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respect of the second or any subsequent offence, and the Court before whom he is convicted may order the forfeiture or destruction of any plumage in respect of which the offence has been committed. 2. (1.) The following plumage is excepted from the prohibition on importation under this Act :— (a.) The plumage of birds for the time being included in the Schedule to this Act : (b.) The plumage of birds imported alive : (c.) The plumage of birds imported under a license granted under this Act for the purpose of supplying specimens for any natural history or other museum, or for the purpose of scientific research : (d.) The plumage of wild birds ordinarily used as articles of diet and imported for that purpose. (2.) His Majesty may by Order in Council from time to time add the name of any bird to the Schedule to this Act or remove the name of any bird from that Schedule. (3.) The Board of Trade may grant a license under such conditions and regulations as they think fit to any person to import specimens of birds for any natural history or other museum, or for the purpose of scientific research. (4.) Any importer claiming an exemption under this section for any plumage on the ground that it is to be put to a certain use shall deliver to an officer of Customs and Excise, if required by any such officer, on importation a written declaration of the purpose for which it is imported. 3. Where the Court is satisfied in any proceedings under this Act that any plumage is the plumage of a bird which is never or rarely found alive in. a wild state in the United Kingdom the plumage shall be deemed to be imported in contravention of this Act unless the contrary is proved. 4. In this Act— Hie expression " plumage " includes the skin or body of a bird with the plumage on it: The expression " sell " includes exchange and let out on hire : The expression " importer " has the same meaning as in the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876. 5. This Act may be cited as the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 1914, and shall come into operation on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifteen. SCHEDULE. Ostriches. Eider ducks.
No. 9. New Zealand, No. 101. My Lord, — Downing Street, 3rd March, 1914. I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, the paper noted below on the subject of the importation of sheep for breeding purposes into the Argentine Republic. I have, &c, L. HARCOURT. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.
Enclosure. Sir, — Buenos Aires, 27th January, 1914. In continuation of my despatch, No. 32, of this day's date, I have the honour to report that La Nacion states, apropos of the questions which some cattle-breeders and sheep-farmers are making for keeping the Argentine ports closed to live-stock from England on the one hand, and which others are making for the early opening of the ports on the other, that their reporter has obtained statistics as to the number of sheep imported for breeding purposes during the years 1909-13, inclusive, in order to ascertain whether there is any urgent necessity for the importation of new blood. Sheep, as you are already aware, deteriorate more quickly in this Republic than cattle, and a constant influx of new blood is, in the opinion of most sheep-farmers, a sine qua non for keeping their flocks up to the high standard which they have now obtained. The information, the paper states, has been afforded by the Argentine Cattle Department, and it proves, the writer says, that as last year 2,699 sheep were imported, of which 2,463 came from the United Kingdom, there is no urgent need to import fresh stock at the present moment.
Date. 27th January, 1914 Description. From H. M. Minister at Buenos Aires.