14 JULY 1950, Page 5

No one can accuse me of a bias in favour

of crocodiles. In general I am against these animals, and avoid one whenever it crosses my path—which is relatively seldom. And I suppose it is as reasonable to make their skins into a particular kind of leather as it is to make the skin of a pig into another kind of leather. But when I read that in Tanganyika crocodiles are fished for with hooks baited and laid out on rocks where crocodiles like to sun themselves I become little short of pro-crocodile. It sounds a peculiarly painful operation, for I can't help thinking that a hook in a crocodile's vast jaws must hurt a good deal more than a hook in a whiting pouting's. Some day, when the United Nations has settldd human 'rights. it might think a little about animal rights.