M.P.'S STORY OF A CAT AND OF CHILDREN WHO WERE SICK IN SCHOOL WHEN PUSSY WAS VIVISECTED Daily Mirror, 13th November 1930
Mr John Bromley, Socialist M.P. for Barrow-in-Furness, will ask the Home Secretary in the Hose of Commons:- "If he will make further inquiries into the case of vivisection of a cat in Haverthwaite School, with the view of ascertaining the circumstances; and if he is aware that the cat was taken to this school alive in a bag by two of the boys and there chloroformed and dissected, and that some children were sick during this science lesson."

THE HAVERTHWAITE CAT. ANOTHER QUESTION IN THE COMMONS. Lancashire Evening Post, 18th November 1930
Mr Bromley (Labour, Barrow-in-Furness) asked the Home Secretary if he would make further inquiries into the case of vivisection of a cat in Haverthwaite School, with the view of ascertaining that the cat was taken to this school alive in a bag by two of the boys and there chloroformed and dissected, and that some children were sick during the science lesson. Mr Short, Under-Secretary, replied: A report has been received from the inspector who investigated the case. It is not stated whether the cat was killed on the school premises or not, but this point is of no importance. With regard to the question of vivisection, which is the only aspect which the Home Secretary has any authority to deal with, the animal was painlessly killed one day and its body was dissected the next. This is not vivisection; it is entirely outside the Act, and the Home Secretary has no jurisdiction in the matter.

A CATS' CLUB. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 25th November 1930
Many authors notably Mr. Compton Mackenzie and Mr. Algernon Blackwood are fond of cats. Now Mr. Michael Joseph, the literary agent, proposes to found a Cats' Club with the aim of securing for cats "a better social and legal status." He feels that hitherto the cat has been unfairly overshadowed in public esteem by the dog, who is more demonstrative, but who - in Mr. Joseph's opinion has much less genuine individuality. Exactly what Mr. Joseph proposes to do for cats, however, is rather obscure. The club is to have a magazine, but the cats will not get much pleasure out of that; and the club itself may make no overpowering appeal to animals so essentially solitary in habit. Possibly the club will act mainly as a propagandist agency from which leaflets, with some such slogan as "Larger saucers," will be showered on cat-owners in town and country. At any rate, Mr. Joseph is wise in setting his face firmly against licences for cats. Some cat-lovers favour this idea because they think it would give their pets a more dignified social position. Mr. Joseph realises that taxed cats would be at once exposed to those tragedies which overtake very many dogs when licences fall due for renewal during the first week of every New Year.

THE STATUS OF CATS. Yorkshire Evening Post, 25th November 1930
Byron once described society as a polished horde, formed of two classes bores, and bored. That is only one of the many attempts that have been made to dichotomise mankind and womankind, too, for that matter. are all at least in America "Wets" or "Drys." According to W. S. Gilbert, every baby born into the world alive "is either a little Liberal, or else a little Conservative." Or we may divide humanity into two portions saying that every one of us is either lover of cats or a lover of dogs. The dog is pre-eminently man's friend, while women adore cats. Some cynics say that that is due to affinity of nature; but against that theory we must set the fact that women, in their nature, are growing distinctly less "catty." And that, in its turn, does not mean that cats are growing less popular. In fact, London is thinking of founding a Cats' Club in order to give cats "a better social and legal status." From the point of view of the cat-lover, the cat's legal status undoubtedly leaves something be desired. The cat, we believe, is still, in the eyes of the law, a wild animal, even though it may called Felis domesticus. Apparently, if the legal status is raised, we shall be responsible when our cat scratches as well as when our dog bites. As for the social status of cats, we feel that that depends on no Club, but on the cat alone. You cannot get higher than the highest; and the aristocratic demeanour of some cats is so unsurpassed in haughty aloofness that surely the force of nature can no farther go. Man makes friends with a dog: the cat occasionally deigns to make friends with man. He is, and ever will "The Cat that Walked by Himself."

MAKE YOUR CAT HAPPY. DIET AFFECTS HEALTH. FRESH AIR IS VITAL Lincolnshire Echo, 15th January 1931
"How beautiful your cat is! He ought to win a prize at a Cat Show!" This remark is often made to the owners of beautiful cats, but many people do not know that at practically all cat championships and shows held during the winter months there are a number of classes for "household pets" and that cats entered in these sections do not require to be registered with the "Governing Council of the Cat Fancy," as all proud pedigree cats must be.

Whether you want to exhibit your cat or not, it is always worthwhile taking a little thought over its health and happiness, for a happy cat is rather a joyful thing to have about the house, and though, when you come to think about it, a cat is extraordinarily clean and fastidious in its personal habits, like other members of the household, It does require a certain amount of care and supervision. Cats, particularly the long-haired variety, should be kept very clean and well-brushed, their bedding of straw or newspaper in a box or basket should also be kept scrupulously clean, for worms, canker of the ears, and general loss of condition can often be traced to a lack of this attention. Let it sleep indoors at night-time, in a warm place out of the draught, but in the day see that has plenty of fresh air.

THE FELINE MENU. Don't overfeed your cat: two meals a day or three perhaps in the winter are sufficient. A properly fed cat will do its job of keeping away mice and rats, better than a half-starved cat; but it is not good for a cat to eat its captures. Gravy, vegetables (but not potatoes), table scraps, raw shredded beef or bullock's liver occasionally, cooked fish without bones, rabbit; all these are good for it and it should have fresh water to drink daily. Never give the uncooked liver of rabbit to a cat as this is a fruitful source of the complaint of "worms." A cat should have the run of a garden so that it can eat coarse grass which acts as a natural emetic if it has swallowed too much fur in his endeavours to keep himself clean.

Cats that are well cared for rarely require medical attention: cleanliness, correct feeding and warmth and occasionally a little "condition" medicine, are generally sufficient, but, of course, if they seem to be seriously ill a veterinary surgeon should be consulted. It is a good plan to wipe out the ears of cats occasionally 'with a little Vaseline on a clean rag and afterwards drop in a little boracic powder. This will prevent the troublesome complaint of canker of the ear, and in this, as in all other complaints, prevention is better than cure. Florence Ruddle.

CAT SHOWS. Beds and Herts Pictorial, 10th February 1931
Men, as a rule, are not much Interested in cats, and for many years past women have become more attached to dogs. Yet every year more cat shows and cat clubs are organised, and more fuss is made over the aristocrats of the cat world. The cat is not companionable like the dog. It has its own scheme of life, does much as it likes and generally has a better time than the dog. It goes out and comes home when it thinks fit, demands regular meals and the best place by the fireside. It knows the cat-lover from the cat-hater, but never becomes very emotional over either.

The cat comes down from very ancient times and would doubtless, if it could, deny having anything to do with witches and sorcerers, of which it used to be accused. Many people dislike cats because of their "cruelty" in catching birds and their torturous ways of killing mice, but that is a survival of their ancient jungle habits of which thousands of years of domestication have not entirely cured them.

PETS THAT ARE TAKEN TO SCHOOL. AN IDEA FOR A SHOW SURE TO BE POPULAR. Dundee Evening Telegraph, 5th May 1931
Dog and cat shows we know, but not often do we hear of a pet show where all sorts of animals are on exhibition. I have just had sent me by a nephew in the United States a programme of the Pet and Poultry Show held by the school which he attends that set me wondering whether similar exhibitions could not with advantage be organised in our own city. Pedigree counts at most shows, but in this case it does not matter. The loving care with which the pets are tended determines the prize-winners. In one afternoon no fewer than 450 pets were assembled at the school to be admired by large crowds of children and parents. As one would expect, dogs made up the largest class. Over score of different breeds of dogs were shown, but it is noteworthy that by far the largest section was the class for mongrels. Cats were next in popularity as pets, and here sixty at least out of the seventy odd entries were "common cats" such as almost any household might be able to show. There was evidently no restriction as to what might be put forward. Rabbits were there, and so were guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, pigeons, and canaries. One parrot represented his class, and also among the exhibits were goopies (whatever they are), a Shetland pony, a sheep, goat, pigs, opossums, snails, and even a salamander.

The school magazine gives some interesting comments on the show. Albert Payson Terhune, the well-known writer, takes a keen interest in the Pet Club . . . A Friday was chosen as receiving day for the tamed animal life of the town. On the whole, we are told, they stood it very well, from the temperamental "peke" to the phlegmatic goldfish. Personally conducted tours were made by owners of precocious [precious?] pets, guiding friends to the cages of the animals. Cats that were never meant to sit on anything softer than a back fence reposed on boudoir pillows with silk ribbons round their necks, much to their disgust. Altogether the show rivalled any baby parade ever given. If an animal became lonely the owner would sit in the cage with it!

This is the fourth year such a show has been held in connection with the school, and each year sees an increase in the interest and in the number of entries. No finer way of teaching kindness to our dumb friends could be found. It might not be possible to organise such show in connection with a city school, but the first of our smaller towns or villages to adopt the idea will find that it will soon become the most important event in the school calendar. Who is to lead the way?

IN DEFENCE OF THE DOG - NOT SO BLACK AS CATS PAINT HIM Daily Herald, 28th July 1931
Justice-loving dogs are thinking of presenting a testimonial in marrow bones to the National Canine Defence League. For years a misguided public, deceived by that fibbing animal the cat, has believed that the dog has been invariably the aggressor in every dog and cat fight. It was a letter to the League from the hon. secretary of the Liverpool and District Cats Club that brought the canard to a head.

"In view of the many cats and kittens that are attacked and worried to death by dogs," she writes, "may I humbly appeal through you to all dog owners to discourage all they can the habit most dogs have of barking at and chasing cats, which may ultimately lead to killing.''

She then goes on say that the number of Liverpool cats that are having to be finished off" after being worried [chased, mauled] is shocking, and that the cat is continually being sacrificed for the more favoured animal the dog. The League replied at once, pointing out that inquiries in its London clinics showed that the relentless and continuous war between cats and dogs was not being experienced here. At the busiest clinic, where thousands of cats are treated yearly, not one case of a cat attacked by a dog has been treated since Christmas, "although we have had several cases of dogs brought in suffering from ferocious attacks made on them by savage cats." [Note: more likely wounds made by corned cats defending themselves.]

CITY CATS Western Daily Press, 3rd August 1931
It is probably known that a great number of cats live in the city. They belong to nobody in particular but take their quarters in offices and warehouses and are allowed to remain during their pleasure for services rendered in the direction of catching mice and rats. The writer was told a very nice story about one of these feline waifs on Saturday morning. A cat called at a city office one morning, had a look round, was apparently satisfied with her inspection and decided to settle down. In some curious way she had found out that there was no other cat on the premises, and as rats, as well as mice, had caused damage, she was encouraged made a fuss of and well fed. As usual, mistress puss attached herself in particular to the one who gave her milk regularly one of the lady clerks and just tolerated other members of the staff. Cats have various ways of showing appreciation favours received. This one was no exception to the rule. During Friday night she caught her first rat, and when the office opened on Saturday there she was with it in her mouth as proud as Punch. When her especial friend arrived she dropped the rat, purred profusely, and no doubt in her own way said "See what good cat I am."

This sort of thing has happened before. Some years ago, the story a Lewins Mead cat was told in this column. She lived at the engineering works there and one day met with an accident. Her injury was carefully attended to by one of the workmen and she recovered. Thereafter, Mistress Puss devoted herself to rat catching and used to lay her victims in a row somewhere conspicuous, so that her particular friend could see that she had not been idle during the night. Cats are not in a general way given credit for intelligence, but close observers of this humble member of the household could probably add to the foregoing testimony that they are not altogether lacking in sense.

There is, by the by, a cats' club in Liverpool, and the secretary- Miss M. A. Greeves is calling upon all cat-lovers to see that justice is done to their furry friends, especially in regard to the new Road Traffic Bill, a clause of which protects all animals but the cat. Really we owe a good deal to cats, especially those which live a semi-wild life in the cellars and dark places of the city and spend a good part of the night watches hunting their natural enemies, rats and mice.

CATS IN A SACK. KILLED WITH A SPADE AT SHERINGTON. DROWNING CRUEL! POLICE COURT STORY AT NEWPORT PAGNELL. Northampton Mercury, 4th September 1931
A remarkable story of how two cats were placed in a sack and killed with a spade at Sherington was told at Newport Pagnell Police Court on Wednesday in a case in which William Markham, of High-street, Sherington, a labourer, was summoned for ill-treating the cats. The magistrates held that there was no intentional cruelty and dismissed the case. The Chairman (Sir Walter Carlile) said the matter had been quite properly brought. Mr. W. S. Bull (Messrs. W. B. and W. E. Bull, Newport Pagnell) defended, and pleaded not guilty.

Doris Florence Clutton, the Manor, Sherington, stated that she was in Nurse Cole's cottage and heard cats yelling in the garden at the rear. She looked out of the window and saw a man standing on a sack and hitting the sack with a spade. The sack was on the ground and when he stamped on the sack the cats yelled. Afterwards he took a cat out of the sack. She did not look for long but she believed he tried to wring its neck. Cross-examined, witness said that knowing the man she did not think he meant to be cruel, but she did not think the way to kill cats was to hit them on the head with a spade.

Rosetta Cole, district nurse. High-street, Sherington, corroborated, and added that she went down the garden and saw a cat half buried. It was twitching and she called defendant's attention to it. He said it was dead. She told him to dig it up again. She reported the matter to the police. P.C. Knibbs, Sherington, said he dug the cats up from some ashes and found both dead. There was no blood on them nor any abrasions. interviewed defendant, who said he had received payment for killing the cats from some people. Defendant told him, "I shall never kill another cat. I am sure I killed the cats when I hit them with the spade."

The Chairman: Had defendant been receiving payment for killing animals?
Witness: I don't know, but at that particular time he had some other cats to kill, and on my advice he did not kill them.

Defendant said he put the cats in a sack and put their heads in a corner, put his foot on the sack, and hit the cats on the head with spade. He took them out about two minutes later and buried them. They died "like the snuff of candle," and only just whimpered. He did not think it was cruel. In cross-examination defendant said had killed several cats either by hitting them on the back of the head with his hand or a stick. He had put them in sack before, because they would bite and scratch.
Supt. Callaway: 'Why not drown them? That's cruel.

In further cross-examination, defendant said the cats certainly yelled when he carried them up the garden. He would not agree that he struck them blindly. Henry Gardner stated that defendant had worked for him for some years. He had always known him to be absolutely kind, and he was perfectly certain that he would not do anything that was not right. Elsie Seamarks said she gave defendant two cats to kill as they were not well. One had canker in the ear and the other a very bad cold. She did not see the cats killed nor know how they were to be killed. She had not given him cats to kill before.

When the magistrates returned from retirement, the chairman said that the question of cruelty was one of which they took a serious view, but they had to be quite clear that cruelty was intentional, if that had been proved the sentence would have been heavy. No intentional cruelty had been proved, and the Bench would dismiss the case. There were better means of killing cats than in putting them in a sack and hitting them with a spade.

CATS IN CLOVER West Sussex Gazette, 24th September 1931
When, on the day of that garden party, one heard of a well-to-do Brighton woman who gladly looks after cats free of charge while the owners are on holiday, it seemed that one had discovered another pleasing instance of good being done by stealth. But closer investigation brought to light a strange example of misdirected beneficence. This astonishing home-from-home appears to swarm with cats, for, apart from "boarders" there are nine permanent "resident" cats. Between them they consume about three quarts of milk a day, and at night, I am told, the "residents" sleep in an eiderdown nest, while the boarders have equally comfortable quarters in pens, one for each sex. The joy of the job starts in earnest in the evening, when the swarms of cats have to be enticed indoors from the garden and all the neighbouring gardens, and I hear tales of the owner of the home and her maid continuing their search for a stray "darling" until two and three in the morning. One of the boarders was responsible for an incredible state of affairs. It was an especially large, powerful and vicious "tom," and the owner of the "home " deemed it advisable to keep the creature in her bedroom. Once installed there, it "spat" and "swore" so frightfully every time the woman opened the door that for two days and nights she was afraid to enter her own bed room, and, what with lack of sleep, and anxiety for the "poor thing," became downright ill. A queer story altogether, and an unpleasant one. It prompts one to ask: "What do they know of Brighton, who only North-street know?"

120,000,000 CATS IN THE UNITED STATES Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 9th November 1931
There are 120,000,000 cats in the United States, and 7,000,000 of them are in New York City, according to the Secretary of the International Cat Society. At least 65 per cent of New York s cats are strays.

S.O.S. Forfar Herald, 27th November 1931
I have not been asked by the Commissioner of Police to broadcast the following, but I am going to do it whether he likes it or not:- Missing from his temporary home at the Arbroath Burgh Police Station since Monday, a kitten of indefinite breed, dressed in black boots and a white coat. The white coat is slightly soiled owing to the kitten's habit of taking an occasional nap in the coal bucket. Pleasant face, and when sleeping it folds its legs under it in the manner of a rabbit instead of stretching them out in the normal manner of a cat. Strong inherent dislike of dogs, and answers to no name unless it be that of "XXX," a very unknown quantity.

[LONDON ZOO STORIES]Western Morning News, 11th January 1932
Once an elephant in the menagerie was scratched by a cat. Following this incident, the elephant would pick up helpless kittens and flatten them underfoot. . . The beautiful chinchilla cat that was once an exhibit at a cat show has been promoted to the lions' domain, and wanders in and out of the cages, retiring discreetly to the balustrade when the proper inmates become active.

CATS ARE SO INDIVIDUAL Daily Mirror, 25th January 1932
There are cats and cats, as you all know. Some are haughty and disdainful, while others always remain cuddlesome, gentle creatures, ever ready, to welcome you with their purrs. At the recent Cat Show in London there were all kinds, but mostly champions over and over again. What I intend to talk about, however, is the cat in the ordinary home - the wonderfully affectionate tabby, the fat, chubby ginger, and the coal-black type usually called N*gger, with its bright, greeny eyes. Some hints were given to me at the show by one of the judges, who said that the ordinary home cat can be as beautiful as the show cat. The first thing to, remember, he said, is that cats must be fed regularly, and they should have a varied diet. For instance, a fully-grown cat should have two meals a day. The biggest meal might be varied, such as meat and vegetables one day, fish the, next, or a little rabbit. Liver is particularly good one day a week, but not more. The food, too, should be given dry. Milk should be a separate meal, and remember there should always be plenty of fresh water handy for the cat to drink whenever it feels inclined. Dry wheatmeal occasionally is very good for their teeth, and also helps digestion. A good grooming every day and a fair amount of exercise will help to make Toby your champion - if not a show champion.

