§ Mr. Kevin McNamara (Kingston upon Hull, North)I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make hare coursing matches illegal.I very much regret having to bring in this Bill because I had hoped that it would be a Government Measure, but following the curt and peremptory reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Ardwick (Mr. Kaufman) on 29th October to the effect that the Government would not be introducing legislation this Session, it seemed right and proper to my hon. Friends and myself that the House should again have an opportunity to reach a decision.In the last Parliament there were three Private Members' Bills introduced. When the Government introduced their own Bill, it was passed on second Reading by no mean majority of 203 for and 70 against—a majority of nearly three to one. Unfortunately, there was a General Election.
My Bill will be short with one or two Clauses seeking to make hare coursing matches illegal. The report of the Committee on Cruelty to Wild Animals described coursing in the following way:
In competitive coursing one hare is pursued by two dogs, normally greyhounds which are matched one against the other. Points are awarded for skill and speed in turning the hare and it is not essential to the result of the course that the hare should be killed. If the hare is killed, the dog that brings it down is not necessarily the winne as it may not have exhibited as great a degree of skill as the other dog which at the critical moment may be behind.No one supporting the Bill argues that the object of hare coursing is to kill hares, neither do those who support the sport, but regrettably it happens in a most brutal and barbaric fashion. The live hare becomes the subject of a tug-of-war between the two hounds. Its screams have been compared with the screams of a small child in great pain. Our previous debates are littered with examples and reports of the scenes, the barbarities and cruelties which take place.Although the death of the hare is not the prime object of the course, people who indulge in this sport regard the death of the hare rather as the theologian 267 regards the Principles of Double Effect, the death is regarded as a side issue in the pursuit of a greater good.
Again, although the object of this sport is not necessarily to kill the hare, nevertheless the manner in which the death is accomplished may result in one dog being declared the winner as against another. Rule 24 of the National Coursing Club, the one dealing with the way in which points are awarded, reads:
The points of the course are:(e) the kill. Two points or in a descending scale in proportion to the degree of merit"—that is a lovely phrase—displayed in the kill which may be of no value.My object in introducing this Bill is not that of a city dweller attacking unthinkingly the interests of the poor, downtrodden rural population—indeed, much of the support for this Bill from outside the House comes from that same rural population. On the contrary, we who live in towns and cities are often envious of our fellow citizens who live in the country, envious of their closeness to nature, their skills and husbandry, their use and knowledge of animals.Animals are at the disposal of men. We kill them for food, we regulate their numbers to preserve our own habitat and environment and we eradicate them, sometimes with great cruelty, when they endanger our lives or health. But when we kill, when we regulate or eradicate, we are doing it of necessity. Even if we are unavoidably cruel, we do it in the genuine belief that it is for the good of mankind. In their death, we seek no sensual pleasure. We do not deliberately choose to see them dice with death as when hares are coursed, as when people take pleasure from watching skilled hounds following the frantic efforts of the hare to preserve its life. This is not a use of animals in the service of man but an abuse, a perversion lacking in respect for animals and resulting in a coarsening of human sensibilities.
Opponents of the Bill have three main objections. They say that the Bill is premature and that the time is not yet ripe. The argument is that the British Field Sports Society has established the Staple Committee to examine the sport. This inquiry has nothing to do with the 268 abolition of hare coursing. Its objective is to bring it up to date, to modernise it, to look at the effect of new farming techniques upon the sport and to make fresh arrangements for stewarding at meetings. The Committee's object is to produce a new package, to clothe it with a mantle of respectability and then to sell it like a new detergent. But it will not get rid of the "under-stains". The sport will remain "a barbarous anachronism", to quote my distinguished Front Bench colleague.
The second argument against the Bill is the cruelty argument. Roughly, it can be summarised in this way: nature is cruel and hares face all manner of horrid and lingering deaths in nature or on the road through motor cars, or by being wounded by a shotgun. Death by coursing in comparison can be short and sweet. Indeed, it is almost merciful, and the hare should be grateful and welcome it. Therefore, for the hare's sake maintain coursing. This argument is as hypocritical as it is irrelevant. By this argument we can justify war because otherwise men may die of cancer or be knocked over in the street by a motor car.
