§ DR. SHIPMAN (Northampton)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to recent proceedings of the Metropolitan Asylums Board; and whether he has yet received an application from the Board to register a place for the performance of experiments on living animals under The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876; and, if so, whether he will give the House an opportunity of discussing the question before public money is diverted to such a purpose.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Alters Douglas.) I have been furnished with a report of the recent proceedings of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in the matter referred to; but I have received no application for registration or for a licence under the Cruelty to Animals Act in connection therewith. If I receive any such application it will be my duty to consider and deal with it in accordance with the ordinary practice in such matters. The registration of premises at a smallpox hospital for the investigation of smallpox by means of experiment would not be an unprecedented step, and I am not aware that hon. Members would need any exceptional facilities for criticising this particular item of my administration.