§ Mr. LOUGHasked what number of horses belonging to the Army have died through illness or exposure in the United Kingdom since the commencement of the War, and the causes of death; whether 500 lame and sick horses were left behind at Hursley when the 8th Division left, practically untended and tied up in lines without rugs and exposed to all weathers; whether thirty horses died at Southampton in Christmas week, and twenty-five the week before; whether eight horses 1432W were found frozen to death at Northampton in one week; and whether any of the Canadian horses died of lock-jaw brought on through exposure on Salisbury Plain; and, if so, whether effective steps can be taken to remedy this waste and cruelty?
§ Mr. TENNANTApproximately 4,500 horses have died in the United Kingdom since the commencement of the War, principally from infectious diseases. Very few, if any, deaths can be directly attributed to exposure. I have already answered the second part of the question in reply to a similar question by the hon. Member for York on 17th February. Thirty-three horses died at Southampton and in the immediate neighbourhood during Christmas week, and nineteen the week before. There is no record of any Army horses having been frozen to death at Northampton. The answer to the fifth point is in the negative. Every care has been, and is being, taken to keep down sickness and mortality in Army horses, and if the full numbers with which we have dealt and are dealing were known it would be seen how small a proportion of casualties have occurred. I would ask my right hon. Friend to believe that on no occasion have any cases of cruelty through neglect or exposure occurred, and I would deprecate this aspersion on the Army management of horses under most difficult conditions.