§ MR. LUTTRELLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to a case before Mr. Sheil at Westminster, in which a man was charged with cruelty to a rat by worrying it with a dog while held captive by a string; whether he is aware that it was held that, as the animal was not a domestic animal, it was no legal offence; and whether he would take into consideration the advisability of so altering the law as to make all such cases amenable to justice?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTYes, my attention has been called to this case and the magistrate's decision. The point is one which I have already noted as a proper subject for legislation when an opportunity occurs.
§ MR. LUTTRELLIs the right honourable Gentleman prepared to introduce a Bill?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTIf I saw a Bill on the subject I should be anxious to give it careful consideration; but, as the honourable Gentleman knows, the subject is not free from difficulty.