§ SIR ANDREW AGNEWsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the collection of the Duty on Dogs by the Excise Department has been satisfactorily performed; and, whether he contemplates taking any steps to ensure the destruction of unclaimed dogs going at large, to the danger and annoyance of the public?
§ MR. HUNTsaid, in reply, that it was impossible at present to say whether the collection of the Dog Duty by the Excise had worked satisfactorily according to the terms of the Question; for that depended upon whether all the dogs liable to duty were brought into charge, and it was too early for this to be ascertained. He might state, however, that licences for 695,624 dogs had been taken out up to the 30th of June, as against 394,837 brought into charge in the year ending the 31st of March 1866. In Scotland licences had been taken out for 80,060 as against 36,365 dogs charged in the year ending the 31st of March, 1866, under the Assessed Tax Acts. It had been the intention of the Government to bring in a Bill to make regulations with regard to dogs running about the streets without their owners; but the state of public business had made it impossible to do so with any chance of its being passed.