LICENCES FOR CATS. PLAN FOR PROTECTING BIRDS. Belfast Telegraph, 8th February 1932
Animals as Disease Carriers. In order to curb the strong predatory instinct of cats and thus protect bird life the International Cat Society (says a New York message) plans a world-wide campaign for the passage of laws to license cats in the same way as dogs. Stray cats are held responsible for the great loss of bird life in America, and these feline creatures are also carriers of human diseases. By the institution of licences cats could be medically examined and their owners could be held responsible for the activities of this domestic animal.

[CAT STEALING, BATH AND COUNTRY] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 9th April 1932
I hear that an outbreak of cat-stealing has occurred in the Bathwick district. Several valuable cats have disappeared during the last week or so, and the owners are of the opinion that the animals have been stolen for the sake of their coats. It appears that only the best cats have disappeared.

THE BOY AND THE CAT. West Sussex Gazette, 28th April 1932
Speaking at the annual meeting of Alton, Haslemere, Petersfield, and District branch at Alton on Saturday, Sir Robert Gower, Chairman of the R.S.P.C.A., told a story of a London street urchin and a cat. "Only a short time ago," he said, " I was walking down Bond-street and saw a poor, miserable cat in the roadway, and at the same time as it occurred to me that the bewildered animal would be run over, a ragamuffin dashed into the road, got the cat, and placed it on the pavement. He performed the act at the risk of his own life. I went to him and said. `You have performed a brave act. I am the Chairman of the R.S.P.C.A. and would like your name.' Ga'an!' was his simple reply. From his attitude he did not seem to believe me, and I said I would like his name and address to recommend him for a medal. That little ragamuffin turned to me and said. 'A gentleman told us we had got to be kind to animals and not expect any reward!' He then turned on his heels and bolted down Bond-street, making me look rather foolish."

TERRIER RUNS AMOK. TALE OF CAT KILLING. REFECTORY PET A VICTIM. OWNER FINED. Cheshire Observer, 4th June 1932
The adventures of a bull-terrier dog in the early hours of April 29th last were described at Chester City Police Court on Wednesday, when the owner, Edward Townsend Davies, formerly living at a Chester hotel and now living at the Swan Hotel, Bucklow, Knutsford, was summoned on two counts for not keeping his dog under reasonable control, so that it caused unnecessary suffering to two cats, one in Commonhall-street and the other in Abbey-street. The magistrates on the bench were Mr W.H. Denson (presiding), Mr R. Mills, Mrs James Frost and Mrs H.F. Brown. Mr W.F. Youde (Messrs Walker, Smith and Way) prosecuted on behalf of the R.S.P.C.A., and Mr G. Ouseley-Smith (Messrs Potts, Martyn and Ouseley-Smith) appeared for the defence.

Mr Youde explained that the charges related to three incidents which took place on April 29th. It appeared that at 12.15 a.m. Inspector Lockley, of the Chester City Police, met defendant in Eastgate-street. Defendant appeared to be what was known as a little fresh [tipsy]. He had with him a bull-terrier, a very powerful dog, and he had the dog on a lead. Defendant, who was rather loquacious, asked Inspector Lockley whether he might walk round the beat with him. The Inspector thought it was perhaps in his interests that he should, and permitted him to walk with him to the Belgrave Hotel, where defendant was staying. On the way the dog attempted to jump at four separate cats, and defendant said to the officer, "Shall I loose him?" and the officer asked what for. Defendant said, "I will guarantee he will kill any cat you like to put before him." Defendant apparently knew the dog's tendency, and that remark bore some indication of his intentions in regard to subsequent events. The officer told the defendant not to loose the dog, but told him to go to bed. Defendant apparently did not take the officer's advice, and about an hour later he was seen in Grosvenor-road by P.C. Dunn, and the dog, which was then loose, was carrying a ginger cat in his mouth. The cat was dead. P.C. Dunn asked defendant what he was doing with the cat, and defendant replied, "The dog found it, and he was dead when he found it." The dog was carrying the cat somewhat as a trophy. With regard to the next episode it was rather difficult to accept that explanation. As they were going up Bridge-street defendant, the dog and ginger cat, at the end of Commonhall-street there was a grey cat sitting on one of the steps. As soon as the dog saw the grey cat it dropped the ginger cat, ran to the grey cat, and seized it by the throat and immediately killed it. P.C. Dunn was there just about the time, an he told defendant to draw off the dog, but he was unable to do so, and the dog carried the cat up Bridge-street into Eastgate-street, and there he was met by P.S. Capper. The latter asked for an explanation, and defendant said it was another cat that the dog had found. Sergt. Capper did not believe him, and he then gave the explanation that the cat was sitting on the steps, and as the dog passed flew at it, and the dog went for it. Capper told him to make the dog release the cat, and when the dog did so Capper examined the cat and found it still warm. Although he did not know what had taken place in Bridge-street he came to the conclusion that the cat had been killed wantonly, and told defendant he would be reported for being in possession of a ferocious dog and not keeping it under control.

In the afternoon of the same day, defendant was walking up Abbey-street with the dog on a lead. There might be some difficulty in controlling a dog if there was a cat about when the dog was at large, but there was no such difficulty when the dog was on a lead. His instructions were in regard to the offence in Abbey-street that it was particularly brutal, because it was preventable. The Cathedral verger was in his house when he heard a terrific struggle outside his door. He went outside and saw the cause of the uproar. Defendant was holding his terrier by the lead, and he was making no attempt to rescue the cat, no attempt to prevent the poor animal being mangled and worried, but was more concerned in preventing the dog being damaged by the efforts to rescue the cat. Mr. Matthews, the verger, threw a bucket of water over the dog. Eventually defendant released the dog from the lead, and it ran down Abbey-street, and later when the cat was released it was so badly injured that it had to be destroyed. He (Mr. Youde) put it to the magistrates that defendant was out on an evening's sport. Certainly as a result of his nocturnal adventures on the 29th April two cats were killed. On the afternoon of the same day he was going to suggest that defendant set the do on to the cat, which shewed a distinct brutality of mind, which ought to be repressed.

THE EVIDENCE. Inspector Williams, of the R.S.P.C.A., said he saw defendant on May 2nd, and he said, "I had my dog on a lead, and was walking up Abbey-street, when a cat pounced out at the dog. The dog got hold of the cat. I tried to throttle the dog off, but some man came and tried to stick a knife into the dog, and it hindered me. If he is loose he will chase cats." Proceeding, the Inspector said the dog was a powerful one, and there were numerous scratches each side of the dog's mouth, obviously done by his late victims.

Inspector Lockley gave evidence bearing out Mr. Youde's statement, and said on the way down Foregate-street the dog jumped at four cats in passages.

In reply to Mr. Ouseley-Smith, witness said the bull-terrier had the reputation of being a good-tempered dog.

P.C. Dunn said when the dog was carrying the ginger cat defendant treated it as a joke. At the end of Commonhall-street there was a cat sitting on the bottom step of the Rows. As soon as he saw this cat he dropped the ginger cat and went and got hold of this cat, and in a few seconds the cat was dead. Defendant stood by and laughed and made no attempt to draw the dog off. The dog then ran up Bridge-street, wagging his tail. Sergt. Capper also gave evidence.

Thomas John Matthews, verger at Chester Cathedral, of Abbey-street, Chester, said up to April 29th he owned a cat. It was not a cat which attacked dogs. About 4.30 on that afternoon he heard a noise. He went outside and saw it was his cat, which was being worried about three yards from his front door. The owner (defendant) had the dog on a lead. Someone shouted, "Bring a bucket of water." I got a bucket of water and threw it on the dog, but it had no effect. The owner was making no effort to get the dog off. All he was doing was to keep witness away from the dog. Witness hit the dog with the bucket, and later got out his pocket-knife and attempted to stick the dog. Eventually the owner took the dog into the churchyard and made it let the cat go. As a result of this treatment the cat had to be destroyed.

In reply to Mr. Ouseley-Smith, he had never known his cat to spit and snarl at a dog.
Mr. Ouseley-Smith: Suppose witnesses say your cat was an aggressor? I would not believe it.
Your actions were such that effectively prevented the owner from getting the dog off the cat? I don't think so.
Re-examined by Mr. Youde: The cat was a well-mannered cat, such as you would expect to find in that district? Quite, sir.

Minor Canon C.H.S. Buckley said he was in Abbey-street and saw defendant and his dog. The cat appeared to come from under a motor-car which was standing there, and the dog seized hold of the cat. Witness got hold of the dog's tail to try and pull it off, and all the time he could not see any attempt by the owner to drag the dog off. When Mr. Matthews went to stick the dog with his knife, two or three men in the gateway said it was no use as the cat was dead. Witness thought defendant had the dog by the collar and by the throat.

Mr. Ouseley-Smith: Were you there when defendant came and apologised to the owner? The cat belongs to the Refectory.
In reply to the Magistrates' Clerk, witness said the cat had not reached the doorstep before the dog attacked it. The dog was quite near when the cat passed.
Mr. Youde: The cat had a somewhat higher status than we thought; it was the Refectory cat.

For the defence, Mr Ouseley-Smith said the case might be described as "Did the cat cross the Road" case, or "Much to do about nothing." It was the natural propensity for dogs to chase cats, and the only difference was that a bull-terrier had a little more courage than most dogs, and had the power in their jaws to despatch them very quickly. Regarding the cat in Abbey-street, his instruction were that the cat went for the dog first. The dog had a sporting tendency. It liked to chase cats. He (Mr. Ouseley-Smith) had a little Sealyham terrier which could not run fast enough to keep itself warm, but it would chase cats, and if it was lucky enough to catch one the same thing would happen as had happened in that case. The bull-terrier in question was a valuable pedigree dog and he was perfectly sure his client would wish to tender sincere apology for the loss of the cats and the inconvenience caused. He was instructed that at home the dog had his meals in company with two cats and a parrot.

Defendant gave evidence, and said his dog was a good one. His dog was good-natured, and he never had any trouble with the dog except with these cats. With regard to the Cathedral cat, he was walking through Abbey-street. He had the dog on the lead. It was raining cats and dogs as hard as it could. The dog got hold of the cat. He tried to get the dog off, and got scratched in several places by the cat. Mr. Matthews came out and tried to stick his knife into the dog. Witness got hold of Mr. Matthews' wrist to stop him. Mrs. Matthews then came out with an umbrella and started to belabour the dog, and broke the lead. The dog ran away, and witness followed. When he was alone with the dog he soon got the cat away.

In reply to Mr. Youde, defendant said prior to April 29th his dog had not killed a cat, or had it mauled a cat. He had had a scuffle or two. He had chased a stray cat in the garden, and it had gone up a tree. His dog was not a vicious dog as far as cats were concerned.
Mr. Youde: I suggest to you that you are in the habit of going about the town cat-hunting at night? No, sir.
Witness strongly denied that he made no attempt to get his dog away from the cat near the Refectory, and he alleged he would have succeeded but for Mr. Matthews' interference.
Mr. Youde: I suggest that you are making a practice of torturing cats with this brute of a dog?
Defendant: No, sir.
Do you agree that if the dog killed three cats in 24 hours he ought to be out of the way? No, sir.

Wm. Henry Staton, a painter, of King-street, said he was working in Abbey-street, when he saw defendant with a bull-terrier on a lead. The cat was on the steps, and as the dog approached it jumped out and there was a scuffle. The owner of the dog tried to get it away.
In reply to Mr. Youde, witness said it took a long time to release the cat, although he did not think it would have taken so long had the other men left the owner to do it.
Robert Herbert Wilding also gave evidence corroborating that of the previous witness.

Defendant was fined 5 on each charge, 10 in all. No order was made in regard to the third charge, but the magistrates considered the dog should be kept under proper control. The magistrates did not consider it was only the dog's fault. Mr. Youde was allowed three guineas' advocate's fee, and defendant was given a week to pay.

A SCHOOL FOR CATS! SCOTSMEN AND RAT MENACE. North Down Herald and County Down Independent, 4th June 1932
In Le Havre the arm of education is stretching out as far as cats, for here on board a yawl, under the guidance of a Scotsman, Mr. Ronald Bremmer, cats are taught the technique of rat killing, and actually trained to kill only the female of the species. By this method it is hoped to speed up the eventual extermination of this pest. Dr. Jean Loir, the noted French scientist, is assisting in what is proving a quite successful experiment towards the production of a race of super cats. But breeding a whole race means such time, and meanwhile the rat menace in this country continues. Happily it is being kept well under way through the efforts of yet another Scotsman, Mr. Thomas Harley, of Perth, the inventor and proprietor of "Rodine," the well-known rat poison, which has the largest sale in the world.

A RETICENT CAT The Age, 25th June, 1932
It is claimed that a puss which was on show at the International cat show at Vienna has a vocabulary of the three German words "Ja," "Nein," an "Anna," which it can pronounce distinctly. It can also "sing the airs of two nursery tunes when they are played on the piano."

I have heard of the pussycat songster before,
Though more with regret, than approval;
It has sung on the roof when I wanted to snore
Till I longed for its lethal removal;
If you say that I ought to admire such a cat,
Well, all I reply is "I canna"
But I freely admit that I take off my hat
To the cat that says "Yes," "No," and "Anna."

For that is a really remarkable change
In habits regarded as feline,
One notes with respect a colloquial range
As brief and direct as a bee-line;
It falls with an air of both wisdom and grace,
This curt, conversational manna
A lesson for all is implied in the case
Of the cat that says "Yes," "No," and "Anna."

A good deal of trouble would often be stopped
If more of us made it a fashion
To copy that taciturn puss and adopt
An equally reticent, ration,
For scandal would shlow a most striking descent
And dwindle from Hull to Havana,
If all of the cats in the world were content
To say nothing but "Yes," "No," and "Anna."
- Lucio, in the Manchester Guardian

EXPLORER'S CAT OVERBOARD. TABBY THAT VISITED ANTARCTIC . Belfast Telegraph, 23rd July 1932
N*gger, the black cat which explored the Antarctic aboard Sir Douglas Mawson's Discovery, narrowly escaped death at the East India Docks, London, when she fell overboard between the Discovery and the Jolly Angela and was in danger of being crushed. Hearing her cries, the watchman in the Discovery and the quartermaster of the cable ship Telconia pushed away the Jolly Angela and hauled N*gger to safety.

ABOUT SHOWS. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 29th July 1932
Is sufficient attention given to the active service merits of exhibits at dog and cat shows? The question is provoked by a suggestion which the Sheriff! of Exeter (Mr. C. J. Ross) threw out at members' show in connection with the Exeter and District Terriers' Association, that there is too much brushing and combing at dog shows and that the introduction of few rats would enable the exhibits to demonstrate their capabilities much better. . . . And we venture to hint that the shows held by the National Mouse Club would be suitable opportunities for testing the really useful qualities of cats from the household point of view. Experts in breeds may contend that, however much dogs and cats scintillate through grooming, their natural instincts are not impaired . . . Will proprietors of greycing [greyhound racing] courses oblige by having electric rats and mice for deciding the respective merits aristocratic or plebian terriers and cats? And will they, if possible, increase the indebtedness of the public by offering prizes for the ladies who prove by their agility in capturing their cats after contests that they are more nimble than their Victorian grandmothers claim to have been when sweet seventeen or thereabouts?

"GINGER'S" TRIP Sunderland Daily Echo, 20th August 1932
A Whetstone kitten, aged about two months, has returned to its old home and its mother from a distance of nearly a mile. It was taken to new owners in a bag and had no opportunity of marking the signs along the bus route from the Great North Road. The kitten, as yet without a name, acknowledges parents who are great walkers. Its reputed father three years ago when sent to a holiday home, returned two miles in one night, and its mother, born on the northern shore at Cardigan Bay, was a roamer.

Strange is the power which cats show in finding their way home by routes which they have never before traversed. The late Professor St. George Mivart who wrote the leading book on the cat, a work of 700 pages, states that the power may be due to a highly developed sense of direction similar to that which enables some men to find their ways about cities, or the inhabitants of Siberia to find their way through woods or over hummocky ice and keep their main direction unchanged.

Visitors to Cowes this season have been able to see Ginger take one of its periodical boat trips across the Solent to Southampton and return home after a long week-end. The record for a long walk for a cat was established some 36 years ago. the distance being from Leeds to Godalming, about 200 miles. The journey took six weeks, and the tripper was found on the window ledge at Godalming famished and unable to tell its friends the troubles of its four miles a day trot and what were the difficulties it had in crossing London or whether it sought a by-pass.

ANIMAL THAT BECAME FAMOUS Coventry Evening Telegraph, 23rd August 1932
Jemima, the B.B.C. cat, which became famous by transmitting its plaintive meowings to millions over the wireless, has been captured. The hunt, which began nine days ago, ended this morning when a party of watchmen, boiler hands, commissionaires, and other officials cornered Jemima in a passage at Broadcasting House, Portland Place, and trapped it in the band instrument room. Jemima is a black and white cat, not exactly ferocious, but very wild. Practically unapproachable, it was left by the contractors and was never really welcome, but had been patiently tolerated until it committed the unpardonable act of butting into the wireless programme. Jemima spent the night in the instrument room, and this morning was captured and taken away on the understanding that a good home would be found for it.

MANX MOUSE-HUNTER FOR ROYAL FARM. TAILLESS TABBY'S TASK. PORTER MAKES THEM HIS HOBBY. Belfast Telegraph, 3rd October 1932
A Manx tail-less kitten is to be sent from the Isle of Man to the Prince of Wales' farm near Nottingham to see that the mice are kept in their places. The duty of finding a specimen worthy of the breed bas been entrusted to Mr. George Cave, a Douglas hotel porter, who has earned the title in Manxland of "The Manx Cat King." It was he who provided the Manx kitten which was presented to Sir Harry Lauder this summer, and he also presented a Manx "rumpy" to Lady Malcolm Douglas Hamilton on the occasion of her visit last July. He has also provided most of the railway stations in London with Manx cats, which, are not only good mouse-hunters, but are said to be bringers of good luck Though Manx eats are said to be getting scarcer, George never experiences any difficulty in supplying his numerous clients. He has been dealing in Manx cats as a hobby for 27 years, and has exported them to all parts of the world. Next month he is sending one of his finest specimens to an international cat and dog show in Bradford, and the animal will afterwards be sold on behalf of a local charity.