It is true that what happens in nature is often cruel, but in a sense it happens by chance, by accident in the normal course of life. We are concerned with deaths purposefully contrived to give pleasure.
The third argument is the new one, the "with it" argument, the up-to-date argument, the "ready for the 'seventies" argument. It is the conservation argument. Quickly summarised, the argument is this—if we do not have hare coursing, the habitat of the brown hare will disappear, keep coursing and keep the brown hare. This is a weird and wonderful argument which equates coursing with conservation. We conserve to course, not because we think what we are in danger of losing is worth while in itself, which I always understood was the object of conservation, but because we wish to course the brown hare. That is a meaningless and selfish argument which would not recommend itself to any respectable conservationist.
In the Birmingham Post—not one of my usual bedside companions—in an editorial on 24th February, following the 269 first day at the Altcar meeting, there appeared the following:
It is better to leave on one side the question of what sort of people they can be who can find pleasure in, or at any rate are unmoved by, the spectacle of a hare (of all creatures) being pulled apart in the interests of 'sport'. It is more profitable to ask what sort of people we are, we the people who find this pitiless business inhuman and revolting, to allow it to continue.
§ It is for this reason, because we find hare coursing a pitiful business, inhuman and revolting, I beg leave to introduce this Bill.
§ Question put:—
§ The House divided: Ayes 181, Noes 0.
269| Division No. 44.] | AYES | 4.30 p.m. |
| Abse, Leo | Griffiths, Eddie (Brightside) | Oswald, Thomas |
| Allaun, Frank, (Salford, E.) | Hamilton, James (Bothwell) | Palmer, Arthur |
| Allen, Scholefield | Hamling, William | Pardoe, John |
| Archer, Peter (Rowley Regis) | Hardy, Peter | Pavitt, Laurie |
| Ashley, Jack | Harper, Joseph | Peart, Rt. Hn. Fred |
| Atkinson, Norman | Harrison, Walter (Wakefield) | Perry, Ernest G. |
| Bagier, Gordon A. T. | Hart, Rt. Hn. Judith | Pounder, Rafton |
| Barnes, Michael | Healey, Rt. Hn. Denis | Prentice, Rt. Hn. Reg |
| Barnett, Joel | Horam, John | Prescott, John |
| Benn, Rt. Hn. Anthony Wedgwood | Hughes, Rt. Hn. Cledwyn (Anglesey) | Price, J. T. (Westhoughton) |
| Bennett, James (Glasgow, Bridgeton) | Hughes, Dr. Mark (Durham) | Probert, Arthur |
| Bidwell, Sydney | Hughes, Roy (Newport) | Proudfoot, Wilfred |
| Bishop, E. S. | Hunt, John | Rankin, John |
| Booth, Albert | Jeger, Mrs.Lena (H'b'n & St.P'cras, S.) | Reed, D. (Sedgefield) |
| Bowden, Andrew | Jenkins, Hugh (Putney) | Reed, Laurance (Bolton, E.) |
| Brown, Bob (N'c'tle-upon-Tyne, W.) | Jenkins, Rt. Hn. Roy (Stechford) | Richard, Ivor |
| Brown, Hugh D. (G'gow, Provan) | Jessel, Toby | Roberts, Wyn (Conway) |
| Buchan, Norman | John, Brynmor | Robertson, John (Paisley) |
| Buchanan, Richard (G'gow, Sp'burn) | Johnson, Carol (Lewisham, S.) | Roderick, Caerwyn E.(Br'c'n & R'dnor) |
| Butler, Mrs. Joyce (Wood Green) | Johnson, James (K'ston-on-Hull, W.) | Roper, John |
| Campbell, I. (Dunbartonshire, West) | Johnson, Walter (Derby, S.) | Rose, Paul B. |
