§ MR. LABOUCHEREasked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Whether his attention has been called to the evidence of the secretary and the other officials of the Royal Zoological Gardens, in regard to the uncertain temper of the elephant "Jumbo," and also to the statement that this (alleged) fierce and dangerous animal is to be removed to the United States on the 19th instant upon one of a line of steamers which usually carries emigrants; and, whether he will take steps to secure emigrants taking berths upon the steamer, on which a passage for "Jumbo" has been secured, from the danger which it is stated by the secretary and other officials of the Royal Zoological Gardens they may incur; and whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Copy of the Charter incorporating the Royal Zoological Gardens?
§ MR. GILLasked, whether the hon. Gentleman was aware that an elephant which had been brought over from India by the Prince of Wales, and which 592 afterwards died in the Zoological Gardens, Dublin, had killed two or three men on his passage over?
§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEYOf course, the Board of Trade cannot possibly have any control over what my hon. Friend calls the "uncertain temper of the elephant Jumbo." But the Surveyors of the Board have been instructed to be present at the embarkation of the animal, and to take every care that no danger to the ship or passengers results from its presence on board. They are specially charged to see that the cage in which the animal is placed is sufficiently strong to prevent it getting adrift; and, above all, that the elephant shall not be able to step on to the light awning deck from his own cage. They have further been instructed to take care that the presence of the animal does not interfere with the ventilation of the ship, and the health, comfort, or safety of the passengers. As to the Question about the Zoological Society's Charter, I must ask for Notice of it.