice Brettingham, Mrs. Henry Goschen, Mrs. Sant, Mrs. Islay Young. Hon. Treasurer and Sec., Mrs. Mount Batten. Rules :

1. The contribution of each Member shall be either four new garments suitable for poor people, or 2/6 in cash.

2.-The Hon. Sec. earnestly hopes that all contributions will be sent her before the month of October in each year. Parcels of clothing must contain the name and address of the contributor, and be prepaid. 3.—The clothing will be distributed amongst the poorest districts of London, and be sold to the poor at a nominal cost. The proceeds of Sales and Subscriptions of this Society will be handed to the Secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who has guaranteed that it shall be specially applied to the prosecution of persons illtreating horses.

Any one wishing to join the Humane Needlework Society is requested to send name and address toMRS. MOUNT BATTEN, Mornington Lodge, West Kensington.

Chairman Why do you keep the dog if you can't afford it?-Defendant: 'Cos I love the dorg, and that's more than some of you do on this bench. I picked the dorg up on the road when it was 'ungry, and I'll stick to it. I love it, and pawned my coat for it, and you can fine me £1 or £2; it makes no difference. The Chairman: You will have to pay ten shillings and costs, or go to prison.-Defendant: Then I'll go to prison, for I ain't got the money, and I love that 'ere dorg.-And Saunders went to gaol for seven days. The reporting of the above facts in the Press caused many persons, who appreciated the man's devotion, to send money to pay the fine, and a day or two later Saunders was released.

THE London County Council, in the person of the Chief Officer of the Parks Department, has made a very wise and humane move in issuing the following circular. The effect was very apparent during the Easter holidays, and we hope our readers will draw attention to the circular in their own neighbourhoods where donkey riding is practised. "I have to inform you that the Parks Committee has had under consideration charges of cruelty to horses, ponies, and donkeys at Bank Holiday time in the way of allowing them to be ridden too fast, and generally ill-used in the way of beating and improper riding. I have therefore to give you notice that any case which is brought to the knowledge of the Parks Committee in which the owner of an animal holding a licence from the Council shall have been guilty of cruelty himself, or allowed others, whether in his employ or not, to act with cruelty to his animals, his licence will be summarily withdrawn, and never again renewed. In future it will also be necessary to provide proper rest in the middle of the day, and water and food for all animals let out under a licence from the Council."

N°

O person with any sympathy for animals can walk through the busy streets of London for even a few minutes without having his feelings harassed by the continual, unnecessary cruelty to which the horses are subjected at every turn. Perhaps the most painful and aggravating is the senseless manner in which the thoughtless and impatient young drivers of hansom cabs-many of whom ought never to hold a licenceperpetually slash their unoffending horses. We pursued one the other day all up Long Acre, who, without a fare, amused himself in ill-temper by alternately lashing his horse into a canter, and then jerking it up suddenly with an entire absence of any meaning or object. Another cause of offence is the habitual overloading of waggons and carts. Loads which on level ground are not too much, immediately become so on an incline, and give rise to those painful struggles with which we are all so familiar. A third fruitful cause of suffering is the defective and ununiform nature of the street paving. In

some parts, within a few hundred

yards the paving will

change

66

horse and resulting in frequent falls, to say nothing of the constant and unnecessary strain involved. A fourth abuse of constant occurrence is the senseless use of the bearing-rein, whether on carriage horses attending the Queen's drawingroom or on the willing cart horse who, left free, could easily draw the load which, when he is thus fettered, becomes a painful burden to him.

Can these evils be remedied? and if so in what way? were the questions proposed for discussion by the Humanitarian League at their recent meeting at St. Martin's Hall. That they can in great measure be remedied is undoubted, and the remedy is simple enough. The question of paving rests, of course, with the Vestries, and there is quite sufficient evidence now as to the respective merits of different methods. We hope the recommendations of the Horse Accident Prevention Society and the Humanitarian League will have some effect in bringing about more uniformity, and will result in the entire discontinuance of asphalte, which, in any but perfect weather, is most treacherous and dangerous. The other

matters are almost entirely in the hands of the police, and rest with the Chief Commissioner.

