27. Captain FABERasked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the traffic in worn-out horses for abroad still continues; whether diseased and lame horses still have to walk for nearly half an hour from the place of landing to the nearest abattoir at Rotterdam; and whether the law concerning the traffic in these horses is carried out with stringency or is merely nominal?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Runciman)The export of horses from this country is regulated by the Diseases of Animals Act, 1910, and the provisions of that Act are strictly enforced by the Board. Every horse, unless shipped with a special permit of the Board, is examined by a veterinary inspector and is not allowed to be shipped unless he certifies that it can be conveyed and disembarked without cruelty. I am informed that horses shipped for slaughter at Rotterdam walk or are conveyed some distance from the landing-place to the public abattoir.
Captain FABERIs it a fact that the price of 20,000 of these horses last year for slaughter abroad was under £5 apiece?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI believe that that was about the figure. It was certainly a very small sum.