27 JULY 1951, Page 5

The most important of its recommendations is that the sale

and use of the gin-trap (" a diabolical instrument ") should be made illegal. The Committee is convinced that the gin is far the most efficient type of trap so far devised, but that if it is banned by law, "the trap manufacturers will soon find an effective substitute." Since there are probably some four million gin-traps in use throughout the country, and since a ban on their use cannot in practice be enforced at all comprehensively, it will clearly be some time before the gin, like the man-trap, is relegated to the status of a grisly curio in country museums. But I imagine it is on its way out.