Though much of the cruelty com

plained of is not punishable by our law, a good deal of it is so, and if the police were instructed to interfere in all cases where there was any approach to cruelty, that fact alone would have an enormous effect on the transgressors, and would raise the standard of public opinion. That there are facts to substantiate this opinion was evidenced at the meeting by the applause given when the Commissioner of the City Police was mentioned, the difference of the treatment of the horses within the City and outside that area being very marked.

man

What may be achieved by one was shown some few years since in the case of Police-constable Hampshire, who had a record of one hundred cases of cruelty brought into Court. As some of our readers may remember, a testimonial was presented to him in recognition of his unique work by the Baroness Burdett Coutts at a meeting called for the purpose at a private house in St. John's Wood. Sir Edmund Henderson, ex-Commissioner of Police, was present on the occasion, but the reward was the result of private

T

enterprise, and not in any way an official recognition of the constable's services. Hampshire was, of course, an exceptional man, with a genuine love of animals, and we could not expect all to be equally efficient, but there can be no doubt that great good would be done if only the police were definitely instructed that the treatment of the horses, as well as the regulation of the traffic, would in future be regarded as one of their duties. In the meantime we recommend our readers (1) To write to the Chief Commissioner of Police, Scotland Yard, whenever they see cases of cruelty in which the police might intervene but do not; (2) Always in taking a cab-especially if a hansom-to tell the driver before starting that they do not wish the horse to be slashed the whole way; (3) To write to the Anti-bearingrein Association for a list of the coal merchants who have discarded the rein and to employ one of them, and to speak to their tradespeople who use the bearingrein; (4) To interest in the paving question any friends they may have on the Vestries.

HERE is no form of cruelty upheld by fashion and tolerated by public opinion which is so utterly opposed to common sense as the use of the tight bearingrein. To the American who remembers how Englishmen pride themselves on their horsey knowledge, and to the Continental who has reason to know how John Bull plumes himself on his superior humanity, the spectacle of combined cruelty and imbecility exhibited by the owners and drivers of nine-tenths of the London carriage horses is one which justifies them in something stronger than a smile of contempt.

The primary and most important objection to the tight bearing rein is that it is an immediate cause of pain and irritation to the horse. It needs no specialist's evidence to prove the truth of the assertion, since every Londoner must be only too familiar with the sight of rows of chaffed and irritated horses, to be seen in the neighbourhood of every fashionable resort or shopping centre. The incessant tossing of heads and fidgetting with lips are the sufferers' methods of indicating the pain and discomfort they suffer from the unnatural and cramped position in which the bearing-reins compel them to keep their necks. The frothspattered chest and harness, the backwardturned ears, the impatient stamping sufficient evidence to even an untrained eye, and the dull dejection of older or less highly bred individuals is not less expressive to the sympathetic observer. Even bleeding mouths

are

may be sometimes seen. And the tongue on examination is not infrequently found injured and the corners of the mouth excoriated and cut by the action of a severe form of bit under pressure of the bearing rein.

Add to this the irritability of the person on the box who vents his own impatience of long waits, in sultry heat or bitter cold, by vicious cuts over head and ears with a rubber-tipped thong, and it is only too easy to realize that the life of a London carriage horse is often anything but a happy one.

But the evidence of our senses is abundantly confirmed by the veterinary authorities, who tell us that diseases of the respiratory organs (amongst them that which induces the defect known as "roaring "), of the heart, of the throat, and of the head, are often induced or accentuated by the tight bearing-rein. The R.S.P.C.A. has published a pamphlet containing the names of 570 veterinary surgeons who signed a protest against the tight bearing-rein (many of whom added to their names strong condemnatory letters), and no doubt the list might be much extended. Permanent injury is thus added to present suffering, and owners are not only guilty of cruelty but of the folly of lessening the value of their property by not forbidding the use of the bearing-rein.

The next important objection to the rein is that it prevents the horse from utilizing his weight in his work. By all the laws of mechanics scientific adjustment of weight is a great factor in the doing of work, and Nature