§ 94. Captain MURRAYasked the President of the Board of Agriculture the number of horses valued at £10 and under, and at £5 and under, exported from British ports to Belgium and Holland respectively, during the year 1912?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe number of horses declared as British or Irish, valued at £10 or under, exported to Belgium and Holland during the year 1912, was as follows: to Belgium 26,187, to Holland 18,724. The number valued at £5 or under was: to Belgium 3,495, to Holland 15,009.
§ 95. Captain MURRAYasked whether the majority of horses valued at £5 and under exported to Belgium and Holland are unfit for work; and, if so, whether they are obviously intended to be slaughtered for human consumption at the port of debarkation?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANAlthough I have no precise information, I think that the answer to both parts of the question should, probably, be in the affirmative.
§ 96. Captain MURRAYasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether during 1912, 20,274 horses arrived at Antwerp from British ports, of which forty-six died during the voyage, 380 were carried by float to the abattoir unable to walk, and twenty-one were killed on the quay suffering from broken legs, etc.; and whether, in view of the sufferings during the voyage indicated by these casualties, 2219 he will take steps to ensure that horses obviously intended to be slaughtered for human consumption on arrival at the foreign port shall be slaughtered before embarkation?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe figures quoted in the first part of the question do not exactly agree with the Board's statistics, but there is no substantial difference. The Diseases of Animals Act, 1910, prohibits the shipment of a horse unless it has first been examined by a veterinary surgeon and has been certified to be capable of being conveyed to a Continental port and disembarked without cruelty. The Board have no power to require horses intended for human food to be slaughtered before embarkation.
§ 97. Captain MURRAYasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether, out of 18,451 horses, valued at £10 and under, exported from British ports to Holland during the year 1911, 14,846 were valued at £5 and under; whether all these 14,846 horses were immediately slaughtered on arrival for human consumption; and, if so, whether, in view of the sufferings which many of them must have undergone during the voyage, there is any reason why they should not have been slaughtered before export?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe figures quoted in the first part of the question are correct. With regard to the latter part, I must refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answer which I have just given to his previous question.
§ Captain MURRAYIs there any reason why they should not have been slaughtered before export?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThere may be no reason against it, but I have no power to compel the slaughter.