§ DR. SHIPMANTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will state in how many instances, since he has been in office, the conditions of the licence issued under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, have been violated; whether any, and, if so, what steps have been taken to enforce the penal clauses of the said Act in any such instances.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) I am not aware of any such ii stances other than the four mentioned in the last Annual Report under the Act. All these were trifling departures, by inadvertence, from the strict letter of the law, and did not call for criminal proceedings.
§ DR. SHIPMANTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what authority is it stated by the inspector, in the Return (Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876) just issued, that only four irregularities have occurred during the course of the year.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) The statement is made on the authority of the inspector as the result of his visits and his constant communication with the licence holders.