MR..SOARES (Devon, Barnstaple)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the points of most of the whips used by London cabdrivers are made of gutta-percha instead of whip-cord; whether severe punishment can be inflicted on a horse by the use of such whips, and whether he will instruct the London police to take proceedings against all drivers guilty of cruelty in this respect.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI understand that largo numbers of cabdrivers and carmen use gutta-percha or cat-gut points to their whips, the reason being that such material does not fray like whip-cord. I am not prepared to say that the proper use of such a whip involves cruelty; the police would at once intervene if unmerciful treatment of horses in any form came to their notice.