THE NEWER CAREERS FOR WOMEN Western Mail, 17th January 1933
Take the girl who is fond of animal's and all outdoor life. There is, of course, veterinary surgery open to her if she can afford the training and has the essential educational requirements . . . But why not cat breeding? There is money in pussies these days when pedigree kittens are as costly as puppies, and fashionable breeds such as Siamese command high figures. Beauty parlours for pussies are another development of the last few years which owe their origin to the growing interest in cat shows. These beauty parlours are run by women who prepare cats for shows, shampooing and grooming their furs, &c.

TALE OF TINKER, THE PERSIAN Birmingham Daily Gazette, 18th January 1933
Is this a record? A handsome black Persian cat is reported to have made its way alone and entirely without human guidance from Seaton, South Devon, to Woodville, Burton-on-Trent, a distance of 260 miles. Tinker. who is five years old, is the property of Mr. Jos. Fairbrother, late of Bernard-street, Woodville, who removed to Seaton on 9 November last taking Tinker with him in a pigeon basket. Had some feathered previous occupant of the basket, by some means unknown to human ken, left in it for Tinker to acquire the secret of "homing" which enabled the cat to find Woodville again? This will never be known, but a morning or two ago Mr. Thomas Fairbrother, who lives next door to his brother's former home, was surprised to find Tinker parched on the window. sill. The cat showed unmistakable pleasure on being recognised and after a meal was soon sound asleep on q cushion. Tinker now seems comfortably settled in Woodville again, which he obviously prefers to glorious Devon.

[FAT CAT] Portadown Times, 20th January 1933
Many a pampered and well-fed tabby-cat waxes bigger than Nature ever intended a domesticated feline to become. But so far as can be learned none of these pets has attained the size and weight of Nip-nap, a male cat owned by Mrs. Douglas Whalen, Birmingham. In his kittenhood, Nip-nap was as lithe and active as the normally constructed members of his breed, but by the time he was six months old, it was evident that he was going to be a buster. His obesity began to hamper him in his catty manoeuvres, and he spent more time sleeping and peacefully regarding his comfortable surroundings than he did stalking mice or romping. On his first birthday Nip-nap was twice the weight of the average cat of that age, and his chief interest in life seemed to be the consumption of surprising quantities of milk, fish and liver and being toted about to cat shows where he placidly accepted many a blue ribbon. At the moment, the weightiest domestic cat in the world tips the scales at 3-and-a-half stone and because he hasn't gained or lost an ounce in several months, his proud mistress believes that he has attained his full growth. His appetite, however, still is tremendous, and it costs as much to feed him as it would a youngster five years old.

FROM THE SACRED ANIMALS OF EGYPT TO THE BACK ALLEY. SCANDAL, WOMEN - AND CATS. SOME PORTSMOUTH AND OTHER RECORDS Portsmouth Evening News, 13th February 1933
By C.A. Valier. How often have you heard one woman refer to another as a cat? I should think almost everyone has heard the term used on scores of occasions, and perhaps several of you have used the term yourselves when exasperated by the idle and malicious chatter of those modem women who have changed so little that they spend a great deal their leisure time tearing to pieces the characters of their friends and acquaintances. These women are referred to as cats. Why? When I got home, there was my own cat. of no known variety except, perhaps, of the famous 57, sitting by the fire, of course in the most comfortable armchair; and despite the fact that she was turfed out immediately, she made no attempt to point out my many faults and deficiencies, but only asked in the most polite manner for her tea. And yet dangerous and spiteful women are spoken of as cats!

Women and cats are not synonymous terms, although, judging by the scandal which passes as conversation in some of the mixed clubs of Portsmouth and Southsea, the unbiased observer might be forgiven for assuming some connexion between the two. Following up this week's great thought, I wonder if anyone has had the temerity to estimate privately how many tennis clubs, for instance, have been ruined by the reckless tongues of women members, especially when they are off the courts and gathered round the tea-tables. I once heard it suggested by a man who had lived in Portsmouth for some years that there was more scandal talked in the first naval port of the Empire than in any other Service place in which he had lived. He may have been right or wrong I don't know, and am not prepared to enter into an argument about it; but I often wonder why, when women are using their most dangerous weapon in its most devastating manner, they are always referred to as cats.

After all, it's not fair. It's not fair to one of the most pleasant of all household companions. I am very fond of cats of the four-legged variety; and I don't think it is right that one of the most decorative of all fireside ornaments, with an ancestry dating back to the time of the ancient Pharaohs, should be associated with women in their most poisonous moods. After all. A well-cared-for cat is never known to bite, scratch or spit without some justification, but can that be said for the two-legged variety? But, getting away from the unpleasant side of the subject, I was looking up some information about cats and their origin when I heard of a Dockyard cat in Portsmouth who is reputed, according to high and responsible officials in the establishment, to have given birth to 100 kittens in a praiseworthy attempt to help My Lords of the Admiralty to reduce the teeming rat population of the Dockyard. And, despite the gallant attempt of the mass-production mother, which has been made so economically that year after year there has been an appreciable decrease in the Navy Estimates, I have yet to hear that her services have been appreciated in a tangible form! There are few women who can claim to have served the Board of Admiralty so well and with so little recognition. Another cat in Southsea, not yet four years old, is reported to be nearing the half-century mark in the same direction.

Although the days of sail and the cat-o'-nine-tails in the Royal Navy have disappeared into the limbo of the past, many of the latest marvels of steel and electricity which now appear in the 1933 Navy List still carry their complement of cats; but I doubt whether the Lower Deck of this year, kind as they are to animals, hold the same superstitions about cats as did their forefathers in the days of sail. It is recorded that in 1812 Captain Stewart was cruising off the Italian coast in the Seahorse when the seamen attributed the fact that several days had passed without sighting a vessel to the presence of a black cat on board. The captain ordered the unfortunate cat to be thrown overboard, but at this the men murmured more loudly, saying it would bring them worse luck than ever. In their opinion, the only thing to remove the spell would be to land the cat, and eventually the Captain ordered the jolly-boat away and the cat was landed with great ceremony. Singularly enough, a rich prize was captured the same night.

There was another period when the cat was widely feared as a storm-bringer, and was always regarded as unlucky on board ship; provoking a cat, the sailors thought, would bring a gale, and drowning one would raise a tempest. Flaws on the water are referred to as "cat's paws," a large flurry as a "catskin," and in some parts of England the stormy north-west wind is known as the "cat's nose." Other associations of cats with the sea are found in the terms "cat'o'-nine-tails," the "cathead," "cat-fall," "cat-hook," "cat-back," etc.

As an instance of the old sea superstition of the association of cats with storms and troubles at sea, there is the story told of the Australian clipper City of Agra, in the [eighteen-] eighties. A fine black cat was the pet of one of the crew, but one night he went aft and chased the captain's wife's cat round the saloon, with considerable damage to the crockery and fittings. The owner of the cat was quarter-decked, and rather than risk further trouble, he dumped his cat overboard during the night, unknown to his shipmates. The next morning the ship ran into a hurricane, two A.B.'s were washed overboard, and the vessel pooped a sea and was nearly lost. Naturally all the ship's company put the bad luck down to losing the black cat, and subsequently nothing would induce any of them to harm a cat.

But the ancestry and origin of cats are a mystery which has yet to be solved. There are several schools of thought, and it may surprise many owners of the battle-scarred Tom and the very common all-black dustbin "scrounger2 of the Portsmouth back yards to know that their pets may be descendants of he wild cats which roamed Egypt, Europe and Great Britain in the pre-Christian era. Felis domestic may be a fitting description of the scented and combed Persian aristocrats we see on the show benches up and down the country, but a little pretentious for the mongrel household pet of hundreds of thousands of homes. In all probability, both have as much right to claim descent from the sacred cats of ancient Egypt as certain of the humans who boast of their Norman ancestry. Some of our cats, according to the authorities, have probably descended from Felis caffra of Ancient Egypt, which was worshipped at a very early period as n object of veneration. In those days cats, as animals of the Goddess Bast, or Bastet, the patroness of love, fashions and things feminine, were held in high honour and were generally mummified. In Italy the animals were established before the Christian era, but the earliest written record of them in the country is dated A.D. 936, when a prince of Southern Wales enacted a law for the protection of the domesticated variety.

There are some foolish and biased people who go so far as to say that cats have no sense of loyalty, no affection, and will go anywhere where they can get a meal. Any cat which has enough sense to come in out of the wet will leave a place where it is ill-treated for one where it will be comfortable, but some remarkable stories of the endurance and homing instinct of cats returning hundreds of miles to the place where they have been kindly treated are on record. Only a few weeks ago, all the newspapers used a story of a cat, taken from Burton-on-Trent to Seaton, Devonshire, in November, when its owner moved, which walked nearly 260 miles back to its original home. I wonder how many women could have done that without being able to talk.

In the general appearance of the bac-alley cat here is no suggestion of the glorious ancestry of the cat family dating back to the colourful days of the Courts of the Pharaohs, except, perhaps, when the fire-side sphinx, pausing for a moment in its delicate and complicated cleaning operations why does the family cat always choose the most comfortable chair in the house for this job? gazes at its owner with gleaming yellow eyes, inscrutable as the Sphinx itself, and yet containing, for those who care to spare a moment's thought, some hint, some slight suggestion of the age-old mysteries of the East. There are times when the commonest mongrel, with battle-torn ears and dirty coat, shows something of its distant but aristocratic ancestors, even if it is only in the dainty way in which it avoids a puddle in the road.

I like cats. And because I like them and because of the affection several of them have given me, I don't see why they should be slandered by the unthinking when in search of an odious synonym for prattling women with empty minds and dangerous tongues.

FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE O.A.D.S. Orkney Herald, 10th May 1933
The county of Orkney must suffer loss to the extent of many hundreds of pounds annually, owing to the destructive habits of rats. The following article taken from the current issue of "Armchair Science" should therefore be of interest:- "Breeding Rat-Catching Cats. Strenuous attempts are being made to combat the rat menace in England, and various methods of destruction and prevention are being made by the authorities. We read with interest of the example given by a French medical officer of his successful breeding of a special rat-catching type of cat which, he asserts, is the answer to the rat-catcher's prayer. Curiously enough, many cats are useless at rat-catching, but there are others who seem possessed with an unquenchable desire for the chase, and a Rat-Catching Cat Club has now been started in France with the sole purpose of breeding cats of this type. As a result of this selective breeding, in areas where they have been used, the cats have completely vanquished the rat pests. In the town of Lyons, where the slaughterhouses were overrun by them, the rats have been destroyed by the cats, and the places are not rid of rats of every size. This is good news, and we may hope that our own authorities will follow the lead of France in such a vital matter of health and public welfare." Farmers naturally suffer heavy losses from these pests, and we therefore suggest that this might form a subject for discussion by the Orkney Agricultural Discussion Society.

CAT CRUELTY CHARGE. FLEETWOOD MAN FINED. CHILDREN'S EVIDENCE. Fleetwood Chronicle, 2nd June 1933
George Edward Wilson, of Fleetwood, was summoned at Fleetwood to-day for alleged cruelty to a cat. After a long hearing he was fined 40s., and ordered to pay advocate's fee and witnesses' fees of 8s. Evidence was given by a number of boys and girls, all under 16. Mr. M. Woosnam, who appeared for the prosecution, said that the cat belonged to a man named Smith, of Poulton-road, Fleetwood. On May 6th the cat was seated on a window sill at 69, Poulton-street. Wilson had a terrier dog with him, and this ran to the sill. The cat showed signs of defending itself, and the dog went back to Wilson. The latter was walking in the direction of the window sill, and the dog went to the cat again. There was a scuffle, which ended with the cat on the dog's back.

Wilson struck the cat off, and it ran towards an entry in Blakiston-street. Wilson continued on his way, and as he approached the entry he struck the cat a violent blow with a stick. The cat fell over and lay motionless. A little girl went to Wilson and said, "You cruel dog, you have killed that cat." He replied, "I don't care whether I have killed it or not. I will teach it not to spring out at my dog." Mr. Woosnam added that Wilson might have been justified in the first place, but he had no right to strike out when it was outside the entry. The cat was taken to Mr. Smith's home and on the following day Sunday he ordered its destruction. Mr. H. l'Anson, for Wilson, was told by some of the witnesses that the dog was in pain when the animals fought.

Mr. Smith said that when he saw his cat it appeared to be dead. Later he found it was alive, but it could not walk. It appeared to be injured about its back. In evidence Wilson said that he was the local secretary of the British Empire Naturalists' Association, and as such took an interest in all animal life. He stated that as his dog was going along the pavement the cat jumped on its back and he separated them. At the entry the cat turned and scratched at the dog. He took the dog up and found that it was bleeding. He was sorry for what occurred. He did not mean to hurt the cat. In each case it was the cat that attacked the dog.

WHY NOT A CAT SHOW? Lynn News & County Press, 6th June 1933
The promoters of Lynn hospital carnival are anxious for offers of assistance in connection with the carnival week. Personally I have no talent as an entertainer, but I can make what seems to me useful suggestion, and that Is to have a cat show. Agricultural shows, dog shows and flower shows are very well, but let us give pussy her chance! No-one will dare to suggest that there are not enough cats in Lynn to make a show. There are so many cats in Lynn that they are nearly as much of a plague as the rats. If it were not for the fact that the average cat is no match for a full-grown ship's rat I would say that the cats are attracted by the rats. They prowl about our gardens and root up our seeds, and then regale our tired brains with their serenades. I have just had a crueller idea. Why not supply the youth of the town with air-guns and award prizes for the largest number of deceased cats collected? This would be much more useful than the collecting of queen wasps or wild grasses, and would exterminate the majority of those homeless creatures which are an annoyance to residence.

CAT TURNS ON GAS, KILLING WOMAN. LEAPS ON STOVE AND DIES ITSELF. Daily Herald, 28th June 1933
One of three cats kept at Mano Lodge, Rowlands Castle (Hants) is believed to have turned on a gas stove and caused its own death and that of Mrs Emily Eliza Hatch Gregory, aged 45. Mr William Gregory, the woman's husband, told the South Hants coroner to-day that on returning home from work, he found his wife unconscious in a chair with a newspaper on her lap. One cat was lying dead under the chair. He had previously noticed one of the cats jump on the stove and turn on the tap with her paw. A verdict of Accidental Death was returned.

RAYMEAD CHANGES HANDS Hendon & Finchley Times, 30th June 1933
The property known as Raymead, at the Finchley-lane end of Tenterden-grove, Hendon, has changed hands. For several decades it has been the home of the Langton family, a name closely identified with all good works in Hendon . . . In recent years the Raymead ladies [the Misses Langton] have specialised with entries at cat shows and have gained many awards.

[ALBINISM WHITENESS] Western Morning News, 3rd August 1933
Sir, That white sparrow at St. Columb Major, reported by "S.J.H.M.," was probably a true "albino," as it was one of a brood of otherwise normal birds . . . a true albino is one which the normal colour is entirely warning, due to the absence of the necessary pigment; in man and other animals albinism is almost invariably associated with deafness, or some other sense defect, and the eyes are pink. Ordinary whiteness, however . . . is not "albinism," because there is white pigment, and the eyes are of the normal colour . . . I recently saw a half-Persian tom cat which was pure white all over, but its eyes and faculties were quite normal, and it was therefore not "albino." - C. NICHOLSON. Tresillian, August 2.

107 KITTENS Lancashire Evening Post, 14th August 1933
Is it a record? A handsome tabby cat who has been brought up from her kittenhood at a small house in one of the suburbs of Preston is just now nursing her latest litter of four kittens. She is the same puss who distinguished herself by producing her 100th kitten on September 1st, 1932, the 100the anniversary of the signing of the teetotal pledge by the Seven Men of Preston. That 100th kitten, now a grown-up cat of adventurous disposition, was, of course, named Joe Livesey. His mother has had two more families since then, one of three boy kittens, and the latest of four, all boys. Her progeny, up to now, numbers 107. She is as healthy, as playful, as proud, and as careful as ever she was, though she is rising nine years.

The lady of the house has kept a careful record. She tells me that her cat has never had more than five in any litter, oftener three, and once only two. People don't usually keep records of such ordinary household events as kittens. It may be that 107 is quite a normal number for a healthy cat; but everybody who hears it seems surprised. A visitor from another country reports a story of a cat whose litter numbered nine kittens. At each subsequent she had one less until she came down to three. This fashion: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. Then she decided that three was the only sensible number. She now has three each time, never more nor less.

CATS' CONCERT. Lincolnshire Echo, 28th August 1933
Then is a malignity about a ferocious cat that Is possessed by no other animal and yet cats have their admirers. Two villagers at Burgh have just been to court about an incident over cats. It appears that cats had been gathering in strong muster at a certain spot, and holding a "chamber concert," to which one resident had promptly replied by throwing a brush at them. Her aim was bad, or the cats at Burgh were very persistent, for it was stated that she threw the brush 13 times. This enraged a neighbour, who it was alleged assaulted the brush thrower, being under the impression that it was her own cat that had been insulted. It appeared, however, that her cat was actually sitting quietly some distance away with a supercilious air, caring nothing for the fact that her champion would be bound over to keep the peace the next day.

WHY ARE MANX CATS TAILLESS? Sheffield Independent, 18th September 1933
Cats, Long-haired and Short, by Evelyn Buckworth-Soame (Methuen, 5s.)
The tailless Manx cat is still a mystery we are told in this interesting book. Some writers maintain they first came in vessels from the East. Others say they swarmed from vessels of the Spanish Armada. Others believe that an ordinary cat mated with a rabbit. Whatever happened, Manx cats are undoubtedly a race by themselves, being different in build and texture of coat from other cats. It will surprise outsiders that the vogue of cats is so great that the clubs exhibiting them are increasing. The first cat show was organised by Harrison Weir, the artist, in 1871, and the National Cat Club was formed in 1887. There are special clubs for nearly all the varieties, of which Miss Soame mentions no fewer than thirty. There is even a club for neuter cats, founded in 1910. The Siamese is the only breed of cat that has actually got two clubs. Siamese cats are wonderfully intelligent and affectionate. Another importation is the Abyssinian cat, which is the nearest approach to the sacred cat of ancient Egypt.

