HORSES' RATIONS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") reference to the letter from " J. M. L. S." in your issue of August 31st, the only statement that can be made with assurance is that at present horses' rations are insufficient in quantity and quality as regulated by the Government, and fre- quently even more so in quality by the action of their owners. At present things are working in a vicious circle, and have been for months past. The insufficiency and inferiority of forage has caused horses of about twelve years of age "to die off like files," as was stated at a recent Veterinary Congress; this. and the shortage of petrol, have caused even a greater burden of work to be laid on the survivors, who have succumbed in large numbers; hence, the present position is that our horses are being starved to death -whilst being worked to death.
Is thie state of things remediable, and who is responsible? Whilst I was considering how to reply succinotly and clearly to those two questions in this letter my telephone bell rang, and I received the facts. A jobmaster with eleven horses tells me that they are absolUtely starving, and that recently he has had to have four killed. When he applies for food he is given an order upon some one or other who either does not or will not fulfil his require- ments. It is useless his going again to the supreme authority, which has passed his requisition and has done with it, and he himself has no knowledge of the name and address of the official who could carry the order out, who appears to be of the ranks of the " no one to blame," who are responsible for other war-time perils which have occurred to us. He asks for food for his horses —and is given a form!
But although no one can write with authority on this matter, no facts or statistics being available, when the exasperating muddle in which food distribution as regards human beings was allowed to get into before national danger forced the problem into a regular system is recalled, can any one doubt what is happening when "only a lot of animals" are concerned P Those who, like myself, have had the bitter and exasperating experience of the crass stupidity and official obtuseness of Government Departments as regards the welfare of animals in normal times, can pretty well accurately conjecture what is happening at present, when house painters are appointed inspectors of muni- tions. It is always difficult to inculcate the lesson that cruelty to animals never pays, but it is almost impossible to make the authorities at present responsible for our horses realize the fact that with the present equine mortality a grave national peril is inevitable. When at last this is realised a new Government Department armed with drastic powers will be appointed to super- vise the treatment and conditions and to regulate the labour of horses—who will no longer exist.
My interlocutor over the telephone stated that for months past he and members of the Jobmasters' Association had been endeavour- ing to get into touch with the actual responsible official, and asked if I knew who he was. I do not. I should imagine he was a solitary figure in an immense room in the recesses in one of the mammoth hotels acquired by the Government enoireled by an impenetrable rind of officials. We must wait until after the war, when his name will appear as the recipient of the O.B.E. for his invaluable services in ensuring an adequate supply of horse labour during a period of the gravest national necessity, &c.—I am, Sir, &c., FRANCIS A. Cox, Secretary. National Equine Defence League, New Southgate, London.
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