Sent from J.R. Cross
20 Oct 1955
Description:

'...

4. At first glance it appears to me that while the recommendations embodied therein are admirable they will inevitably result in a very substantial increase in the cost of delivering the monkeys in the U.K. Lane Petter is well aware of this but not unnaturally takes the line that other considerations are more important than cost. The Canadians with whom he has discussed his proposals in general and who of course have considerable practical experience in sending large quantities of monkeys, claim that if Lane Petter's ideas are adopted the cost of a monkey may well go up by 30% to 40%.

5. I should be very grateful if you could manage to let me have some idea of how the M.R.C. regard these new proposals and in particular whether they are prepared to pay substantially more for their monkeys, particularly as I understand their demands are likely to rise to some 30,000 monkeys a year. I hope you will be able to do this without managing to give Lane Petter the idea that I am checking on his reliability.'