§ MR. JEFFREYS (Hants,) BasingstokeI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to an accident, which occurred on the 13th inst., at the foot of St. James's Street, to a runaway cab, it being alleged that the horse, although hopelessly injured, was allowed to remain lying there in a paralysed state, guarded by the police, from 10.45 till 4.45; and whether, in future, orders may be given to the police to have horses in such a condition put out of their misery, on the recommendation of a veterinary surgeon, without delay?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe accident referred to occurred at 11.10. The owner of the horse soon arrived on the spot; but, although the driver had gone in a cab for a veterinary surgeon almost immediately, the surgeon did not arrive until 2.15 p.m. He then directed the horse to be slaughtered. A telegram was sent to a firm of slaughterers, who immediately sent a man. The horse was killed and the carcass removed at 3.40. The owner's foreman had charge of the horse all the time, and would not allow it to be slaughtered until it had been seen by a veterinary surgeon. The police had no authority to slaughter the animal under such circumstances.