§ Mr. R. Gibsonasked the Home Secretary how many cases of alleged cockfighting in England and Wales were reported during each of the last three years; how many of these were investigated; in how many cases were proceedings taken and in how many cases were convictions obtained; and whether he has any statement to make on the subject?
§ Sir S. HoareBreaches of the Protection of Animals Acts should be reported to the police rather than to my Department. In the course of the last three years such few communications as have been sent to the Home Office on this subject have been mostly based on articles appearing in the Press, and in only three cases has the information been sufficiently specific to enable inquiries to be made. I know of only one case in which proceedings have been taken and convictions obtained: that was a case taken by a voluntary organisation. The police are anxious to do what they can to prevent infractions of the law on this subject, but it is a difficult matter to obtain evidence on which a prosecution can be based.