MR. FELL PEASE (York, N. R., Cleveland)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any of the Metropolitan Police are specially detailed to prevent cruelty to animals; and, if so, whether they have power to prevent owners of omnibuses and other public or private conveyances from using horses unfit from size and strength to draw heavy vehicles?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYNo constables are specially detailed for this purpose; it is a part of the regular duty of the police to take action in any case of cruelty that comes under their notice. As I have stated before, the police have no powers, in regard to animals generally, other than those conferred by the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1849. In the case, however, of horses employed in public vehicles, they can act also under the Stage and Hackney Carriage Acts, and special instructions are given to the whole of the police, and in particular to the inspectors of public carriages, to observe the horses used in omnibuses and tramcars, and to report all cases in which the horse appears too small or too thin for the purpose.