ONE CAT AT DOG SHOW Hull Daily Mail, 13th 13 October 1933
The Kennel Club's show at the Crystal Palace has been a record success, for in all 2,813 dogs were exhibited. Not the least interested witness of the show was a cat. How it obtained admission is not to be told, but it sat performing its toilet in front of Bench of Alsatians, heedless of the silent disdain that was projected towards it from the august exhibits. It seemed, however, to have assured itself that the chains of the Alsatians were securely fastened.

CARE OF CATS Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 18th October 1933
" Cats: Long-Haired and Short." By Evelyn Buckworth-Herne-Soame (Methuen, 5s.)
Since the National Cat Club was founded In 1887 the number of cat clubs has rapidly multiplied, and there are now so many people engaged in the breeding and showing of cats that this little book should find a ready public. The homely tabby, the painted tortolseshell, and their kind have been ousted In the show ring, and in many people's affections by the weird Siamese, that strange relic of Ancient Egypt, the Abyssinian, and by rare Persian beauties, but It Is comforting know how much the ordinary short-haired cat of the cottage fireside Is still fancied in Its various manifestations, red, tabby, black and silver. In fact, one of the pleasant aspects of cat fancying is that a cat of common origin can win on the bench, although pedigree Is, needless to say, important. All cat owners, whether or not they are Interested In these finer points, will find that Miss Buckworth-Herne-Soame has much useful advice to give on the management and upbringing of cats In health and disease.

PAW OF PEACE THEORY Dogs Turning Over a New Leaf? STIFF BOW INSTEAD OF "BOW-WOW" Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 16th November 1933
Dogs, according to a novel theory put forward by a correspondent to "The Times," are turning over a new leaf. They are giving up the time-honoured doggie pastime of making the poor cat's life a misery by
Barking at her;
Nibbling her tail;
Chasing her the nearest tree; and
Spilling her milk.

Dogs indeed if this theory be true, are remembering not the old school-tie, then perhaps the old dog's home collar. Their better natures are prevailing. The modern cat is being treated almost with a stiff bow, rather than a hostile tail imperilling "bow-wow." The paw of peace is held out.

"The average modern dog seems rather pointedly to ignore a cat," writes the correspondent, "while a cat, seeing a dog, usually assumes a menacing, or at least, defiant attitude. This is quite a different state of affairs from that of twenty years ago. What is the reason for this change? Twenty years is negligible in terms of evolution, yet something of the kind seems to be at work and if so to what end?"

Perhaps this new dog docility is a favourable omen for others besides cats. Postmen may soon be able to go happily on their way without the necessity of casting that wary glance behind as they come out of each garden. Dogs that have subscribed to the new disarmament code, too, will no longer feel it an obligation to frighten the baby, bite every fellow dog they meet, and keep a private collection of souvenirs from the dustmen, bakers, and butchers' clothing. All these reforms may be coming but alas! not just yet. When a "Sunderland Echo" representative to-day sought confirmation of the theory that dogs are almost ceasing to bark and bite experts revealed a very guarded optimism indeed.

Both dogs and cats live at the R S.P.C.A.'s Mayhew House in Trenmar Gardens, London, but even this co-educational establishment keeps the dogs and the cats carefully apart. "Some dogs are certainly very good with cats, but others will chase them," Mrs H. M. Frost, the secretary, explained. "I can't say that I have noticed any really marked difference in dogs In recent years. How a dog or cat behaves depends very largely on how it is brought up. Sealyhams will nearly always chase a cat and Airedales are not to be trusted with them. Fox terriers are not very good either, but the Scotch type of dog generally gets on well with cats."

Dr G. M. Vevers. superintendent of the Zoo, who numbers dogs among his hobbies, revealed some remarkable dog tendencies. "To generalize about all breeds of dogs Is foolish," said Dr Vevers, "because there are certain breeds that are brought up almost as hereditary enemies of cats. Take the cat, leopard, panther, or cheetah in its wild state in India. There you dare not let a dog out at night because they would get it at once. Over here nine out of ten bull terriers would go for a cat. I have had experience of breeding dogs of various kinds and you can certainly train certain breeds when young not to go for cats. Things were precisely the same 20 years ago. I have not observed any change in their dispositions. I imagine that, if you took a single strain of cat-hating dog and instilled into every successive generation that they have not to hate cats, then in the end they would not hate them, but it would take a long time. "

THE CAT THAT NEVER CAME BACK. GOSPORT POLICE COURT SEQUEL. Portsmouth Evening News , 21st November 1933
A pet cat which stayed into a neighbour's garden and there became the victim of the mistaken identity, was the cause of a case at Gosport Police Court this morning, when under the Protection of Animals Act, 1911, Elizabeth Pitcairn Cockburn, of 6, Peel Road, was summoned by Ethel Upson, of 2, Peel Road, for unlawfully personing the animal. Mr A.C. Kingswell appeared for the complainant and Mr Eric Ward for the defence.

Complainant said she missed the animal a year old she cat on the afternoon of November 5, and on the following day she asked Miss Cockburn whether she had seen it. After a time defendant stated she chloroformed a cat on the previous afternoon, and complainant identified the body as that of her cat. Miss Cockburn said she thought it was a stray cat.
By Mr Ward: Defendant said she mistook this cat for an ailing cat for which she had been looking. She expressed regret, and said this was the first mistake she had made.
The father of the complainant, Alderman C. Upson, said the defendant offered compensation, and asked him to talk the matter over. He told her it was a matter for the Court. The animal was perfectly healthy and normal and was not diseased.
Mr Ward submitted that there was no case to answer as the defendant acted in a bona fide manner, and with a reasonable cause. The Bench, however, decided that the case must go forward.
Defendant said she was a member of the Portsmouth and Southsea Committee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. During the fortnight prior to November 5, she had been trying to capture an ailing cat. The cat that she destroyed on November 5 she thought was the animal for which she had been looking. She did not know the cat concerned belonged to Miss Upson, and she was aghast when the complainant identified the body.
Inspector Maynard, R.S.P.C.A., spoke of the beneficent work of the defendant.
Defendant was bound over for 12 months, a condition being that she should not destroy any animal unless they were submitted by the owners unless they were submitted by the owners. She was also ordered to pay legal costs, 2 2s. and 4s Court costs.

FOR CAT LOVERS Middlesex County Times - Saturday 16 December 1933
In her latest book, "Kellvann," Mrs. Selwyn-Oxley, of Grange-road, Ealing, whose pen name is Kate Whitehead, deals with a Manx cat called Kellvann in the same sympathetic way as she told the story of "Stubby" in an earlier volume. This tail-less cat is credited with a high degree of intellect, fidelity, and affection, and in the introduction, the honorary secretary of the Manx Cat Club pays a tribute to Mrs Oxley's understanding of the breed. The book, which is delightfully illustrated, is published by the Epworth Press at 2/6.

THE WRONG CAT West Sussex Gazette, 15th February 1934
A rabbit shooting expedition undertaken at Steep on January 22 by the Rev. N. Livingstone, Vicar of Steep, and John Smith, bailiff at Bedales Farm, Steep, led to an unusual charge at Petersfield Sessions yesterday. It was against Smith for "unlawfully and maliciously killing a cat." It was a private prosecution, undertaken by Wm Hazzard, of Steep, who said the cat belonged to his daughter. Smith admitted shooting the cat. The defence was that this was a bona-fide mistake inasmuch as defendant said to the Vicar "Watch this cat," referring to a cat which was up a tree, and the Vicar replied, "Oh, that's the wild cat! Put it to sleep." The Vicar said he had been troubled for two years by a wild cat taking his rabbits. and although he did not see the cat in question he was under the impression that it was the wild cat. He said he had explained to Mr. Harvard that it was his fault and his responsibility. The Bench convicted. and fined defendant Al and 2 2s. costs.

ALL ABOUT CATS. CATS: LONG-HAIRED AND SHORT. BY EVELYN BUCKWORTH-HERNE-SOAME. Aberdeen Press and Journal, 6th March 1934
"All About Cats. Cats: Long-Haired and Short." By Evelyn Buckworth-Herne-Soame. Methuen: 5s. Many years' experience of breeding and showing cats qualify Mrs Buckworth-Herne-Soame as an authority on her subject. The book, "designed chiefly to help the amateur cat-breeder," to quote the preface, falls into three sections. The first contains a great deal of good advice on the housing, feeding, breeding, showing, and general management of cats and kittens. The second and third sections deal respectively with the long hair and short hair varieties. A chapter is devoted to each variety, describing the characteristics, mentioning representatives of the class which have gained distinction, and giving a list of their "club points.'' There is a chapter of veterinary notes by Mr Arthur Whicher, M.R.C.V.S.; another on "English Methods of Judging," by Mr F. W. Western, a well-known show judge, and a third by Mr Cyril Yeats, chairman of the G.C.C.F., on the various cat clubs of this country. A feature of the book is the beautifully reproduced photographs twenty-three of them illustrating the best types of to-day.

MIAOW! Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 17th March 1934
A tribute to the ingenuity Miss Dorothy Wills was paid at the lecture "at home" at Bath Guildhall, in connection with the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen on Friday last week. Realising that cats were fish consumers, Miss Wills formed a Cats' Club, and obtained 1,713 members the owners, of course! By this means she has raised a sum of nearly 80. The Mission is well supported in Bath, both by monetary subscriptions and in kind. Magazines are greatly appreciated by the fishermen, but, as was pointed out by the lecturer, railway time-tables and ladies' fashion books are not received by the trawlermen with any great degree of enthusiasm!

LIVERPOOL'S CATS Liverpool Echo, 28th March 1934
The recent drama of two valuable cats in the Sefton Park district, which, though pining for their mistress suddenly taking ill, were being kept alive by members of the Liverpool Cats' Club, recalls some very interesting facts about Liverpool's feline population. Liverpool's cat population is probably about 100.000 (writes" E. H."). and over 30,000 strays are received at the Liverpool R.S.P.C.A. Cats' Shelters annually; a third of these are injured or diseased. We seem to have some of the oldest cats in the country on Merseyside. When a 17-year-old cat died recently in America, it was claimed the oldest cat in the world. There are many cats over 20 years of age still living in the city, and Miss Greeves, secretary of the Liverpool Cat Club, tells me that the club has over 100 cat members (as well as its 200 human members), and notable cats to die last year were Tilly, from Corderstreet. at the advanced age of 26 years, and Peter, aged 24. The average age of a cat is 9 to 12 years. The rarest cat that belonged to the Cat Club was a female yellow cat from Lodge-lane, who also died last year; it was the first example they had known. Male tortoiseshell cats are also very rare, so rare that they are almost worth their weight in gold, for in the normal sequence male tortoiseshell cats do not occur in nature. One of the biggest cats in Liverpool is a black tom weighing over 20 lbs., owned by a Princes Park lady.

WILD CATS AT PALACE Lewisham Borough News, 28th August 1934
An army of wild cats roams the Crystal Palace, London s south-side pleasure ground, while unsuspecting trippers wander about listening to the bans, watching the boxing or the fireworks, or looking at the statues. Nobody ever sees them. They are intensely shy of human beings, and one theory is that they have escaped from time to time from the various cat shows that are held at the Palace. Many of these cats that track the wilderness of the Crystal Palace buildings are of the highest breeding, worth many hundreds of pounds. Officials put food down for them, and they emerge from their hiding places in the great organ to pick it up.

CAT SHOWS OFF HIS WINTER COAT Sheffield Independent, 25th September 1934
A black and white cat, evidently proud of his new winter coat, joined the mannequins at Cole Brothers' openings dress show yesterday. Pussy paraded aloofly down the aisle until the rivalry of a mink trimmed model proved too strong.

[CAT BOOK REVIEW] Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 26th September 1934
Again the cat enthusiast is catered for by Mrs Phyl Wade in her book on "The Siamese Cat," for which Mr Compton Mackenzie, who is president of the Siamese Cat Club, has written a most interesting preface. He has never known a cat that responded to a completely worthless human being. "On the other hand, no man is so base that he cannot secure the devotion of a dog." A cat demand wooing as a woman demands int, but like a woman, is capable of what man calls ingratitude, and what woman calls independence. Mr Mackenzie also has a theory that cats always seek out restful people, whereas dogs are rather like fidgety people. A dog is a Socialist, but a cat is an individualist. The photographic illustrations are excellent.

[COMPOSER "PETER WARLOCK" (PHILIP HESELTINE, COMPOSER)] Daily Herald, 29th October 1934
His love of cats was an obsession. Never did he miss a Crystal Palace Cat Show; his house in the country was overrun with them; he would jump off buses if he saw what he thought might be the "great Mog" the supreme cat which he pursued as Ahat pursued Moby Dick. His last act before his death was to put a saucer of milk outside for his cat.

THE SIAMESE CAT. By Phyl Wade. (Methuen, 5s.) Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 6th February 1935
"What are their faults" - writes Mr. Compton Mackenzie of Siamese cats in his witty and delightful introduction to this book - "compared with their virtues; with their sense of humour, their fidelity, their dauntless courage (except of the unknown), their playfulness, their conversational powers, their awareness of themselves, their honesty (by which I mean they will take a lobster off a table in front of you), their continuous passionate interest all that is going on around them, and their depth affection, which they are able to show in so many exquisite ways?"

Every year, it seems, more and more people are coming to agree with Mr. Mackenzie. The Siamese cat population of Great Britain increases steadily; last year the Siamese Cat Club held its record annual show; and this valuable little book by Its Chairman, Mrs. Phyl Wade, arrives opportunely to act as guide to those who are only beginning their association with these oddly fascinating cats, as well as to give help and counsel to older owners. The book is an admirably compact handbook breeding, veterinary treatment, exhibiting - everything, in fact, for the domestic owner fancier and decorated with some charming cat photographs.

THE CAT S CONTEMPT Portsmouth Evening News, 7th February 1935
With almost valiant contempt a small white cat, known as Snowdrop, found her way to-day into Cruft's Dog Show, the big dog exhibition in London. From a quiet warm corner she gazed round while bull-mastiffs glared from their benches, bloodhounds sniffed, and terriers bristled. But she was unperturbed. The hall echoed to the barks of hundreds of the aristocrats of the dog world but Snowdrop made no attempt to move until an attendant roused her with Come along, Snowdrop. Out you go, or you will be torn to pieces.

MET HIS MATCH Nelson Leader, 8th March 1935
A pussy of the tortoise-shell variety, and living somewhere in the vicinity of Brierfield Station, won the admiration of a few spectators on Wednesday afternoon, and one might say that many of her feline colleagues will in future have a warmth of feeling for her inconsequence of the deed she was seen to perform. In the locality referred is a dog, a notorious cat-chaser, ever on the look-out for quarry, and when in action rather proud to think it is providing good entertainment for the boys of the district, most of whom voice their delight wildly when the chase is in progress. On Wednesday afternoon, however, this dog met his match in the form of the tortoise-shell pussy referred to, and the result was that he had to make a humiliating retreat. After running for about fifty yards the cat made a sudden turn and pounced with extended claws and exposed teeth upon its pursuer. With an air of dignity the dog showed signs of making light of the situation, but he was helpless against the fury of the cat, which was playing havoc with the tenderest part of his nose. He was quick to see the wisdom of effecting a retreat, and unless he has a very short memory, he will be some time before he essays to have another round of his hitherto favourite sport.

COLOUR SCHEMES AND CATS. A BACKGROUND FOR THE SIAMESE. Leeds Mercury, 23rd March 1935
By One of Our Women Correspondents. LEEDS. Friday Night.
Ideas for colour schemes may be drawn from many sources the countryside, magazines, an art gallery, military uniforms, and so on. But the most curious source of inspiration that has yet come to my knowledge is - a pair of Siamese cats. A liking for Siamese cats is an acquired taste - like caviare - and without commenting on the attractiveness or otherwise of that animal, I record that its creamy coat darkens to seal-brown in the face, legs and tail, that it has pale blue eyes, and - though this has nothing to do with the colour scheme, a peculiarly broken voice. The living room, which is to be turned into an appropriate setting for this pair of cats, is one of the modern kind, with one end all window, and large glass doors leading into the hall. The walls and ceiling are to be done in a creamy wash to match the colour of the light parts of the cats' coats, and the woodwork a shade darker to tone with the darker ends of the cats' longer hairs.

Moss Green Carpet. It was originally intended that the floor should be covered with a light seal-brown fitted carpet, relieved by a cream or off-white rug in front of the fire, but later thoughts brought a change. The whole floor was covered with a medium-coloured American oak in strips, which toned with the browns of the cats and with the walls. For the rug an experiment was made with a clash to give character to the room. It was felt that a cream carpet would tend to swallow up the cats and make them invisible, so a dark moss green carpet square was chosen, with curtains of white cotton printed with a zoological pattern - birds, deer and conventional leaves - in the same shade of green. Against this green the cats show up well and, so say their admirers, seem to realise their striking appearance.

Weaves and Claws. Upholstering is carried out in a natural coloured jute fabric which is just the Siamese cat body colour, between cream and brown. It is woven in chevron pattern and is something new in upholstery fabrics, as jute weavers have only recently turned their attention to the furnishing field. It is rather coarse in weave but has the advantage of being difficult to soil, as it rubs clean. The disadvantage of such a weave in the room is that the cats' claws - and Siamese have long claws, some not going back properly into their sheaths - easily pull out odd threads. Cushions of the same green as the carpet complete these furnishings. Both the cats have an inborn sense of effect and pose on couch or chair arms, or on the carpet in positions that could not be improved upon by any artist or interior decorator. No matter when they are sitting they manage to make a well balanced composition.

CAT MAKES SUDDEN ATTACK ON WOMAN AT LEICESTER STATION Leicester Daily Mercury, 8th May 1935
Extraordinary Scene in Refreshment Room: Passengers Wife Taken To Infirmary
AN extraordinary scene, in which a Leicester woman was attacked by a white cat, occurred at Leicester L.M.S. Station last night. The woman was taken to the Royal Infirmary for treatment. She was Mrs Lucas, of 49, Princess-road, Leicester, and the Incident occurred when the refreshment room was crowded with railway passengers.

Mrs. Lucas was seeing her husband depart by train for Nottingham, and with Mr. Lucas entered the refreshment room leading her pet dog on a leash. Without warning the cat is stated to have sprung at the dog, and as Mrs. Lucas picked up her pet the cat jumped up at her and clawed her. Mrs. Lucas threw the cat to the ground, and instantly its claws pierced her leg. The cat was driven off by Mr. Lucas and others in the room. Mrs. Lucas collapsed in the waiting room and a Leicester Fire Brigade ambulance was summoned. Her leg wound was treated at Leicester Royal Infirmary, and she was later allowed to proceed home.