| Carmichael, Neil | Jones, Barry (Flint, E.) | Ross, Rt. Hn. William (Kilmarnock) |
| Carter, Ray (Birmingham, Northfield) | Jones, Gwynoro (Carmarthen) | Sheldon, Robert (Ashton-under-Lyne) |
| Carter-Jones, Lewis (Eccles) | Judd, Frank | Shore, Rt. Hn. Peter (Stepney) |
| Castle, Rt. Hn. Barbara | Kerr, Russell | Short, Rt.Hn.Edward(N'c'tle-u-Tyne) |
| Cocks, Michael (Bristol, S.) | Kilfedder, James | Short, Mrs. Renée (W'hampton, N.E.) |
| Cohen, Stanley | Kinnock, Neil | Silkin, Rt. Hn. John (Deptford) |
| Coleman, Donald | Kinsey, J. R. | Sillars, James |
| Concannon, J. D. | Lane, David | Silverman, Julius |
| Conlan, Bernard | Latham, Arthur | Skinner, Dennis |
| Crosland, Rt. Hn. Anthony | Lee, Rt. Hn. Frederick | Spearing, Nigel |
| Cunningham, Dr. J. A. (Whitehaven) | Leonard, Dick | Stallard, A. W. |
| Dalyell, Tam | Lestor, Miss Joan | Stanbrook, Ivor |
| Davies, G. Elfed (Rhondda, E.) | Lewis, Arthur (W. Ham, N.) | Steel, David |
| Davies, Ifor (Gower) | Lewis, Ron (Carlisle) | Stewart, Donald (Western Isles) |
| Davis, Clinton (Hackney, Central) | Lipton, Marcus | Stoddart, David (Swindon) |
| de Freitas, Rt. Hn. Sir Geoffrey | Lomas, Kenneth | Strang, Gavin |
| Doig, Peter | Loughlin, Charles | Taverne, Dick |
| Dormand, J. D. | Lyon, Alexander W. (York) | Thomas, Rt.Hn.George (Cardiff, W.) |
| Douglas-Mann, Bruce | McBride, Neil | Thomson, Rt. Hn. G. (Dundee, E.) |
| Driberg, Tom | McCann, John | Tinn, James |
| Duffy, A. E. P. | Mackie, John | Tomney, Frank |
| Eadie, Alex | Maclennan, Robert | Trafford, Dr. Anthony |
| Edwards, Robert (Bilston) | McNamara, J. Kevin | Tuck, Raphael |
| Edwards, William (Merioneth) | Marks, Kenneth | Varley, Eric G. |
| Ellis, Tom | Marquand, David | Wainwright, Edwin |
| English, Michael | Mason, Rt. Hn. Roy | Walker, Harold (Doncaster) |
| Evans, Fred | Meacher, Michael | Wallace, George |
| Faulds, Andrew | Mellish, Rt. Hn. Robert | Watkins, David |
| Fernyhough, E. | Mikardo, Ian | Weitzman, David |
| Fisher, Mrs. Doris(B'ham, Ladywood) | Millan, Bruce | Wellbeloved, James |
| Fletcher, Raymond (Ilkeston) | Miller, Dr. M. S. | Whitehead, Phillip |
| Fookes, Miss Janet | Morris, Alfred (Wythenshawe) | Whitlock, William |
| Foot, Michael | Morris, Charles R. (Openshaw) | Willey, Rt. Hn. Frederick |
| Forrester, John | Morris, Rt. Hn. John (Aberavon) | Williams, Alan (Swansea, W.) |
| Fraser, John (Norwood) | Mulley, Rt. Hn. Frederick | Williams, Mrs. Shirley (Hitchin) |
| Freeson, Reginald | Murray, Ronald King | Wilson, Alexander (Hamilton) |
| Garrett, W. E. | Murton, Oscar | |
| Gilbert, Dr. John | Ogden, Eric | TELLERS FOR THE AYES: |
| Golding, John | O'Halloran, Michael | Mr. Eric S. Heffer and |
| Grant, George (Morpeth) | O'Malley, Brian | Mr. Gerald Kaufman |
| Grant, John D. (Islington, East) | Orme, Stanley |
| NOES |
| Nil |
| TELLERS FOR THE NOES: Mr. William Price and Mr. Joseph Ashton. |
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. McNamara, Mr. Ashton, Mr. Concannon, Mr. Heffer, Mr. Kaufman, Mr. Sheldon, Mr. William Price, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Kinnock, Mr. Loughlin and Mr. Pounder.
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- HARE COURSING (ABOLITION) 30 words