SALE OF DWARF CHILDREN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 23

SALE OF DWARF CHILDREN.

FOR STAGE AND CAFES. Though the very high percentage o£ dwarfs in the Hungarian counties of Borsid, Abauj, and Zemplen is due to natural causes, the dwarf dealers of the Middle Ages are curiously recalled by the steady export of dwarfs of both sexes from that area. Three clever dwarfs, two boys and a girl, were engaged by a theatrical agent at Szimai for three years, their parents receiving a large sum for signing the con-' tract. Their arrival in Germany created such a demand that other agents are now touring that part of Hungary in search of similar "talent." More than 20 children have already been found and sent to Cologne and Mannheim, the chief centres in Germany of the dwarf business. They do not all go npon tbe stage. Many are used in cafes as mirth-provokers, and there is an increasing demand by private employers. A section of public opinion in Hungary is opposed to this export of dwarfs, but the poverty in the district where dwarfs abound la bo acute that it is clearly in the interests of the dwarfs to be well maintained abroad, and that of their parent*, who receive welcome funds for letting them go on their travels. The' Minister of the Interior, therefore, declines to interfere, though the police watch carefully every "deal."