In an interview with the Leicester Mercury, Mrs. Lucas said the cat showed unusual ferocity in its attack. It must have bitten me as well as clawed me," she said. I was overcome with shock as it attacked me.

Mr. Lucas caught a later train to Nottingham. Tibbles, the cat which injured Mrs. Lucas, is the pet of the refreshment-room staff, and is owned by the cook. It recently had kittens, and a kitten was by its side when the incident occurred. The manageress of the refreshment-room stated in an interview that the cat sprang at the dog, doubtless fearing that its kitten was in danger. Mrs. Lucas met with her injury in rescuing her dog. Mrs. Lucas received further medical attention to-day.

Another cat story to-day comes from Merioneth. In an endeavour to widen its horizon, a cat climbed to the top of an electric lighting pole at Blaenau Festiniog, Merioneth. It had a look round, and then tried to return. Its courage failed, and it was stranded. Police-Constable Ben Davies came along, but saw he could do nothing single handed, and he summoned the fire brigade. Fireman Parry mounted the ladder, but pussy did not welcome his attentions. With true feline ferocity, it spat and scratched and bit.

The fireman descended. He discussed the matter with his chief, donned a pair of leather gloves, and went once more into the lion's den. Long and noisy was the struggle, but finally Fireman Parry succeeded in getting a grip of the spitfire, and brought him to earth - a sadder and a wiser animal - amid the cheers of the crowd.

THOMAS Nelson Leader, 12th July 1935
Thomas, a well-known cat residing in the fashionable quarter of Newchurch-in- Pendle, left home about 11 a.m. on the 23rd day of last month. He was seen to pass up the road as though about to call on a friend, since when, up to late last Tuesday evening, nothing more was heard about him. Various theories ware applied to his disappearance, his owner finally concluding that Thomas, due to a craving for adventure, had met a sticky end. However, Thomas turned quite intact and in robust health last Tuesday evening, looking rather like one who had had a jolly good holiday. The theory' that Thomas has been suffering from loss of memory is emphatically opposed by the owner.

SIAMESE CATS HOLD CONVENTION FOR SURVEY OF THE HUMAN RACE The Ottawa Journal, October 15, 1935.
From the London Times. The sevenscore Siamese cats, which met last week in London for their annual survey, through show-room bars, of the human race, had much matter for common consideration. Since they were last assembled together, disturbing and perplexing events had crowded upon the land of their fathers; and the news had been such as to exercise the sombre thoughts of cats upon the death of princes and the fall of kings.

The issue of their reflections is likely to remain a secret, for the heart of a cat is not worn upon his brown velvet sleeve; but it is safe to assume that all revolutions are suspect in those bright blue eyes, as tending to violate that sense of dignity and tradition which makes the inner quality of feline life. Nevertheless, it does not seem that the vicissitudes of dynasties have been complicated by any graver outrage; there is no suggestion that indignity has been offered to the exalted feline personages who lap the cream of religious veneration in the palaces and temples of Bangkok.

The exiled relatives of those personages, basking in the enjoyment of an almost equal reverence from their own devotees, may further reflect that no inroad has been made upon the hereditary right of their race, which corresponds to privilege of peerage among bipeds.

A cat is entitled to look at a king; and, in spite of abdication and the advancing democratic tide, there is still a king to look at, not only in Siam, but in all other countries that have had the good taste to commit their international honor to the keeping of their cats. Persian cats have not parted with their Shah, nor Abyssinian with their Negus - to whose flecked and brindled subjects the purr of solidarity in the present crisis must surely have gone forth from their Asiatic kindred at Chenies street; and the Manx and the British short hair are at one with the Eastern branches of the family in their continued enjoyment of the only worthy object of feline contemplation.

Indeed, if the continuance of kingly rule in these favored countries be contrasted with the spread of republicanism in those which have no distinctive breed of their own, the inference is irresistible that monarchy owes its survival among human institutions to the deep and secret diplomacy of cats. Here then is the explanation of that impenetrable serenity which abashes the visitor to every cat show a serenity belonging to the most conservative of worldly forces, and proceeding from the assurance that men and women pass, and even their rulers are but mirrors for the complacency of cats; but cats go on for ever.

MAINE COON CAT LOSES CHANCE IN H. M. NAVY The Bangor Daily News, 2nd August 1935
BAR HARBOR, Aug. 1 - Learning that Capt. W. H. G. Fallowfield, commanding H.M.S. Dundee, at present in port had lost his cat, Penelope, Dr. John B. Ells, chairman of the town’s naval committee, considered presenting a handsome Maine coon kitty to take Penelope's place. However, investigation revealed: (1) That the captain is to return to England, and (a) his wife can't abide cats, and (b) England does not admit cats until after six months' quarantine. (2) That, by taking shore leave at Bermuda and not returning, Penelope settled a sore question, arising from the difficulty of getting her home, to wit, whether (a) she should be transferred to some other ship, or (b) tied to the anchor or otherwise disposed of. Capt. Fallowfield expressed his appreciation of Bar Harbor thoughtfulness, but the presentation will not take place.

GINGER Western Daily Press, 3rd December 1935
On the office side door as one came in yesterday morning was a notice, "Young ginger and black cat strayed into this office Saturday morning. Will owner please apply for it." Ginger is a typical city member of the race feline rather wild and, as yet, not over-partial to friendly advances, She is, however, a very nice-looking cat and, like many others, very wise in knowing where to pitch her tent when in trouble. Exactly what her trouble is, however, 'tis hard to say. Often they come here when pussy babies are expected. Many a city cat has opened its eyes somewhere on the ground floor of this office and, having been given a good start in life, has passed out into the world of warehouses to do its bit in the matter of waging relentless warfare on the rodent tribe. The city's indebtedness to homeless, cats in this direction cannot be estimated, and for that reason alone business people should always have a kindly regard for those that occasionally turn up in offices and other places in the centre of the city. They break away from the ordinary routine of their lives for a reason we humans cannot understand, but which to them, no doubt, is a very good reason. Ginger, needless to say, is being very well looked after and perhaps will be loath to leave having sampled the office rations and the kindly interest of the many animal lovers on our staff.

CATS WARNING SAVES FAMILY Linlithgowshire Gazette, 27th December 1935
Seven people probably owe their lives this Christmas to a little black cat which cried pitifully in a house in a tenement building m Gorbals, Glasgow, Saturday night, and thus gave the first warning of a serious gas poisoning mishap. The extreme weather had caused a crack in a gas main pipe in Inverkip Street, and the escaping gas gradually found its way under the tenement building. As a result of the fumes which found their way into several houses, six people were taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary completely overcome . . . In one of the houses in the building, a policeman rescued a dog and a cat which had been overcome by the poisoned air.

CATS IN PLENTY AT OAKHAM Grantham Journal, 25th January 1936
Chatting with an Oakham tradesman the other day, a cat suddenly crossed our path, and looking in the direction whence it came I was amazed to see snugly snoozing on a large heap of straw behind wire netting about half-a-dozen cats of all sizes and colours. "Those are no ordinary cats said my informant. "They are wild, and altogether they number about 15 16. If you went inside and tried to catch them, I do not think you would succeed. They run wild and come from all directions. I must confess that not having been to a cat show, I had never seen so many gathered together. My informant was Mr W.M. Strickland, of Church-street, who told me some interesting "tales concerning these remarkable wild cats" as he called them. Incidentally, he was showing me round his fine collection of prize specimens of the poultry world which he accommodates in close proximity to the lair of the cat family.

ORDEAL ON TREE CAT RESCUED AT LOUGHBOROUGH Leicester Evening Mail, 15th April 1936
Perched insecurely at the top of a 30-feet tree in Loughborough Queen's Park, a cat has spent an uncomfortable week-end. Yesterday the pitiful cries of the animal were heard by schoolchildren. and a gardener, Mr. G. Wellhead, rescued it by means of a ladder. The cat showed signs of being exposed to the weather, but recovered after the care of a cat-lover living nearby.

CATS OF HIGH DEGREE Falkirk Herald, 29th April 1936
By Lydia Lidstone. That mysterious animal, the cat or drawing-room tiger, it has been called, has again become very popular. I say again, because years before our epoch it was a sacred being in Egypt, and in the times of the Pharoahs to injure or destroy it meant the death penalty. Cats were kept in temples, and embalmed after death; their mummies can still be seen in museums. For centuries we have just thought of the household cat as what we might call the British hearthrug variety - a part of every home, certainly, but not a creature to be highly esteemed or bred with care. To-day, however, all that is changed, and cat shows and cat breeding have brought the cat right into the limelight, and made the world recognise her as the highly important being she has always known herself to be! And the fact is that no more fascinating pet exists.

In addition to the hearthrug variety mentioned, there are now some very distinguished, beautiful, and costly breeds, and experts devote their lives to rearing and selling them. The blue Persians, the cream Persians, the lovely Chinchillas, the orange Tabbies, to mention but a few, are all choice and fine breeds, and a pedigree kitten can be a costly possession. But, irresistible and exquisite as the Persian kits are, think of all the breeds now attainable, the increasingly popular and fashionable Siamese must hold pride of place. For anyone desiring a really ideal and very original pet, a young neuter Siamese would difficult to equal. This aristocratic and remarkable-looking animal is unique in that he manages to combine many of the qualities of both the cat and the dog. He has the soft coat and general appearance of a cat, but will follow like a dog, and has the capacity for deep personal attachment and devotion more usually associated with that animal.

All the mystery and glamour of the East seem to lurk in these strange cats, with their wide, brilliant China-blue eyes, shrill, weird voices, strange colouring, kinked tail, and odd air of a lost spirit seeking something it cannot find! They seem to need human friendship, one might say love, in a quite unusual degree, which makes them very suitable for lonely people wanting one for its company and society. They often attach themselves strongly to one person, and never seem happy when parted, uttering their plaintive cry in a most strange fashion. They are not all like the homely, cosy cat of our childhood, dozing happily on the mat, but appear to be full of some melancholy spirit, seeking consolation! This may not sound attractive, but as a matter of fact it is! Other cats regard them with a mixture of dislike, suspicion and scorn, but experience soon teaches them not to show it too plainly! Milk, fish, and rabbit are favoured foods with them, as with their more commonplace brethren. The kittens are strange little things, like white rats, but they soon become attractive.

"SOMETHING I WANT TO SAY." CATS' CLUB BY LADY MARGARET SACKVILLE Daily Record, 26th May 1936
The cats in this Terrace have annexed the next door garden. Or rather the two cats which own it have invited one or two others, carefully chosen, to form a Club. They meet there, play games, eat, sleep, and otherwise behave as cats and gentlemen are wont to behave in clubs. It is a very popular club. Neither Jumbo, my own, nor Peter, the cat next door, can be induced, except by force, to leave it for more than a few minutes at a time. Dorothy and Kitty, their devoted waiting-maids, sally forth three or four times a day, with determined looks and gestures, to return with a black burden protesting (or for the moment quiescent) in their arms. In vain, Peter, Jumbo, may condescend to stay for a short period, partake of a little food, curl up on the rug in pretended content - even be civil enough to (very infrequently) purr. A matter of form only; cats are celebrated for their polished manners. Yet at the first opportunity they eagerly depart. The Call of the Club is irresistible.

We can say, at least, as wives do under the same circumstances, of their husbands; "Anyhow, we know where they are!" They are not - these self-willed creatures - straying into traps or mischief. Still considered as domestic comforts (I am referring to cats), they leave something to be desired. And who on earth started the legends of cats devoted to their own homes? (Cats, I mean, of course!) I am not, myself, privileged owing to my inferior status as a human being, to the Constitution and Rules of the Club. Black-balling is enforced beyond a doubt. On what Grounds Jumbo alone could inform me, but he is secret as a Freemason. Yet the evidence is clear. Billy Roberts, also a Terrace Cat, is, for example, not eligible. Whenever he appears game. are stopped and Billy severely boycotted. This very exclusive Club will - whether from motives of personal dislike or graver reasons - have none of him! Jumbo, Peter, and the other members, disagree as they may on less vital matters, are unanimous on this: Billy Roberts is taboo.

Poor Billy Roberts! An ugly cat, I must admit.: He visited me one day and though I sympathised with his general lost appearance (not knowing at the time of his Club misfortunes) I found his cringing yet would-be audacious manner unattractive. So do we behave after a course of (to us) unaccountable snubs from our own kind. He was ugly, I repeat, - but are cats then so very sensitive in the matter of feline good looks? Certainly Billy is by no means a Clark Gable amongst cats, nor is he very well turned out. A tabby suit from a reach-me-down tailor he struck me as wearing! Jumbo and Peter, immaculately clad in glossy black suits perfectly fitting, would never pass that. They would not be seen dead at a dog show in Billy's suiting.

"Billy Roberts, an awful outsider," said one to the other. "What's he doing here anyhow?"

Not that Jumbo can say very much since he scorched his coat before the fire last winter! An ugly, black, dowdy patch - not properly covered even now. If Billy Roberts should ever notice it . . .

STORIES OF CATS Framlingham Weekly News, 30th May 1936
Many cat lovers (remarks the Children s Newspaper ) are saddened by the aspersions cast on the moral qualities of their favourites by those whose sympathies lie in the other camp. More than one great man is said to have hated and despised cats. Yet we have just heard true stories, told by one who loves them, proving them to be not only intelligent but lovable creatures.

The ship s cat that by some mischance was left behind when the ship left the harbour, and boarded another boat and re-joined its own at the next port of call, may or may not have known what it was doing. Its friends declared it did. But there was another cat which was evidently out to see the world and changed boats when necessary. It left Hamburg in a passenger boat for Buenos Aires, went on from there to Chile, changed into a tramp steamer which took it through the Panama Canal to New York, and there took a passenger boat back to Hamburg. If this cat showed intelligence and a determined spirit of adventure another gives daily proof of devotion. Every afternoon at the same hour it walks to the station to meet a certain train by which its master is in the habit of returning from town in order to walk home with him.

A pretty story is told of two Siamese she cats. They had kittens at the same time, after which one of the two mothers was attacked by an illness which partially paralysed her hind legs. In spite of her lameness she carried her kittens one by one round to her friend, and laid them into the basket beside the other two kittens. Then the two mothers had a little talk, whereupon the lame cat retired and left her offspring to the care of the other. Once day the invalid returned and fed all seven kittens. In fortnight she was quite well again. Henceforth the two mothers brought them up together.

The next story is a pathetic one of a blind tom-cat, which, too old and ill to move, lay, unknown to the house folk, in a corner of a cellar. Every day another tom-cat was seen to streak across the yard with a piece of meat or fish in its mouth and to disappear through a broken cellar window. Investigations were made, and the blind cat was found surrounded by fish bones and other remnants of the food with which his friend had regularly provided it. Evidently, friendship is not confined to human beings.

Yet another story comes from America. A Chicago lady sent her cat to an aunt who lived at Wilber, in Nebraska, 600 miles away. Cookie the cat stayed for a month at its new home and then wandered away. Meanwhile the original owner moved another part of Chicago, but recently, when walking past her old home, she saw a poor-looking cat which on closer inspection proved to Cookie! Had Cookie walked the 600 miles home?

ANOTHER COSTLY SHOT. SECOND CASE AAINST A MEVAGISSEY MAN, HEAVY FINE AT ST. AUSTELL PETTY SESSIONS. Cornish Guardian, 4th June 1936
At St. Austell Petty Sessions yesterday, Norman Edward May, haulage contractor, of Church Street, Mevagissey, pleaded "not guilty" to causing unnecessary suffering to a cat by unreasonably shooting and wounding it on Sunday evening, May 23rd. Mr. E. R. King prosecuted on behalf of the R.S.P.C.A., and Mr. R. L. Frank defended. Mr. King said it was one of those deplorable cases where unnecessary pain and suffering was caused to an animal unable to retaliate or protect itself and which was in no way doing any harm.

On Sunday evening between 7.30 and 8 Mrs. Sweet, who lives in a house opposite the defendant's, was standing in her doorway. She saw defendant walking in his front garden looking about. She saw him re-enter his house by the front door and two minutes later heard the sound of a shot being fired as if from an air-gun. Almost immediately she saw a grey coloured cat bolt out from the top gate, run across the street and disappear down a side street. She was quite certain the shot was fired in the grounds of defendant's house. Mrs. Sweet's husband and Mr. Samuel Hicks, who were also in Church Street at the time, also heard the sound of a shot in the direction of defendant's house and saw the cat dart out. Evidence he would call went to show that the cat must have been in the shrubbery near the top gate. Afterwards P.C. Glover saw bloodstains on the steps leading from the house and a trail of blood leading across the road and down a back street to the doorway of Mr. Robins's fish store. Getting the keys of the store the constable found the cat on the top of a barrel. It was wounded in the left eye and was in a very distressed and terrified state. Because of its condition he had the cat destroyed. The constable then went to defendant's house and interviewed the defendant. On telling defendant about the cat he said he knew nothing about it, having been indoors all the evening. He was then asked if he would care to come out and see the bloodstains and he replied- "No, I don't choose to."

Mr. King suggested that if defendant was an innocent man he would have been so horrified that he would have been prepared to see the bloodstains. On the following Tuesday, Inspector Touhy, of the R.S.P.C.A., would say he found a slug in the neck of the cat, the slug being identical with the slugs used in the air-gun which defendant had possessed. On Saturday, May 9th he saw the defendant and told him he had been reported to the Society. Defendant replied that he knew nothing about it and said he had given the gun away before the Sunday. Mrs. Sweet and her husband, George Howard Sweet, joiner, and Samuel Hicks, builder, gave evidence bearing out Mr. King's statement as to hearing the gun and seeing the cat. P.C. Glover said there was a continuous uninterrupted trail of blood from the house to the fish store and at one spot there was a pool of blood. In consequence of the condition of the cat he had it put in a bag and drowned it in a barrel on the premises. The cat when found was suffering great pain.

Cross-examined---Witness admitted that defendant said, "I have got one lot of police court proceedings and I don't want another. Daniel Touhr, R.S.P.C.A. Inspector, said when he saw defendant on May 9th he did not say why be had given the gun away nor to whom he had given it. A cat contained about half a pint of blood. Judging by the amount this cat had lost it had not much left by the time it got to the store where it was found. Jonathan Barron, junr., of Church Street, Mevagissey, shopkeeper, the owner of the cat, said it was a blue Persian.

