710 



The Keeping of Small Tjive Stock. 



[Nov., 



Arrangements have been made by the Ministry at the follow- 

 ing ports for the veterinary examination of horses before 

 export, namely : — London, Folkestone, Harwich, Hull, Grimsby, 

 Goole, Leith and Southampton. Explicit instructions have 

 been issued by the Ministry to its veterinary inspectors, in 

 order to secure that in no case are horses to be shipped nnless 

 'their standard of fitness for work fully complies with the 

 requirements laid down by the x\ct of 1914. \Yhen the trade 

 was first resumed in the autumn of last year, a number of 

 horses were brought forward for shipment which were 

 obviously below the standard required. These were rejected, 

 and a large number of them at once slaughtered at the ports. 



It is perhaps not generally known that the Horses (Importa- 

 tion and Transit) Order of 1916, made by the JNIinistry, 

 prohibits the carriage by railway or by water of any horse, ass 

 or mule which, owing to infirmity, illness, injury, fatigue, or 

 any other cause, cannot be so carried without unnecessary 

 suffering. Local authorities and police are empowered to 

 detain any unfit horses which are intended to be so carried, 

 and both these authorities and the railway companies are 

 fulfilling the requirements of the law in this connection. 



The experience of recent years has proved the value to the 

 nation both of small cultivation and of small live stock keeping. 



The Kee in of '^'^^ latter industry, combined with allot- 

 «^ 11 T • «!. 1 V. nient work, has proved itself to be a most 

 Small Live Stock by , i- . n 



All 1. 1. TT ij valuable auxiliary; and even where the 

 Allotment Holders , , , /, n 



, , , , breeder has no other accommodation than 



and Householders. , . , , j xi i r ^^ ^ 



his backyard, the keeping of poultrv and 



rabbits can be successfully undertaken, where the accommoda- 

 tion provided for the animals is in accordance with the require- 

 ments of the Local Sanitary Authority. Where space is suffi- 

 cient and other conditions are satisfactory, the keeping of pigs 

 has also proved profitable. The necessities arising from the 

 food shortage both in this country and throughout the world 

 make it urgently advisable to encourage to the utmost both 

 small cultivation and live stock keeping. There is the further 

 point that, in view of the enormous imports into this country 

 of poultry, eggs and bacon, there is an economic opening for 

 an immediate increase in the home production. The imports 

 last year of poultry produce alone, for instance, are valued 

 approximately at £35,000,000. 



