§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he has been informed that in December last Mr. H. F. Locke King, of Brooklands, Weybridge, had a valuable flock of South Down ewes worried by dogs, three being killed and twenty injured, that on the same date Colonel Annand, of Compton, Guildford, had two ewes killed and several injured, and on 21st January, Lord Rendel, of Hatchlands, Guildford, had eight ewes killed and four injured, and on 28th January, Mr. G. P. Smithson, of West Clandon, Guildford, had three ewes killed and several injured, and on 29th January the flock of Mr. Smithson's was again attacked and scattered all over the country; whether his attention has also been called to the fact that many of these ewes suffered incalculable injuries, and that many of their lambs were born dead; whether some immediate measure will be taken for the prevention of sheep-worrying by dogs; whether Excise 896 officers make any inquiries before 25th March as to whether owners of dogs have taken out licenses for them; whether it is the duty of a policeman to inquire if a dog is licensed or not; and if so, whether the wording of the licence can be altered, seeing that the present wording is misleading.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) We have received information as to the lamentable occurrences to which the hon. Member refers. They are by no means isolated cases, and I can only express the hope that the Bill which I have already introduced will be passed into law at no distant date, and that it will do something to mitigate what is undoubtedly a very serious evil so far as flockmasters are concerned. I am informed by the Board of Inland Revenue, with whom the enforcement of the law as to licences rests, that a large proportion of the inquiries made by their officers as to whether licences have been taken out are made before the 25th March. The police have power to inquire whether the owners of dogs are duly licensed, and they can prosecute any person who keeps a dog without a licence. This fact is indicated in a footnote to the licence, and I do not understand why the hon. Member should consider that the wording of the licence is misleading in this respect.