The Plumage Bill

Abstract

I HAVE read with much interest Sir Harry Johnston's article in NATURE of December 11 (p. 428) on the Plumage Bill proposed to be introduced next session into Parliament. I agree in the main with him that the Bill does not give as much satisfaction as was hoped for to “root and branch reformers,” for it exempts from supervision personal clothing worn or imported by individuals entering this country from abroad. Consequently a woman resolved to have headdresses and robes of forbidden plumage has only to purchase such abroad and stick it into her apparel or her hat and she passes our Customs houses unchallenged.