Opening the defendant's case, 'Mr. Frank said the case for the defence was that defendant did not shoot at this cat. He agreed that the shooting of the cat was deplorable, but it would be quite as deplorable if he was convicted of a thing like that which he never did. No one saw him with an air-gun and all the evidence had been purely circumstantial. The evidence that the cat came out after the gun was fired was the only evidence against Mr. May. He ventured to suggest that had it not been in fact that Mr. May had been charged and convicted of shooting a dog at the last Court and fined 5 and 6 costs and that it was in the air at the time no-one would have attributed the shooting of the cat to defendant. Everyone knew it was coming on for hearing. The influence of that case had led to the present case in which the evidence was so palpably circumstantial. Defendant gave the gun away before that cat was shot because of the prosecution that was pending against him in the case of the dog at that time. That case had made an impression at Mevagissey, it might not be a wrong impression but because of it, it had lent support to the circumstantial evidence that Mr. May shot the cat. But he submitted that there was no evidence that he did it.

In evidence the defendant said "Definitely no. I did not shoot that cat on May 3rd. He injured his foot playing football on May 1st and had a bad foot which prevented his going to work the following day and kept him indoors on Sunday. He admitted going out into the garden for a few minutes in the evening. On the day in question he was not in possession of a gull, having given it to his brother-in-law, a Mr. Whetter, the previous night at about 10.30. He then had the summons about shooting a dog which was coming on the following Wednesday. That was one of the reasons he parted with the gun and be had no other gun in his house. After the last case the attitude of people at Mevagissey towards him and his family was such that he had to complain to the police and to the schoolmaster because of the attitude school children adopted towards his two children aged 6-and-a-half and 5. When going to school and in the street they had been subjected to persecution and when out shopping children had looked in their basket and asked if there was a cat or gun there. As regards the slug found in the cat being similar to those used in his gun, he said the same slugs were used in four different sizes of guns. There had been other cats shot in Mevagissey, one on May 13, when he was in St. Austell all day.

Cross-examined Defendant said he was in his house at the time the shot was said to be fired, but he did not hear it. The only other persons there were his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law. A shot could have been fired and he not heard it. When asked why he did not tell the constable who came to see him after the occurrence that he had given away the gun, defendant said the constable was only there a minute. Asked to suggest why witnesses should give the evidence they had if it was not true, defendant said some people in Mevagissey were now rather vindictive against him.
Mrs. May, wife of the defendant, said her brother took the gun away when she was there.

Mrs. Catherine Eugene Johns, Church Street, Mevagissey, called by the defence, said her cat was shot and injured on Wednesday, May 13.
Cross-examined She said the time was between 5 and 8 in the evening and that evening she saw defendant's car outside his house at about a quarter to seven.
Mr. King: That would be between the times when your cat must have been shot? Yes.
You heard the defendant say he alone drives his car? Yes.
You heard him say that on that day he was in St. Austell all day between 9 a.m. and 9.90 p.m.? Yes.
So when defendant says he was in St. Austell the whole day of May 13 he must be telling an untruth? Yes.
Re-examined Witness said she lived close to defendant's house.

Thomas Whetter, of St. Ewe, defendant's brother-in-law, said he took defendant's gun away on the Saturday night and defendant could not have had it on the Sunday unless he came for it which he did not.
Cross-examined Witness said he lived three miles from Mevagissey. The gun was not at defendant's house on the Sunday.
Jack Williams, employed at Messrs. Hill and Phillips, St. Austell. and John Wm. Stevens also gave evidence.
After a retirement of several minutes the Chairman (Mr. W. Hall) announced that the Bench were unanimous that this was a case for conviction and fined defendant 6, and ordered him to pay 1 16s. 6d. witnesses expenses, and two guineas advocate s fee.

[CATS AND HOLIDAYS] Hendon & Finchley Times, 24th July 1936
I am a great lover of animals, and it always pains me to see them suffering. For the past week so, I have been entertaining a cat belonging to a nearby resident, who is now away on holiday. My entertaining," by the way, is quite unofficial. The owner made arrangements for a drop of milk and a little meat to be placed on the back door-step every morning, and so far as I know the animal makes good use of it. So the cat is not starving, anyway. In spite of that, I think the whole thing is rather unfair to it. A cat is a sociable creature who likes company. It soon becomes a member of the family, and when the other members take their departure the cat must feel lonely and miserable. I think that people going away on holiday should not only provide food for their pets, but should place them completely in the care of responsible neighbours or transfer them temporarily to one of the many homes for animals which are to be found in and around London.

[KILLED CAT] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 6th August 1936
Alleged have kicked and beaten his neighbour's cat so that It died from its injuries. Cecil Cotton Sharples, clerk, of Downham Street, Blackburn, at Blackburn yesterday, was fined with 3 18s 6d. costs. It was stated that Sharples told a policeman that he found the cat in his child's bedroom.

SILENT CAT SHOW Nottingham Journal, 15th September 1936
London s most silent and dignified public exhibition to-day was a cat show. There were five hundred cats in one room off Manchester-square and not a miaow between them. By way of explanation I must add that they were about 2,000 years old Egyptian cat figures collected by Mr. Neville Langton during the last quarter of a century. I suppose a live dog is the nearest thing to a god in some English homes. Among the Egyptians the cats were goddesses and most of the cats in Mr. Langton s collection were the presiding deities made from precious metals in Egyptian homes and palaces. Whereas the modern dog worshipper trims his pet with a bow or coloured collar, the Egyptians decked their cats with earrings and nose-rings.

WILD CATS AND TAME The Scotsman, 10th October 1936
I have recently been staying in a district where the wild cat is plentiful and from a stalker well versed in natural history learned some interesting facts about what is probably the fiercest wild animal of the British Isles. My informant told me that crosses between the wild cat and the domestic cat are not uncommon, and that the kittens born to a domestic cat, even if the father be a pure wild cat, may be tamed provided they are handled by human hands before their eyes are opened. These crosses are excellent ratters and mousers, and may be as tame and affectionate as a tame cat, but the wild strain in their nature may come out in a curious way. In one sf the houses of the glen was a young cat whose father was a wild cat, yet, since it had been handled before its eyes were open, it was tame, and even affectionate, and appeared thoroughly at home, when one day the owner of the house brought a young dog into the room. The cat, seated by the fire, saw the dog, and for a moment crouched motionless, staring at the intruder. It then rushed out of the house and was never seen again. S.G.

MYSTERY OF THE TWO BLACK CATS Dundee Evening Telegraph, 12th October 1936
Workers passing in the early morning through Queen Street, Forfar, have been puzzled by the strange behaviour of two black cats. Every morning the cats are to be seen in the same position at the same time (about 5.45) one sitting on a dyke, the other on the pavement. One morning, a little later than usual, I saw the mystery which puzzled me for months solved (writes a correspondent). The sound of a pair of hobnailed boots could be heard coming from the east end of the street, and as the wearer approached, both cats, showing unmistakeable signs of excitement, started to walk slowly towards him. When a man's voice called softly, the cats ran towards him as fast as their legs could carry them. Round the bend came the cat-charmer, a coalman, talking all the time to his furry friends, who were gambolling around him.

On the subject of cats, it is interesting to mention an amusing experience which befell a well-known Forfar football enthusiast recently. He is the owner of a cat still in the "kitten" stage. He went out to Station Park to see a match and got a big shock when on looking up he saw his cat sitting on a nearby fence. It had followed its master to the game, and was sitting waiting for him to go home.

FELIX KEPT ON WALKING Catholic Standard, 29th January 1937
Yet another cat has come into the news - this time in Paarl, South Africa. It appears that this one walked 400 miles to get back to its old home at Paarl. Its home is now the property of a new owner, who bought the house six months ago from the previous owners, now living in Springbok, Namaqualand, miles from Paarl. The new tenant noticed that they had a cat and that they took It away with them. Last week he saw a cat crawl through his front door. It could hardly stand. It was the cat which had been taken away, and which had come home 400 miles to find its old home! After attention and careful doctoring, the cat became quite strong again.

[CAT ON PASSENGER S LAP] DEATH OF THREE PEOPLE IN ROAD SMASH Northampton Mercury, 5th February 1937
[. . .] I suddenly saw a motor-car appear out of the fog about seven or eight yards in front of me without any lights, and it was well in the centre of the road. . . . Barton Seagrave, said William James Harris and the others left his house at 9.40 p.m. on the night of the accident. Harris was driving, and his mother sat beside him. Kathleen Harris was behind the driver, and Ivy Harris behind Mrs. Harris. . . . Miss Harris had a large white cat on her lap, witness told Mr. Hales, who remarked that cats did not usually ride in cars. . . . Replying to Mr. Wilson, witness said the cat gave no trouble once the engine had been started.

[CAT ON PASSENGER S LAP] A BOXING NIGHT TRAGEDY Leamington Spa Courier, 5th February 1937
Replying to Mr. Hales, witness said that a large white cat was being held by the front passenger in the car. It was a very quiet animal. The girl was sitting on the luggage. The cat curled upon Mrs. Harris s lap and she stroked it when the car started.

CAT STRANGLER SOUGHT. R.S.P.C.A. OFFERS REWARD FOR INFORMATION. Leeds Mercury, 6th February 1937
From Our London Staff FLEET STREET, Friday. For some nights past, police officers, aided by R.S.P.C.A. inspectors in disguise, have been searching the Fulham district for the person believed to be a maniac - who has killed a number of cats by strangling them and hanging them on railings. To-day the R.S.P.C.A. announced that they are offering a reward of 100 to anyone who will give information which leads to the conviction of the person concerned. An examination of the bodies of the cats shows that some of them have died in terrible agony, an official of the Society told a reporter. Twelve cases in which cats have been put to death in this manner have come to the Society s notice.

SEARCH FOR A CAT STRANGLER. MANIAC'S DEPREDATIONS. 100 REWARD OFFERED. Belfast Telegraph, 6th February 1937
For some nights past police officers, aided by R.S.P.C.A. inspectors in disguise, have been searching the Fulham district of London for the person believed to be a maniac who has killed a number of cats by strangling them and hanging them on railings. The R.S.P.C.A. announced on Friday that they are offering a reward of 100 to anyone who will give information which leads to the conviction of the man or woman concerned. "An examination of the bodies of the cats shows that some of them have died in terrible agony," an official of the Society told a reporter. "One cat in its death struggle clawed away a good deal of mortar from the wall on which it had been hanged. Its paws were raw." The society appeal to the public to help in the matter. Twelve cases in which cats have been put to death in this manner have come to the society's notice. Inspectors in plain clothes are on duty 'each night from five p.m. until eight a.m.

WE RE WORTH MORE NOW! THERE S A SHORTAGE OF KITTENS LIKE THESE. Daily Herald, 24th February 1937
There is a shortage of kittens. Many cat-lovers have been surprised to find that when they have a vacancy for a kitten they can no longer get half a dozen for the trouble of carrying them home. Pet shops are even charging half-a-crown each for very ordinary cats without pedigrees or any unusual mousing abilities! Some dealers are finding it worth while to follow up domestic rumours of happy events, and to salvage two or three of the handsomer kittens from each litter. But the kittens they choose are always males, and that is one reason for the cat shortage.

Modern town life makes it less possible to keep a pet which will produce perhaps eighteen or twenty other pets in a year, and so female cats are being drowned. Further, a large majority of the toms visit the vet and do not become parents. Another factor is slum clearance. The bad houses which are gradually being cleared away, were overcrowded, not only with human beings, but with stray and semi-stray cats. And of course, the rat and mice on which the stray cat largely lives become scarcer as the old buildings vanish. The third big menace to cats is feline distemper. This disease, about which very little is yet know, has for several winters past killed many thousands of cats.

The aristocracy of the cat world, however, is not suffering. Mr. Cyril Yeates, secretary of the National Cat Club, says that six of seven hundred fresh pedigree registrations are made each year.

CAT AND DOG AFFAIR Western Daily Press, 29th March 1937
The story of cafe cat, related in your Notes one day last week," writes Mr Robert Brown, of Redcliff Street "brought to mind an experience I had many years ago when paying a visit to a Government office in Queen Square. As soon as I got inside with my dog, well trained act at a word or sign, and quite able to take his own part, two savage cats fell on him. I rushed to the entrance and called my dog out, he obeyed immediately. Just then someone boasted that it was a good thing I had acted promptly as many dogs much bigger than mine had been put to flight, sometimes right across Queen Square with a cat on its back. I went over to the railings, across the road and tied my dog, when I came back into the building I told the boastful gentleman who was so proud of the pluck of his cats that he had better keep them inside whilst I was transacting my business, because if they went for my dog again i would not interfere and would have to put up with the consequences, needless to say he kept his cats inside.

ARISTOCRAT FROM SIAM Britannia and Eve, 1st April 1937
There are to-day 500 members of the Siamese Cat Club. This is the largest cat club in Europe, and its size proves the enormous present-day popularity of the Siamese cat. Its rise to favour has, indeed, been phenomenal, when one thinks that before the war there were scarcely more than a handful of breeders of Siamese cats in England, and very few people who had ever even seen one. Even now small boys who see my cats running in the garden will say What's that? A monkey? Is it wild? I find these questions very difficult to answer myself, after some years of keeping Siamese, for the question What is a Siamese cat? is impossible to answer definitely. That is part of their charm, the mystery of their origin. Legend plays, perhaps, as great a part in their history as fact.

Most people are agreed that Egypt was the first country to have domesticated cats indeed, the Egyptians appreciated the qualities of these animals so much that they worshipped them, and had their bodies embalmed after death. This probably explains the attitude of most cats of to-day. Human beings were made to wait upon them and administer to their material needs. All they have to do is to look ornamental. Egypt in the past had a flourishing trade with the East, and it is believed that cats were sent out in ships to protect the grain from rats, and so arrived in the Malay Archipelago, the home of the Siamese cat of to-day. In Malay there was the Sacred Cat of Burmah and the Annamite cat (the Annamite cat had a kink in its tail, a marked characteristic of some Siamese), and somehow from these the Siamese cat evolved, the skull and body having the shape of the cats of Egypt. So highly were these cats regarded in Siam that for two centuries they were allowed to be owned only by the king, and so were exclusively found in the royal city of Bangkok. Thus their full name Royal Siamese."

Occasionally a grateful monarch would present to a foreign friend a specimen of these much-prized pets, and so gradually they found their way abroad, though not until the beginning of this century were they a breeder's proposition in England. The Siamese Cat Club was founded in 1901, and though the war for a time held up importations, the present day shows one upward curve of increasing popularity. The reason for this vogue is undoubtedly the character of the Siamese cat itself. Attracted to it first by its beauty, the new owner's affections are quickly enchained by its quaintness and originality, by its quick intelligence and lively interest in all its owner's doings, by its vitality and grace of movement. The Siamese cat is often called "A cat-and dog-in-one." It can be taken out for walks on a collar and lead, if trained from a kitten. It adores going out in a motor-car. One cat I know always accompanies his master, a busy doctor, on his rounds. It can be taught tricks like dogs, too. It develops little tricks of its own. No Siamese ever repeats another Siamese trick. They are much too individual.

The Siamese with a kink (a sort of knot in the tail) is thought to be more amusing and original as a pet than the straight-tailed type, though the judges frown on the kink in the show-pen these days. I think this is a pity, as it is certainly one of the most striking features of the breed and, as it is inherent, will be difficult anyway to eradicate. How the Siamese cat possesses those brilliant blue eyes, which are a great part of its beauty, is something of a mystery. Some think it due to their being part albino. Certainly the eyes turn ruby-red in the dark, lighting up like lamps at night, or when they are angry or excited. Some cats that are described in the show-pen as having bad eye colour have a definite pink tinge in a pale-blue eye, instead of the admired bright blue.

The Siamese cat is spotlessly clean and, of course, is much less trouble to brush and keep tidy than the former favourite, the Persian. Original in all things, he generally scorns milk as being the mainstay of the ordinary tile-walker. Water he loves (again like a dog), and raw meat to tear his teeth on and remind him of his wild ancestry. Bones for his jaws to grind, cooked rabbit and fish, are his staple diet, with brown bread to provide the vitamin B necessary to his princely development. This makes him sound a wild creature. But in reality, though he is fey, self-willed and perverse at times, he can be as gentle and pussyish as the mildest little English tabby- cat. He is, indeed, devoted to human beings attaching himself, as an Airedale dog is supposed to do, to his owner with an almost embarrassing devotion. Even more than for his own kind, he craves human companionship and affection. A. B.

CAT AND THE RATS. QUEER MOTHERING INSTINCTS OF A BINHAM TABBY. Yarmouth Independent, 8th May 1937
There Is a saying in Journalistic circle to the effect that if dog bites a man it not news, but if a man bites a dog it is news. This advice was, of course, given to indicate that it was unusual happenings that make news. Similarly, there are some small villages which are so unproductive of news that disappointed reporters have claimed, rightly or wrongly. that the only occurrences there are the birth of kittens. At Binham (writes our Fakenham representative) there has been an event which is unusual enough to merit the title of news and it also concerned with the birth of kittens.

Mrs Hagon is the owner of the "heroine of this feline story. This tabby has not displayed an attachment for the good habits of the domesticated, sit-in-front-of-the-fire class of her race. As a matter of fact, the cat showed distinct preference of ratting expeditions, and many rodents have been mortally wounded in duels with this cat. A fortnight ago tabby went to a stable and gave birth to three kittens. Jeffrey Rounce, a local boy, was interested in the advent of the kittens, and he was the most surprised boy in Norfolk when he discovered that the tabby had not only got her offspring nearby but was suckling two small rats. Two days later the cat's companion in numerous ratting exploits arrived at the nursery, and this cat promptly ate the two rats. Master Rounce must have been concerned about the demise of the rats because he found two baby rats and took them to the mother cat. The heroine" of this story probably feared another raid because she carried her kittens and the two youthful rats up ladder to a hay-rick. The cat has been suckling the two rat which the boy found for her. A photograph of the cat and her family has been taken, and probably because her protective Instincts were aroused the nursery has again been moved by the tabby.

