5 MARCH 1921, Page 15

THE EXPORT OF DECREPIT HORSES. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

SPECTATOR."] SIR.—Your correspondent Miss A. L. Vernon is right in emphasizing the fact that the traffic in horses abroad is a lucrative one. Those working for the abolition of the hideous suffering entailed by the exportation of miserable animals come up against the formidable obstacle of vested interests. If the public could be made fully to realize this fact their sympathy and humane feeling might be roused powerfully enough to issue in action, and an end be made to the exportation of decrepit and unfit horses.

It is hoped legislation will be introduced to amend the 1914

Act, now evaded, so one of the ways every man and woman voter can help is to secure a promise of support from Members of Parliament. Second, all subscribers to animal protection societies should urge concerted action in the matter. Third, which Miss Vernon alludes to in her letter, the British Animal Product Company (B.A.P.), 27 Regent Street, S.W. 1, exists for the purpose of buying animals unfit for shipping. It is a small company, but with increased capital it could provide humanely conducted abattoirs at the ports, and make it worth while to the " traders " to sell in this country.

It is the sorting out of the unfit by honest inspection which

is the crying necessity, though the legitimate trade is certainly not without its suffering. I understand 54,000 horses were exported in 1920. If any of your readers care to have leaflets on the subject, I am happy to supply them, as I did in 1914, when you courteously gave me permission to reprint extracts from Miss A. M. F. Cole's valuable letters to the Spectator.-1