§ 47. Mr. P. Freemanasked the Minister of Food whether he will prohibit any supply of food in this country being used for feeding animals, such as horses and dogs that are maintained solely for the purpose of hunting and sport, during the present emergency.
§ The Minister of Food (Sir Benjamin Smith)I have already gone as far as is reasonable in the direction sought. Only very small quantities of feeding stuffs are made available, and I propose to circulate the details in the Official Report.
§ Mr. FreemanWould it not be better if these animals were put to some more worthy purpose?
§ Following are the details:
§ No rationed feeding stuffs out of the ration pool are made available for greyhounds. Rationed feeding stuffs out of the ration pool are not normally issued for the maintenance of blood stock and race horses where oats grown on the holding on which the horses are kept are available. Rations for hunting horses are allowed for months October to January inclusive on a basis of 1/12th of prewar numbers and at the rate of 3 cwt. horsefeed per month per horse.
§ Fox hounds actively engaged in fox or stag destruction are allowed rations throughout the year on the basis of 1/8th of prewar numbers, at the rate of½cwt. of cereal per month per couple. Rationed feeding stuffs are made available for sheep dogs on hill farms. Oats grown on a holding may be retained by the grower for feeding to his own livestock, which may include horses.