THOUGHT THAT HE HAD DROWNED KITTENS. KINGSWOOD MAN CRUEL THROUGH CARELESSNESS Western Daily Press, 30th July 1937
Ernest Leonard, of Cross Street, Kingswood. was fined 5s and ordered to pay 1 9s costs at Staple Hill Police Court yesterday for cruelty to three kittens. In inflicting the fine the chairman of the bench (Mr W. H. Linthorn) said that the magistrates were of the opinion that Leonard had not intended to be cruel to the kittens but that he had been "cruel through carelessness." The case was the sequel to the finding of two live kittens and one dead kitten in a refuse bin by a Kingswood dustman. Albert Edward Bryant, of Syston Way, said that he went to collect refuse at Leonard's house, and in a refuse bin found a live kitten and a dead one among the rubbish. Later he found another live kitten "on the point of death." Witness said that none of the kittens were wet, and they did not appear to have been in water. George Ewart Curtis, the Kingswood sanitary inspector, said that his attention was drawn to the kittens, and he formed the opinion that they had not been in water. Inspector Harold Goodenough, of the R.S.P.C.A.. said that in a statement Leonard said that within an hour of the birth of the kittens he placed them in a bucket of water, meaning to drown them. About, an hour later he drained the water from the bucket, and the kittens appeared to be dead. He then put them in the refuse bin. A veterinary surgeon said that post-mortem examination of the dead kittens showed that death was not due to drowning. He gave it as his opinion that a day-old kitten would survive being placed in a bucket of water for 20 minutes. Leonard pleaded guilty, but repeated his statement to the R.S.P.C.A. inspector. " I was amazed when, later in the day, the inspector told me that some of the kittens were alive. did not mean to be cruel; I really thought they were dead when I put. them in the bin," he said. Leonard was dealt with as stated.

[CAT RACING] Wokingham Times, 10th September 1937
Portesham, a village near Weymouth has already held several cat-racing meetings, each of which was attended by at least 500 people. They have a course of 220 yards, and the quarry chased by the cats is an electric mouse. A cat s speed is said to be half that of a greyhound, but, as the sport grows more popular, no doubt cats will be bred with longer legs and will travel much faster. Yet anyone who has watched a cat run from a dog will admit that it can get over the ground at a fair rate.

CATS WERE NEVER COMMONThe Sphere, November 17, 1937

ON the evening after Sir Robert Grant, governor of Bombay, died at Government House, Poona, a cat was seen by a Hindu sentry to leave the front door and walk up and down in a particular path, as had been the governor's habit after sunset. The native guards consulted a Brahman, who explained that the governor's soul had obviously transmigrated into one of the house pets. Unable to identify the particular pet, the guards decided that all cats passing out of the main entrance after sunset should be regarded as the tabernacle of the late governor's soul, and for twenty-five years the native sentries solemnly presented arms to every cat seen after dusk.

The Burmese and Siamese still believe that their sacred cats enshrine the spirits of the dead, offerings being made to them in gilded cages in the temples. So recently as 1926 a white cat was carried by court chamberlains in the coronation procession of a Siamese king. There are also the sacred Kimono cats of Japan.

In "The Cat in the Mysteries of Religion and Magic," Mr. M. Oldfield Howey has collected a mass of strange and interesting facts and superstitions. He attributes the possible origin of the sacredness of this animal to the fact that in repose it forms a circle, thus symbolising to the primitive mind the ideograph of the Eternal, the Complete, and also to its changeful luminous eye, which was thought to resemble the sun.

The ancient Greek historian, Horapollon, states that the "cat was adored in the temple of the sun in Heliopolis, because the pupil of this animal follows in its proportions the height of the sun above the horizon, and in this respect resembles that marvellous planet."

The Egyptians mummified cats. Recent research has revealed thousands of such mummies at Bubastis, and at Beni Hassan an Egyptian fellah accidentally discovered a cat cemetery in the grottos, consisting of hundreds of thousands of mummies ranged in order on shelves. "The inhabitants of neighbouring villages turned up in force and burnt or buried large numbers of the mummies, whilst Levantine antique dealers took possession of many more to sell to tourists. But the supply still far exceeded the demand. At last an Alexandrian speculator saw a way to turn the corpses into money by offering them as manure. He shipped tons of corpses to England. A cargo, consisting of 180,000 mummified cats, was landed in Liverpool in 1890 and disposed of by auction. The unimaginative salesman actually used one of the corpses as a hammer, and knocked down the strange lot at the price of 3 13s. 9d. a ton, less than a single specimen would fetch to-day."

With the dawn of Christianity, the ancient gods came to be regarded as devils, and so their sacred animal, the cat, became symbolical of evil, and was popularly believed to be the familiar of witches. It is still believed in the Montferrato that all cats which wander over roofs in February are witches, and in Hungary that a cat becomes a witch between the ages of seven and twelve, and that witches ride upon tom-cats, especially black ones.

Writing in 1590, Boguet declared that a Strasbourg labourer was attacked by three huge cats, which he wounded in self-defence. An hour later he was arrested and charged with maltreating three well-known ladies of the town. It was found that the three ladies were suffering' from the identical wounds he had inflicted on the "cats." That such beliefs still exist to-day was discovered by the Rev. Wentworth Webster when collecting material for a book on Basque legends. "We were told of a man," he writes, "who at midnight chopped off the ear of a black cat who was bewitching his cattle, and Jo! in the morning it was a woman's ear with an earring still in it. He deposited it in the Mairie, and we might see it there."

So in the superstitious Middle Ages cats were sacrificed to propitiate the powers of darkness. An inn sign at Albrighton in the following couplet recalls a regrettable custom:

The finest pastime that is under the sun
Is whipping the Cat at Albrighton.

When a part of Westminster Abbey was being rebuilt, the shrivelled corpse of a cat was discovered between the walls, suggesting that the animal had been walled-in alive as a sacrifice.

HEAVY-WEIGHT FELINES Hendon & Finchley Times, 3rd December 1937
Recently a reader paid a visit to Basingstoke, and while in that delightful town saw what is believed to be the largest cat now living in England, and one which would be the envy of number of a number of Hendon cats whose lean sides I have seen slinking along the streets at dead o night, in search I hope of mice. The name of this giant cat is Jim, and the aspiring champion weighs 24 and-a-half lbs. Eleven years old, he is active and in good health. Besides the lean cats to which I have referred, I have also observed a number of other felines in Hendon which flaunt a much more prosperous air of well-fed urbanity, and there Is a cat in premises along Brent-street which must be very weighty.

ON THE ISLAND OF PETS. HOME OF DOGS, CATS, BIRDS AND GOATSBirmingham Weekly Mercury, 12th December 1937
On a small island in the River Colne near West Drayton (Middlesex) is a home for dogs, cats, goats, budgerigars, geese and fowls. There are two inhabitants of the island, Mr and Mrs W Bazeley. Mrs Bazeley is well known in the Midlands where she often judges at cat shows. Twelve years ago she and her husband bought Weir Island on the Colne and made a home out of the lonely cottage on it.
Animals have always been my great hobby she told the Sunday Mercury, so soon after we came here I started to breed Persian cats for show purposes. An old summerhouse on the island I turned into a stud-house. Gradually our island community grew. I bred cocker spaniels and Cairn terriers. Then I built an aviary and kept budgerigars. After that it was necessary to do something about an adequate milk supply cats and dogs require plenty so I introduced goats to the island, and geese and hens as well. People became interested in my pets and many of them wanted to buy kittens and puppies. To-day I send cats and dogs all over the world. The island has also become more or less an unofficial hotel for animals. People going on holiday ask me to look after their pets for them. In the summer we have quite a large number."
Mr and Mrs Bazeley grow their own produce, and there is excellent fishing off the island. Mr Bazeley spends much of his time painting scenes from the island.

THE LAUGHING CAT Various, 1937 - 1938

LIFE, May 1937 compared a photo of a laughing T Roosevelt to well-known photo of a laughing cat. Under the cat, the text says "This laughing cat, also apparently the recipient of good news, has been featured innumerable times on calendars, cards and novelties since 1925 when a Chicago amateur brought it to the office of Underwood & Underwood, who recall neither his name nor the cat's."

LIFE, June 1937

POPULAR MECHANICS, Aug 1938 had a slightly different version of the story and a different name: "Of course, you don't have an opportunity every day to photograph a shipwreck. But more homely subjects are packed with human appeal and potential earning power. Take the "Laughing Cat." It happens to be from the camera of a professional, Russell Hamm, now staff photographer of the Chicago Daily News; but it could as easily have been yours. Hamm had been sent down near St. Louis to make a feature picture of a mother cat with her litter of fifteen kittens. When he had finished, the woman owner remarked that she was training another cat to make facial expressions. Hamm asked to be shown. The lady set up a mirror in front of her pet and immediately the cat grinned and grimaced. The photographer took a shot at the reflection in the mirror and went home. From the developing tank came "The Laughing Cat," so genuinely humorous that newspaper, magazine and trade journal editors around the globe bought and printed it, and in fifteen years that picture has earned $13,000!"

In fact there were a couple of different "laughing cat" photos reproduced as prints and claiming to be the "genuine laughing cat." These cashed in on the laughing cat craze while avoiding the issue of Hamm's (or Froclick's) royalties. Somewhat later, laughing cats were back in the news in this article from The Weekly World News (a mix of extraordinary news and fake stories).

CASE DISMISSED. TRAPPER AND THE CAT. ALLEGED CRUELTY AT BROADCLYST. KILLED IT TO BE KIND. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 10th June 1938
Conflicting evidence featured in a case heard at Wonford Petty Sessions, Exeter, on Tuesday, in which Ernest Charles Woollacott, 36-year-old unemployed labourer, of Broadclyst, was alleged to have cruelly ill-treated a cat on May 12th and 13th. After a lengthy hearing the Magistrates Sir James Owen (in the chair), the Hon. Mrs Trefusis, Major A. H. Gibbs, Mrs. Wimbush, Mr. C. E. Blackmore, and Mr. S. H. Fogwill dismissed the case.

Prosecuting on behalf of the R.S.P.C.A., Inspector W. J. Lewis stated that Woollacott occasionally trapped rabbits by permission of a farmer who lived at Broadclyst. The cat, which belonged to a Mrs. Lovell, of Broadclyst, was missed on May 10th. Inquiries were made, and Woollacott, who was interviewed, made a statement, in which he said he trapped rabbits in two fields on Mr. Salter's farm. Between six and seven o'clock in the morning on May 11th, the statement continued, defendant found a black and white cat caught by the neck in one of the snares. The cat was exhausted and defendant freed it. A few minutes later, according to Woollacott, the cat's foot was caught another trap, and once more the defendant released it. On the following Thursday Woollacott said he again saw the cat caught by the feet in a trap. The animal was dragging the trap with it, and Woollacott tried to get at it to free it, but was unsuccessful. The cat, defendant asserted, tried to bite him and he threw a hammer at it. The hammer hit the cat and must have stunned it. Woollacott concluded his statement by saying that he returned to the scene in the evening, and, as the cat was still groaning in pain, he hit it twice over the head with the hammer to "finish it off." He took the cat home and buried it.

Mrs. Caroline Lovell, of Broadclyst, said she saw accused and asked him if he had had any more rabbits eaten. Woollacott replied that he had not since he had caught a big black cat. William Lovell, 12-year-old son of the previous witness. said Woolacott had threatened to make the cat suffer if he caught it eating any of the rabbits.
Inspector Lewis said an examination of the cat showed that it was suffering from extensive bruising, especially on the head and face. There was a clot of blood in the centre of the right eye.
Mr. T. J. W. Templeman, who represented defendant said his client was a sick man, who had borne a good character. He had been guilty of no cruelty. On the contrary, he had shown himself to be a humane man in that he had on different occasions released the cat from snares.
Walter Salter, farmer, of Broadclyst, said he had never heard defendant use any threats regarding the cat.
In evidence, Woollacott said he found the cat in a snare on May 10th, and it was nearly choking when he released it. Five or ten minutes later he saw the cat in a trap, and he again freed it. Two days afterwards he saw the cat dragging a gin [leg hold trap] and stake behind it. The cat went into the orchard, and he tried to free it, but could not get at it because it was in the thick of some brambles. Consequently he took out a hammer and threw it at it. The hammer hit the cat, and he then released the animal. Woollacott said he thought the cat would recover, so he left it there until he returned in the evening. Then, seeing blood coming from its left ear and hearing that was groaning, he thought it would be a mercy to destroy it altogether.
The Bench, as stated, dismissed the case.

NINE CATS BROUGHT TO COURT West Sussex Gazette, 7th July 1938
Nine cats were brought to Guildford County Magistrate s Court for the Magistrates inspection. Their presence was in relation to a summons against Mrs Dorothea Bretherton, Hook Cottages, Effingham Common, in causing unnecessary suffering to the cats at Great and Little Leewood Cottages, a few yards from her residence. She pleaded not guilty. Anthony M. Radford, East Horsley, said that on June 11 he saw some cats in a bottom room and first floor room at Leewood Cottages. They were trying to get out, but every window was closed tightly. The next day he saw two cats at a back window; he opened it and gave them bread and water. The took the water as if they had not had any for days, and ate the bread ravenously. At 7 p.m. he returned with a constable, and saw a tortoiseshell cat in a shed in the garden. The shed was in a filthy condition, and when the constable let the cat out it was mad with hunger. When he saw Miss Bretherton with a police sergeant and a R.S.P.C.A. inspector he asked her how long the cats had been there. She told him since last October. Insp. Butcher, R.S.P.C.A., said he told defendant that she could not keep cats shut up in such a place with no air, water, or exercise, and she replied. I have got to keep them in the house, otherwise we shall have kittens all over the place. She said her cats did not like water, and she gave them milk when the wanted it. He asked her how much milk she took a day, and she said half a pint and occasionally a pint. Major W. knight Barron, veterinary surgeon, aid the cats were not starved, but their condition was not goo. Miss Bretherton said she had been a life-long member of the R.S.P.C.A. and several cat clubs. Since 1923 she had never left her house for more than 24 hours owing to her cats. She submitted the cottages were properly ventilated, the windows being wedged open slightly. The animals had a standing order for one and a half pounds of minced meat a day, and were given steak five days a week. The Bench fined defendant 3, and ordered her to pay 1 11s 6d costs. Itis i abundantly clear, said the Chairman (Capt. Tuckwell), that you have been guilty of causing unnecessary sufferings by the disgraceful circumstances under which you have kept these cats.

THE CATS THEY LEFT BEHIND Coventry Evening Telegraph, 21st July 1938
Sir, There are still about twelve residents in Monks Park Cottages, and to those of our former neighbours who have bettered their domestic standing, and have had time to settle down, we appeal with all due friendship to act humanely to their cats that are still here and please come and fetch them away. We can understand that in the rush of moving it is natural for a cat to clear out of the way, and be temporarily missed, but Pussy graced your hearth when you were in these congested parts, and surely it would be glad to be friends again in the better conditions which you should share. We remaining residents are doing what we can to feed these cats that have no homes here now. It is heart-rending to see a cat wandering over the place where it once lived, since pulled down, sorrowfully looking to you, and glad of a piece of dry bread. It is hoped that this appeal will be noticed by our late neighbours and the cats claimed or asked after; if not at hand when you do come it would be easy to trace them and let you know. We hope to move ourselves shortly and would be glad to know we have done a kindness to find a home again for these friendly little creatures.
Two Lovers of Dumb Animals, Monks Park Cottages, Coventry.

THE FELINE FAMILY. PANTHER LOSES ONE OF NINE LIVES. EFFECTIVE WORK AT A TANNERY. THE PIED PIPER S NIGHTLY ROUND Runcorn Weekly News, 19th August 1938
The feline species as an effective means of scaring away rodents is amply demonstrated by the experience reported from one of Runcorn s tanneries. It is well-known that trades which have a meaty odour have an attraction for rates and vermin of this character, and professional men are occasionally called in to give advice and chemical devices are exploited to combat the pests. According to statistics, the damage done by rats runs into six figures, but the old fashioned method exploited the case at Runcorn, not only saves stock and expense, but provides a hobby for one or two who are interested.

It is no rival magician like Hamelin who charmed away rats by his piping, but its effective work supports the claim that no tanyard in the country is so free of vermin of this description. A few days ago t ere was almost a tragedy when one of the cat family fell into a tanpit while chasing a rat. The prompt treatment soon had matters righted, and Panther still maintains his reputation as a cat that can kill anything that moves. It was through this incident that the Weekly News learned something o the existence of this cat family. The claim that Wigan houses the oldest tabby in the country will not go unchallenged, for it has been the custom to have a bevy of cats at this yard since the works started twenty years ago. However, as records have not been kept, there an be no difference between young and old servants. This cat tribe is not housed together.

They have a roving existence. Over a score of the felines keep vigil throughout the yard. They are spread over the various departments. There are half a dozen in the warehouse, a couple in the fitting shop, some in the limeyard; others in the drying sheds while the time office and the stores accommodate a family. Blacks predominate, and the females are well in the majority. There are none of the Manx breed. Every one is a perfect specimen, and as docile as the family pet. The care and interest bestowed on the cats by some of the workmen has created many a discordant note at their homes when they have made a request to their wives to prepare some dainty morsel for Greta or Flossy. Harmony, however, has quickly been restored when it is explained that Greta or Flossy is one of the charming pets at the works.

The watchman has the tribe under his charge. For over sixteen years this care has been one of his nocturnal undertakings. Every cat shows the most anxious interest when the call is given. Fresh meat and milk are brought daily to the works and are left in a spot available for use when the watchman goes on his round. Last week there was an absented. Panther failed to answer to his name, but a piercing meow soon led to his discovery. Panther had landed his quarry, but in the chase had become emerged [enmired?] in a tanpit and was showing some effects when he was discovered. He quickly yielded to treatment, although it is estimated now that after such an experience he has forfeited one of his nine lives.

In another section, Flossie was bringing up a family of four healthy darkies. Rats are rarely seen in any part of the works and those that do appear have not much time to do any damage before they are quickly despatched. This state of things has been brought about by the teamwork of a tribe, the most prominent of which are Smoky, great, N*gger, Jim, Darkie, Jennie, Flossie, and two Panthers. There is also a young stock coming along and under the training of their parents, the extinction of the rats and other vermin will be achieved.

