PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O._885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
25140
No. 5.
COLONIAL OFFICE to BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. Downing Street, 15 August, 1912. SIR..
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, to be laid before the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, a copy of a report* which has been submitted to him by an Inter-Departmental Conference on the destruction of plumage birds which was appointed by the Marquess of Crewe while Secretary of State for the Colonies, together with a copy of a lettert which has been addressed to the Foreign Office on the subject.
It will be observed that it is desired that the evidence given before the Conference should be regarded as confidential.
Similar letters have been addressed to the Home Office and the Board of Trade.
I am, &c.,
31918
HENRY LAMBERT,
No. 6.
for the Under-Secretary of State.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 10 October, 1912.)
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, by direction of the Secretary of State, transmits herewith copies of correspondence with His Majesty's Ambassador, Paris, respecting the restriction of traffic in plumage: proposed International Con- ference.
Reference to previous letter: From Colonial Office, August 15 (25140/1912).§ Foreign Office,
October 9, 1912.
(Similar letter sent to India Office, Home Office, Board of Trade, Board of Agriculture.)
(No. 93. Commercial.) SIR,
Enclosure 1 in No. 6.
15
Paris, March 12th, 1912. WITH reference to my despatch, No. 173, Commercial, of May 31st, 1909, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, extracted from the " Journal Officiel of to-day's date, copy of a statement made by the Minister of Commerce in reply to a question put to him in the Chamber of Deputies on the subject of proposed legis- lation for prohibiting the trade in skins and feathers of wild birds.
The Minister of Commerce stated that the French Government had intimated to the British Government that they had no intention of establishing such a prohibition, in view of the serious effects which it would have on a French industry employing at least 50,000 persons, and involving a business worth more than a hundred million francs.
The Right Honourable
Sir Edward Grey, Bart., K.G., M.P.,
&c.,
&c.,
&c.
I have, &c.,
(For the Ambassador),
L. D. CARNEGIE.
• No. 1.
† 19812: not printed.
Miscellaneous No. 263.
§ No. 4.
9
RÉPONSE DE MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE DU COMMERCE ET DE L'INDUSTRIE À LA QUESTION No. 1,571, POSÉE PAR MONSIEUR FAILLIOT, DÉPUTÉ, LE 29 FÉVRIER, 1912. Monsieur Failliot, député, demande à Monsieur le ministre du commerce et de l'industrie si le Gouvernement serait disposé à faire une déclaration aux termes de laquelle il serait dit que le Gouvernement français n'a nullement l'intention de déposer et d'appuyer aucun projet de loi qui aurait pour effet d'établir en France un régime (analogue à celui qui est proposé en Angleterre) de prohibition sur les oiseaux et plumages nécessaires à l'industrie des plumes pour modes ou parures, qui occupe à Paris seul un personnel de plus de 50,000 employés et ouvriers des deux
sexes.
RÉPONSE.
A la suite du dépôt à la Chambre des Communes d'un projet de bill édictant l'interdiction du commerce des plumes et plumages de certains oiseaux sauvages, interdiction qui, si elle était définitivement admise, aurait une fâcheuse répercussion sur le chiffre des échanges commerciaux entre l'Angleterre et la France, le Gouverne- ment français, qui avait été représenté comme ayant l'intention d'instituer un régime semblable, a eu l'occasion de faire savoir au gouvernement anglais qu'il n'avait pas de motif légitime de donner son adhésion à une proposition établissant en France une telle prohibition qui aurait pour conséquence de porter une grave atteinte à des industries faisant vivre une population ouvrière française d'au moins 50,000 personnes et provoquant plus de 100 millions d'affaires.
SIR,
(No. 242. Commercial.)
Enclosure 2 in No. 6.
Foreign Office, October 7th, 1912. IN Your Excellency's despatch, No. 173, Commercial, of the 31st May, 1909, you informed me that the French Government were unwilling to take part in an International Conference which His Majesty's Government had proposed to convoke in order to consider the question of restricting the traffic in the plumage and skins of certain wild birds.
The replies received from other Governments invited to the Conference at that time were by no means unfavourable to the proposals of His Majesty's Government. The Governments of Belgium, Holland, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Servia, Siam, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States expressed their readiness to be repre- sented at a conference with a view to a convention being drawn up. The Govern- ments of Colombia, Egypt, Norway, Panama, and Sweden sympathised with the objects of the proposals, whilst the Governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary suggested that the protection of plumage birds should be provided for by extending the scope of a convention drawn up between certain States at Paris in 1902 for protecting birds useful to agriculture. For reasons of domestic policy, His Majesty's Government have never acceded to that convention, and do not desire to do so now, so that the proposal of the German and Austro-Hungarian Governments would, from the point of view of His Majesty's Government, not provide a solution of the difficulty. The Government of Italy alleged that they had no interest in the question, whilst, of all the Governments invited to participate in a conference, those of France, Denmark, and Greece alone refused.
It was at that time understood that the larger part of the trade in the plumage and skins of wild birds was centred in France, and His Majesty's Government did not consider it practicable to proceed with the idea of a conference in the face of the reluctance of the French Government to take part, but, subsequently, in January, 1910, the Marquess of Crewe, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, had his attention drawn to the constant destruction of wild birds for the sake of their plumage, and, as a result, appointed a committee consisting of representatives of the Colonial Office, India Office, Board of Trade, and the Trustees of the Natural History Museum to consider how far it might be possible to restrict the demand for plumage by legislation in this country and the Colonies, or by international agreement.
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