§ 97. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture the number of horses whose exportation from British ports has been refused by the local authorities or the Board on grounds of cruelty or physical incapacity during each of the three years before the Diseases of Animals Act, 1910, came into operation on the 1st October, 1910, and during each of the three completed years since that date?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI am advised that neither the Board nor local authorities had power to prevent the exportation of horses on grounds of cruelty or physical incapacity prior to June, 1910, when the Exportation of Horses Order of the Board came into operation. The number of horses rejected in each of the three completed years since the 1st October, 1910, is 1,016, 1,096, and 1,244, respectively.
§ 98. Mr. C. BATHURSTasked how many veterinary inspectors have been appointed by the Board, under Section 1 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1910, to examine horses and certify their capacity for conveyance without cruelty prior to their shipment to foreign countries; whether they are permanently employed, and at what salary; at what ports they are employed; and whether the employment of any of them has been discontinued by the Board in consequence of lack of efficiency in carrying out their duties?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANVeterinary inspectors have been appointed for the examination of horses under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1910, at the following ports, namely, Dover, Folkestone, Goole, Grangemouth, Granton, Grimsby, Harwich, Hull, King's Lynn, Leith, Liverpool, London, New-castle-on-Tyne, Newhaven, Plymouth, Southampton, and South Shields. Three of the inspectors are established officers of the Board, receiving respectively £500, £495, and £483 per annum; two of them are not employed solely on this work, but only as and when required. Twelve are non-established local veterinary inspectors, of whom one receives £250 per annum, two £200, three £150, one £100 per annum, and five 10s. 6d. for each attendance, with a fee of 6d. for each horse examined. Fifteen other veterinary surgeons have been appointed to act as substitutes when required. In addition to the officers already mentioned, an established veterinary inspector of the Board, 556 receiving a salary of £500 per annum, is specially charged with the general supervision of the exportation of horses to the Continent. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.