CAT TIED UP FOR SEVEN YEARS Daily Herald, 8th October 1938
Allegation that a cat had been kept tied to a mangle for seven years was made at Wimbledon, S.W., yesterday. William Hearn, a railway carriage examiner, and his wife Constance, of Plough-lane, Wimbledon, were each fined 2 for causing unnecessary suffering to the cat. They were also ordered to pay 2 2s. costs. Mr. Gordon Jones, for the R.SP.C.A., said the cat was kept in the living room of their house, and he understood that for seven years it had been kept continually tied up to a mangle by means of a lead and collar.
"When the cat was examined by a veterinary surgeon," he added, "a deep indentation was found round Its neck, where the collar had worn through the fur. As a result of this treatment it had become a physical and nervous wreck. It attempted to attack any strangers that went near it." The cat had been destroyed. George Edwards, an R.S.P.C.A. inspector, said the cat could scarcely waddle. Mrs. Hearn told him that she kept it tied up because she did not want it to have kittens.
Mrs. Hearn told the Bench that she often took the cat on the lead down the garden, and also took off the lead at night because of the mice in the house. "I was very fond of the cat," she said, "and I cried when the vet told me it was ill. I could not realise it was suffering."

BRAVEST CHILD WHO RISKED LIFE TO SAVE CAT Daily Mirror, 9th November 1938
"England's bravest child " is the title Coventry's given to five-year-old Myrtle Bethell, of Three Spires-avenue. While she was wheeling her pet cat, Sooty, in her doll's pram, a big brown dog saw the cat, tried to attack it. But little Myrtle snatched the cat out of the pram and held it high above her head. Trying, time and again, to reach the cat, the dog clawed the little girl's face - leaving scars she still bears - and pulled out her golden curls in bunches. But Myrtle wouldn't give in. Then a neighbour brought a garden rake and beat the dog off. Myrtle went to hospital; hovered between life and death for days, then recovered. And her reward is the diploma she is proudly displaying in this picture the V.C." of the International Amateur Dog Fanciers' Association. See the Teddy Bear just peeping into the picture? The R.S.P.C.A. gave Myrtle that when Captain S. Hector, Coventry's Chief Constable, told them about the brave little girl. And the Cats' Protection League have given her a big doll, and the Honourable Company of Cats (society composed of famous people's pets) have made her Sooty a hon. and life member. Now listen to Myrtle: "It's a lovely doll and teddy bear . . . but I still love my Sooty best."

IRAN IS HURT CAT JOKE CAUSES DIPLOMATIC BREAK WITH FRANCE Yorkshire Evening Post, 30th December 1938
The Iranian Minister in Paris Is visiting the Quai d Orsay to-day about the breaking off of diplomatic relations between France and Iran. The reasons for the rupture are believed to be similar to those that led to a protest to the Minister for Iran a year ago. He then complained about a play on words about the Shah in a French review. Recently a certain number of articles have appeared which have not pleased Teheran, particularly in a humorous publication. Reuter.

According to a British United Press message, the witticism objected to makes play with the Identity of pronunciation between the word Shah" and the French word "Chat" (cat). Two years ago the Shah was angered by a gossip writer in a French weekly using this pun, and in January, 1937, the Persian Ambassador left Paris to mark his master's displeasure The French Foreign Office confirmed today that Iran had broken off relations with France because of comic references to a cat show in the French Press. "The affair has caused an Intense anti-French campaign in the Iranian Press," it is added.

WITTICISM CAUSES DIPLOMATIC BREAK Evening Despatch, 30th December 1938
[. . .] The French Foreign Office has now received official information from Teheran that diplomatic relations have been severed. Although no reason is given it is presumed that the old story of the Shah and the cat was responsible because when a cat show was recently held in France it gave occasion to cartoonists to revive the jest. The magazines containing these cartoons would have had just sufficient time to reach Teheran by air mail. British United Press

JOKES ON "CHAT" ANGER THE SHAH London Daily News, 31st December 1938
The breaking off by Persia (now known as Iran) of diplomatic relations with France (announced at Teheran yesterday) seems to have established a record in official touchiness. Persia considers herself deeply insulted by jokes in the French Press about cats. Unfortunately for Persian susceptibilities the word "Shah" and the word "chat" (cat) are pronounced alike in French. The result is that a crop of puns on Shahs and cats in French humorous papers and comic songs generally coincides with the Shah's birthday or the annual cat show in Paris. Persia has threatened before now to break off relations because of this. The two straws which have now broken the Persian camel's back are these:
(1) The newspaper "Excelsior" published pictures of the Paris Cat Show, with captions in which Persian cats were described simply as "Persians." These phrases upset Teheran: "When the cat (the Shah?) is King ; "A family of white Persians in their Cage"; "The Persian in the nursery.
(2) A weekly humorous paper L Os a Moelle" (The Marrow Bone), which describes itself as the crazy people's organ," wrote about a banquet in honour of the wines of Burgundy: "Even the Shah would have had his fill.,for that night tous les chats sont gris."
(Two years ago the Shah, angered oy a French gossip writer's use of the pun, recalled his Ambassador from Paris.)

JOKE OFFENDS A NATION. IRAN S BREAK WITH FRANCE. Bradford Observer, 31st December 1938
[. . .] Two years ago the Shah of Iran, Riz Khan Pahlevi, was angered by a gossip writer in a French weekly using this pun, and in January 1937, the Persian Ambassador left Paris to mark his master s displeasure. An example of the French humour which helped to lead to the breaking off of relations with France was the linking of the cat show with Persia, because, as the humorists pointed out, persian cats are always winners at cat shows. British United Press.

NAZI CATS NOW UNDER CONTROL. Coventry Evening Telegraph, 16th January 1939
Cats now come under Nazi regulations in Germany. They must be made more "rat-minded" and are expected to reduce the birth-rate of their natural enemy. This decision was reached by the newly-established "Reich Professional Group of Cat Breeders" which is affiliated to the "Reich Association of German House Animal Breeders." The organisation says that 150,000 people would be required to repair the damage done by rats in Germany in one year.

PETS CORNER, BY MARGARET SHOW (of Animal and Zoo Magazine ) Daily Herald, 28th January 1939
This week s post brought me several letters about pet cats which are not well. Their skins are not healthy. And not one of my correspondents knew with what kind of disease their pets were afflicted. Symptoms were described as "sore patches," red patches, and the like, while one reader wrote that he had been bathing his cat with soap and water in an attempt to cure it. Never wash a cat with any kind of soap; it is highly irritating and will not achieve a cure. And when you see signs of skin disease examine it carefully, so you can be sure whether your pet is suffering from mange, which is infectious, or from eczema, which is not, and is usually caused by unsuitable diet.

If you are still in doubt, try and take your cat to the nearest vet., because what will cure it in one case may be quite useless in another. And do not have your pet destroyed for fear that the skin disease will be communicated to members of your household. A vet, with years of experience once told me that he had seldom known skin trouble being communicated from a cat to a human being. However, while you need not destroy your cat, do not neglect sensible precautions and isolate it as soon as it develops such a trouble because the possibility does exist that it may be contagious to you.

HOME TREATMENTS. F you find your pet growing bald or developing a mousy odour. it has developed sarcoptic mange. This is an irritating condition, which is highly infectious to other cats. One of its worst features is that it often produces parasitic canker of the ear, which is extremely difficult to cure. If you see your cat shaking its head or scratching and rubbing against the furniture, examine it carefully at once. You can identify sarcoptic mange by the typical small red pimples which form on the skin and later develop into scabs. This is a danger signal you must not ignore. Bathe the infected part at once with a weak solution of disinfectant and hurry your pet off to the nearest vet. Do not attempt the dangerous experiment treating it home unless there is no possibility of obtaining advice. Home treatment has killed many a cat when Its owner does not realise that preparations containing tar or balsam, or even carbolic, are often fatal to a cat.

If you cannot consult an animal doctor, and If the disease shows itself in a mild form, try applying some soothing boracic ointment and keep the cat quarantined away from your other pets and your children. Destroy all its belongings, such as the bed, blanket or cushion it has been using, and treat It as a patient with a highly infectious disease, which it is. While you are nursing the cat burn at regular intervals all the old cloths or rags which it lies, to avoid any risk of reinfection. If properly treated, the sores will heal, but the patient will need a special diet for a time to coax it back into good condition. Beef juice is the best of all tonics, and can be made by pressing the blood from lightly cooked steak. Do not neglect cod-liver oil, as this has a splendid effect on cats suffering from anaemia or poor health.

Eczema is not an Infectious disease, and regulation of the diet will effect a cure in a very short time. Long-haired cats, such as Persians, seem particularly liable to it. They will scratch themselves until their hair falls out. No unguents or ointments or external treatment will cure eczema. It Is frequently caused by eating horse meat or other too coarse food, and the first necessity in treatment is to give a mild laxative. The safest laxative for any cat is a teaspoonful of milk of magnesia given in the morning. Then put your pet on a strict diet, avoiding all rich fish and meat and giving only cooked lamb, lean raw beef, codfish, milk and brown bread crumbs.

PARASITES. The home treatments I have advised are mild and safe, but I cannot emphasise too strongly the importance of getting expert advice when your cat shows signs of skin disease. It is money well spent, and you must remember that it is not always easy for anyone to give advice without examining the invalid. As cats sometimes pick up parasites such as lice and fleas, which are themselves cause enough for them to scratch, be sure to look at the skin carefully before jumping to conclusions and deciding your pet has caught mange. But do not neglect treating your pets for parasites as well. Fleas are a source of danger to cats, as they may foster the eggs of tapeworms. The only sure way I know of ridding your cat of fleas is to sprinkle with a good insecticide and then stand the animal on a newspaper and comb the insects from the hair. Lice can be eliminated by spraying the cat with a solution of vinegar and infusion of quassia, which any chemist can supply. This will not hurt your cat, even if it tries to lick it away from the fur, as it will act as a tonic if taken internally in small quantities.

In conclusion, remember that scrupulous cleanliness and a wise diet will prevent disease more effectively than any medicine

MISSION TO FISHERMEN (1) Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 25th February 1939
Speaking during a lantern lecture "at home"' in aid of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea fishermen at Fortt's. Milsom Street, on Tuesday. Mr. H. K. Archibald (secretary of the Mission), Up to the present time, he said, 360 had been received from Miss Wills from her Cat Club. He thanked her and Miss Darlington for their very helpful work for the Mission in Bath and district. Miss Dorothy Wills (secretary of the Cat Club) read a report from Miss Heard (collecting officer for the Mission) which it was stated that 16 had been paid in contributions for the year ended 1938. [. . .] Miss Wills mentioned that her cat Jim, who started the Cat Club, recently died. The club was started eight years ago "for cats and dogs who like fish," so that, by subscriptions of 6d or more, their owners could show their gratitude to the fishermen. Although the cat was the president, she was keeping the club on in his memory. During his lifetime he had received over 7,600 subscriptions and contributed over 360 to the Mission.
MISSION TO FISHERMEN (2)Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 14th October 1939
Miss Marjory Caroline Wills, of Bathwick Priory, details of whose generous bequests to stage charities appear elsewhere in this issue, was, like her surviving sister, keenly interested in the theatre [. . .] She also founded a Cat Club, of which her own monstrous animal was president. Hundreds of Bath cats joined this club, of which the proceeds went to the Missions to Deep Sea Fishermen.

CATS ON THE PAY-ROLL. MOST GET 7d A WEEK BUT THEY CAN RISE TO 1s 6d! Dundee Evening Telegraph, 10th May 1939
JT may seem rather strange to refer to a cat as a Civil Servant, and yet there are many cats thus honoured. They are the animals kept by various Government departments and special sums are set aside to pay for their food. Probably the most famous is the much-photographed black cat that frequently appears on the doorstep of No. 10 Downing Street. During the September crisis, the superstitious refused to believe that any war could follow when this living omen of good luck kept popping in and out and rubbing himself against the legs of Cabinet Ministers. The usual allowance for these cats is sevenpence a week, though they can get a rise! Cats showing a suitable variety of intelligence, diligence and foresight can rise to a shillingsworth of food and milk a week. In very exceptional cases, and this includes exceptional appetites, the authorities are allowed to make a weekly grant of Is 6d.

The predecessor of the present Downing Street cat earned that sum, and so did Peter, the famous cat of H.M.S. President. That vessel, snug in her berth off the Thames Embankment at Blackfriars, is as much a landmark as a seamark, and no animals have ever been allowed aboard her with the exception of Peter. And this animal was no mild Civil Servant. He guarded the President's gangways with a ferocity that is fast becoming a legend. But possibly the most famous feline Civil Servant of all was Trilley II. This cat actually attained the rank of Major, and was treated with almost the same deference that was paid to officers of high rank.

Outside the Civil there are hundreds of cats earning their keep in steady jobs. They are employed by railway companies, dock and harbour authorities, and by a large number of private firms. The Port of London Authority alone has 300 cats on the payroll, and they cost, in the aggregate, nearly 400 a year to feed. But they are well worth the money. Between them, they kill thousands of rats every year. Many of them, it is true, are fierce and practically untameable, but this is quite understandable when one can see some of the rats they have to face. Down in dark corners and below mountains of merchandise they have to tackle rats every bit as big as themselves, rats of terribly ferocity. Some of these dockside cats have been known to kill rodents so large that they could scarcely move the corpses of their victims. The same applies to many of the cats that are kept by market firms. A large number of these animals carry very obvious evidence of their encounters with the rat enemy. They have twisted ears, scars and bald patches to testify to the fact that they are doing their job well. Most of them, too, bear little resemblance to the petted creatures that adorn most firesides. These cats that have to work for their living are mostly sleek and graceful. They move around with a gait of purposeful efficiency, and is not wise to try stroking them. Their teeth and claws are razor sharp through long use, and they have a nasty habit of lashing out. The only men who can fondle them are those whose job it is to see that they are fed. Most of them live to ripe old age. One of the best known of official cats was the animal that kept Fleet Street's Post Office clear of vermin. He died in retirement at the wonderful age of 15.

ALL KINDS OF CATS Nottingham Evening Post, 11th May 1939
Cat shows are popular in this country, and the beautiful creatures exhibited testify to the fact that the interest taken in cats is as great ever. Perhaps it is because the cat is half savage that we are drawn to it in a peculiar way. To watch it is to watch creature living a lovely wild life of its own. Even when it is a pampered pet looking with fierce eyes from a silk lined basket, it still retains its independence of character.

In ancient Egypt the cat was venerated because It was regarded as a symbol of Isis, the moon. To kill it was to commit a sin. When a certain Cambyses took Pelusis, it is said that he counted on the Egyptian reverence for the Animals by giving each of his soldiers a live cat to carry in place of a shield, and the Egyptians surrendered rather than harm the creatures representing their goddess. Judging from pictures painted on Egyptian tombs, the cat was also trained for hunting purposes as the dog is now. The Romans took the cat as a symbol of liberty, because no animal is a greater enemy to restraint, and the goddess of liberty was always represented with one at her feet. The Persians claim cats as natives of their country and say that all have descended from the magnificent Persian. Persian princes had their pure white cats and it is said that Mohammed s favourite pet was a Persian.

Cats are supposed to be women s pets, but a number of great men have loved them. Petrarch was so fond of his that when it died he had it stuffed and placed in a niche in his room. Dr. Johnson was devoted to his, and one of his pleasures was to feed it with oysters! In the ancient Welsh code of laws, the price of cats is fixed, so they must have been far less plentiful than they are to-day. The cost of a kitten before it could see was one penny. A good mouser having perfect sight and hearing, capable of keeping down the mice in his master s granary, was considered so valuable that a person who stole or killed it had to give in exchange a ewe and a lamb, or a heap of wheat large enough completely to cover the cat hung up its tail with its head touching the ground.

One of the most popular public-house signs of the middle ages was the Catherine Wheel, the badge of the Knights of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai. When Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon the sign again came into fashion in her honour, but later on the Puritans changed the name to the Cat and Wheel. The Cat and Mutton was another favourite sign, also the Cat and Fiddle, said to be a corruption of the faithful Cat.

KINKIE THE CAT WILL TALK DURING BROADCAST. NO SALMON INDUCEMENT, FOR SHE KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS Bristol Evening Post, 22nd June 1939
Kinkie, a talking Seal Point Siamese cat, owned by Mrs. H V. James, of Barrow Gurney, will be the talking star in the West Regional Children s Hour on Tuesday, July 4. During the programme Mrs. James, who is a well-known breeder of cats, will give a talk on them and Kinkie will be with her in the studio. Mrs James will ask her questions, and Kinkie will reply. When I say that Kinkie talks people often imagine that she speaks like a trained budgerigar or parrot, Mrs. James told me. She doesn t do that, of course, but she talks in her own way, and if two or three people are having a conversation in a room she likes to join in with her animal noises. By the tone of her cries one can usually tell what she wants. She has broadcast before, but is not in the least nervous about it. We have lent her to the village dramatic society when they have wanted a cat on the stage during one of their productions. Broadcasting seems to run in her family, as her grandson, Purdle Dum, a Blue Point, won a championship at the National Cat Club show at London in January, and was afterwards taken to be televised. Tailpiece. There was a suggestion that a tin of salmon should be used in the studio to create a peaceful, mental attitude in the cat! But Mrs. James says that although she has used such a device at rehearsals, there won t be any need this time. Kinkie knows all the answers!

CATS. Chelsea News and General Advertiser , 14th July 1939
Mrs. Cook-Radmore, secretary and show manager of the Chelsea Cat Club, won the prize for the best kitten in the Kensington Kitten Club Show at Tattersalls on Wednesday, with her blue female Albany Audrene. Mrs. Cook-Radmore, in an interview, has revealed some of the worries of cat breeders. She said; "I am in dispute with the income-tax authorities because they say that a cattery is a business. Actually it is a luxury hobby. Cat breeders, most of whom are women, are to be suddenly faced with income-tax demands, many will give up their hobby and cat shows may be severely hit. It is impossible to make money out of breeding cats. Between January and July this year I have sold two male kittens at two guineas each and two tabbies at 7s 6d each. These sales have to meet the upkeep of 27 cats in show condition."

GINGER'S NINE LONG LIVES London Daily News , 17th October 1939
Was Ginger, who has died at Gosberton, Lines, at the age of 28 years, the oldest cat in the country? Here are two views. Mr. Michael Joseph, the London publisher, who is president of the Siamese Cat Society: I have had over a hundred cats and I have never had one which lived longer than 15 and a half years, but specialised breeds, like the Siamese, normally do not live as long as the ordinary household cat. I have no recollection of any other cat living to 28 years like Ginger. Mr. Keith Robinson, secretary of Our Dumb Friends League: Undoubtedly Ginger must have been the oldest known cat, though I once heard of a cat living for 35 years, but I was very sceptical and would like to have seen his birth certificate. [Ginger was a half-bred Persian.]